When painting any subject matter from landscapes to still life arrangements, remember that your eye sees only one part of a scene clearly in focus. You see the rest of the scene in a more generalized way using your peripheral vision. A painting should emulate this by keeping the objects in the focal point or focal area in sharper focus compared with objects in other parts of the painting. Do not make the painting look like a photograph in which the whole scene is in focus.

In this painting of Calla Lillies and Oranges, notice how there is more detailed brushwork in the flower closest to the viewer, and more suggestive shapes as you move towards the distance.

In this course unit

In this unit you will learn how to make your painting more interesting by varying the amount of detail in different parts of the painting. You will learn:

• when to put detail and when to stay loose
• the difference betwen freehand and control hand brushstrokes and when to use each type of brushstroke
• when to work carefully and with a high degree of control, and when to work freely and loosely in an intuitive manner
• the mop/rigger technique for differentiating your focal area from the rest of the painting

Total number of assignments: 4

Total number of pages: 17