Composition on a Square Panel. Tips?

[Carcharhinus]

Hi guys.

So I have a few square panels. One is a large one that will be a commission that a client wanted to display over a bed in her home. I can't deny that the big square painting will fit nicely there, but in my head the only thing I can imagine going on square panels is abstract work. I paint more realist. I want to have a go at abstract at some point but I feel that this isn't the time to experiment.

So can anyone give me any tips on composition on a square panel? The client wants either something with figures - for example I tend to paint from 'vintage' (I hate that word) photographs from the early 20th century and transpose them in to colour - or a still life. I tried painting a still life on a smaller square panel yesterday and it stressed me out to no end.

I've seen a few modern paintings in a square format. There's a painter called Matthew Ivan Cherry, but he paints in his own distinct style and all his paintings are part of a series. Brett Amory does something similar.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some famous or not so famous square paintings to give me some inspiration? I've also been thinking of splitting the panel up, leaving 1/3-ish of it blank or in shadow, and containing the action within a rectangular segment.

Any help you guys could offer would be great.

Thanks,

Sam.

[arnoud3272]

Sam,
A few places to get you started :

http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/t...format-images/

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/a/ast/stilflow.html

http://groups.bluecanvas.com/squareformat

[claude j greengrass]

More painters have labored more long hours trying to fit square ideas into long shapes, and vice versa, than can possibly be imagined. -- Rex Brandt

[La_]

the rule of thirds still applies

la

[jbart]

I think more square paintings are being done now because a lot of websites only show your pics in little squares on the listing. Some stills like chickens and butterflies lend to the square.

[markshirar]

I love the square format and use it whenever possible. I'm an abstract painting but I don't think you should worry about the genre of what you are painting being defined by your canvas size. If it's a quality piece it shouldn't matter what the foot print is. It sounds like you just haven't created that many compositions on square canvases. I understand to a degree, it's sometimes hard for me to paint as easily when working on a rectangular piece, but it's really all the same thing.

If you want a square final size, maybe grid the piece into a bunch of rectangles. Not sure if that's what the client is wanting but might be a good way to have a final square piece.

[Aires]

I find a square canvas an excellent choice for paintings with one strong focal point, more so than a rectangle. I see no reason to be limited by what you can paint. One of my more successful paintings was a waterfall in a grotto with a lake that held lively reflections, the square format really centered interest on the watefull, everything else a backdrop to set it off. But one could pick almost any subject, preferably with a strong focal point, and go with it. A recent critique on a lovely painting on WC was that it would have been better on a square than a rectangle canvas.... it was a lovely old tree and would have been even more spectacular had it been on a square. No reason I can think of to let square put you off your stride.

[birdhs]

It has been said square and centered paintings are often religious in nature, icons.

I have had to change many of my original pen&ink drawings from rectangular to square to fit the early square format for pictures of e-books. had to see how they looked really small, too.

A computer is a great aid for all this cropping, squashing, squishing to squareness.

i also do things the old-fashioned way sometimes, I just stare at the canvas until the composition comes to me, then I draw it out on cheap newsprint to see how it 'feels'.

you also may be creating a way to resist doing something you are not truly enthused about....

[claude j greengrass]

Originally Posted by markshirar

I love the square format and use it whenever possible. I'm an abstract painting but I don't think you should worry about the genre of what you are painting being defined by your canvas size. If it's a quality piece it shouldn't matter what the foot print is.

au contraire: Choosing the format, closely followed by size, are two of the most important design decisions you make when starting a composition. Neither can easily be altered once you start and the format lays down the first four lines of your composition: the edges. Sadly neither format nor size receive the consideration they deserve in visual design and composition books and consequently their importance and influence are overlooked by many artist.