Less is More: the Story of Competition

Mar 12 2023

Recently I joined an online program The Art Journey, with TJ (Tim) Cunningham. It includes: Monday Paint-a-Longs, Monthly Focus Workshops, Friday Critiques as well as an established landscape course. I wanted something that could push me a bit further. I opted for TJ’s program because of the content and because I was impressed with his style of art.

Yes, I will get to the reason why I titled this post “Less is More” shortly.

TJ would take a scene and redesign it for the best composition, all the while explaining why this goes here, why the horizon would shift, or why he would select specific colours. And I loved the Friday Critiques. We could submit our paintings, whether in progress or completion and TJ would, with highest respect, demonstrate how simple little changes could make the world of difference.

Okay, now to get to my point. I did learn some lessons. I had a 12 x 36″ seascape (shown below) which included a rock with splash on one side and a backlit cresting wave on the other, No matter what I did, I could not make the painting work. Was it about the splash, or the wave? Thankfully, someone had my back. My good friend Helen, suggested I simply cut off one of them. Brilliant. It did cost me more, but I was able to move forward with a clear idea of the painting’s focus. We may disagree on my decision but I am much happier with the result.

BEFORE (12 x 36)