Woodward Simons - Workshop - Composing Landscapes

Composing Better Landscapes

Acadia Workshop Center - Mount Desert Island, Maine
June 13-17, 2011



Have you ever gone to a beautiful setting outdoors that thrilled your soul? Have you photographed that place only to find out later that your photos don't reveal the majesty of that place as you remember in your mind?

Movie producers and novelists portray events in a way that captures viewers and readers' attention by designing their stories. In the same way, we artists can design our landscapes so that we communicate our feelings about a place to viewers. Often this takes a little thought and planning - thinking about which elements of the landscape to emphasize, and which to edit out.


This workshop will teach you how to re-construct a scene in order to keep the viewer engaged. Our paintings can be more than just a accurate pictorial representation of what we see. As artists, we have the ability and responsibility to say something to the viewer about how we feel about our subjects.

I am a representational painter who delights in works by past luminist 19th century painter works. Here is where I get my inspiration. If you desire to paint romantic and peaceful landscapes that depict real places, this is the workshop for you.

In order to get the best out of this workshop, you should have some experience in landscape painting and be familiar and able with your chosen medium. If you are not familiar with the tools and application of your medium (all mediums welcome), you will not learn much at this workshop. I'm gearing it for intermediate and advanced painters. I won't have the time to spend with those who are just getting started with painting.