Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake
Acrylic on paper
3.5"x2.5"
©Chris Breier 2013

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This was fun to paint because of the colorful reflections in the water. There’s enough contrast between the highlights of the boat and the dark greens of the trees that it makes the water look shiny and reflective.

There are some industrial buildings in the background, I’m not sure what those are used for but there’s a boat dock in front of them. The red and blue sails of the boats add some contrast to the duller colors of the buildings.

I took a number of pictures of this building and a few of them had boring compositions. I don’t like it when there’s a horizon line exactly in the middle of the painting. It’s better to divide the space up into unequal parts. The rule of thirds is commonly referred but I think it’s better to aim for asymmetry of any kind.

Greg Alberts' book The Simple Secret to Better Painting covers this concept in great detail. The secret is to never make two intervals the same. While this may sound simple the author covers how it applies every aspect of painting. I have used these principles to find and correct weak areas in my paintings.