Compose: The quadrant test

Do you have any techniques you use to determine if you have an interesting composition? One that I learned early in my practice was the quadrant test. I've long forgotten where I first read about it, but I came upon it again the other day in a wonderful book called A painter's guide to design and composition: 26 masters reveal their secrets by Margot Schulzke. This book is well organized and illustrates many of the points discussed using paintings through their stages of development.

Years ago I created a quadrant "mat" out of a large sheet of clear plastic that I cut from a heavy weight plastic bag art stores often use when you purchase sheets of paper. I used a permanent black marker and a ruler to divide the plastic into quadrants . I can place the mat over many different size paintings by laying it on top of the painting. Because my work is often intimate in scale I created a smaller one to. When you overlay it the quadrants are visible underneath. The idea is to look at each quadrants to see if there is visual interest in each areas (no dead spots).

A story told (2007) 6 x 6 in. mixed media on board

It works well with most paintings. Even when there are areas where there is open space you usually have some interesting bits of visual energy going on to help your eye move through the piece.

10 x 30( 2004) acrylic on canvas

Then of course you always get the exceptions. The work above titled Breathe is all about the open space to the left. I am a yoga enthusiast and one day while looking a this particular amaryllis it gave me the same feeling I get when I fill my lungs with air and slowly exhale. Yoga gives me energy and peace at the same time. I think in this situation the empty space supports the composition. If I had used a less vibrant background it might not have.