Discover how to turn nature’s chaos into compelling landscape painting compositions—learn tips for finding and shaping strong designs in outdoor scenes.
One of the major differences that sets landscape painting apart from still life or figurative work is the randomness of nature’s arrangement, or non-arrangement.
This is especially true of plein air painting, in that much of the artistic groupings of forms and patterns must be done in the mind of the artist. We can’t just pick up our props in a scene and move them around until we are satisfied with a pleasant set of relationships, although I have been tempted at times to bring a chainsaw to fix certain views! Ha!
Add to that a light source that’s in a constant state of movement, and you have a situation many would-be landscape painters find frustrating at best. Without a doubt, our way of working on location is a peculiar art form, which has its own set of challenges that are totally different from the more controlled environment associated with studio art.
Knowing this, the plein air painter only has three options:
- Find a spot that is perfectly arranged for your canvas.
- Look for a scene that has many elements of a good design.
- Totally rearrange everything in your scene to match your artistic view.
I think the choice is obvious for many reasons, which I won’t go into now, but the answer is – you got it, number 2!
We need to look for natural design elements wherever we can find them and then rearrange the rest on our canvas to create our unique artistic view.
Here is a recent example of what I’m talking about:
The first thing to look for is what can be cropped out of the scene before moving on to shapes and rearrangement elements for a better design. In the field demonstration above, I did both, which differed markedly from what I had to work with.
Ready to put theory into practice?
The next time you’re out in the field, challenge yourself to find a scene that sparks your interest—not because it’s perfect, but because it could be. Start by identifying what to crop, what to shift, and what to highlight to create your own compelling design.
Got a transformation you’re proud of? Tell us about it in the comments section—I’d love to see how you tackled the chaos of nature and made it your own!
Until next time,
John
Editor’s Note: Join us for the 6th Annual Plein Air Live online art conference, featuring Kathleen Hudson, Kevin Macpherson, Kami Mendlik, and many more! The event takes place November 6-8, 2025, with an Essential Techniques Day on November 5. Learn more at PleinAirLive.com.
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I either omit images or crop and destroy the sense of place. So a question: Would a similar composition from your original image work if it had the 3 original triangles / contours of native grasses receding from the foreground, rather than your imaginary diagonals? Additionally, crop out the road, and other trees as you did?
What makes one choice better than another? Are the additional grass areas too heavy?
I’ve laid a grid over both and can’t tell which would be more effective.
I’d be grateful for your insight.
Hi BJ,
Excellent question and observation. There really is no one way of designing. I think there is all kinds of options when rearranging any scene. Just because I don’t like the asphalt path another artist might make a thing of beauty out of it. Had I painted this scene on another day, my own choices might have been very different as well. Keep asking yourself questions like that because all good artists are deep thinkers and problem solvers. The variety of artistic choices provides a never ending supply of inspiration. Thanks, John-