A Stronger Landscape Composition May Be Just Over the Horizon

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The placement of one single line—the horizon line—is the key to a strong landscape composition. Here’s everything you need to know.

Composition and drawing are the two basic elements that establish the structure of any good painting. Of the two, composition is typically more important, because it can enhance your drawing and generate eye movement. Equally, a poor composition can ruin a skillfully executed drawing. Many different compositional elements contribute to the execution of a successful landscape. But the placement of one single line—the horizon line —is incredibly important.

Follow along as we explore how the horizon line can influence the strength of your landscape composition.

Related: Download An Artist’s Guide to Composition for more expert tips and strategies

Rio della Becarie (watercolor on paper, 30×22)

Landscape Composition

The horizon line in Rio della Becarie (above) is about 40 percent down from the top and is nearly centered left to right, producing a look that’s almost, but not quite, symmetrical. Equilibrium and asymmetry come from the vertical shape and our proximity to the two sides of the canal. The vertical format of the painting also echoes the narrowness of the canal.


Format and Proportion

Format refers to the outer shape of a painting. Merely making the format either vertical or horizontal begins to generate eye movement. A square format is typically less interesting and dynamic because all sides are equal, which can impede eye movement. The appropriate format can help support the content of your painting. For instance, the narrowness of a Venetian canal can be reinforced just by using a vertical format. You can see an example of this in Rio della Becarie.

Proportion is the ratio of height to width. We often don’t consider what proportion can do to enhance the landscape composition and instead use the proportions of the paper as we find it. Well-proportioned shapes are dynamic and have equilibrium that’s asymmetrical (the balance of unequal parts). We further develop equilibrium and eye movement by dividing the space within the painting. In landscape painting, this usually means determining the location of the horizon line.

Upper Slaughter (watercolor on paper, 11×30)

Landscape Composition

The proportion of Upper Slaughter (above) has a dramatic effect on its composition, creating a vast, deep space. The road carries the eye directly to the trees strategically located near the horizon line, one-third down from the top and one-third in from the left, which is a classic division of space in a painting, both horizontally and vertically. The cloud formations serve as arrows, pointing the eye toward the valley in the distance.


Horizon Line

When we go to the beach and observe where the sky meets the water, we know that as the horizon line. But where is the horizon line right now as you’re reading this? If you said eye level, you’re correct.

We can use the terms horizon line and eye level interchangeably. The placement of the horizon line divides the landscape composition, ideally into two distinct parts. Its placement also begins the process of arranging the important compositional elements at strategic aesthetic locations within the painting, which further develops eye movement. Placing the horizon line in the middle of your watercolor usually isn’t advisable; this is because the equal shapes that result fight each other and hinder eye movement.

One classic division is the division of thirds. The horizon line is either one-third up from the bottom or one-third down from the top, as in Upper Slaughter.

Another is the division of fifths, or the 60:40 division, or anything in between. Additionally, there are occasions that call for a more extreme division; however, avoid dividing the space less than 60:40. Your brain tends to equal out the difference, making your horizon line seem to be placed in the middle of your painting.

The vertical format and low horizon line create a sense of deep space in Winter in Cape May (watercolor on paper, 30×22).

Locating the Horizon Line

To locate the horizon line while working en plein air, close one eye, then hold your arm out straight, with your elbow locked, while holding a pencil horizontal. Then look at your surroundings. Where the lines flatten out is eye level.

To locate the horizon in a photograph, take a straight edge and find eye level where all the lines straighten out. Once the horizon line is established, we can begin to address linear perspective.

Landscape Composition: The ground plane is vanishing above the horizon line in Mixed Emotions (watercolor on paper, 22×30). Notice the steep angle at the top of the foreground window on the left and how slight the angle is at the bottom of that same window. All the lines that show depth of space are vanishing to one single vanish- ing point on the horizon line about one-third up from the bottom of the painting (at the sidewalk) except the street and the sidewalk on the other side. Because you’re looking slightly uphill, they vanish to a point located above the horizon line.

Landscape Composition: With the horizon line a little less than 60 percent up from the bottom, it was necessary to compensate for a potential lack of sufficient equilibrium in Under the Accademia (watercolor on paper, 22×30). The inclusion of the bridge creates that equilibrium. The building on the far left is drawn in two- point perspective. The front and side of it vanish to two different points on the horizon line: one off to the right, and one off the page to the left. The buildings on the right are in one-point perspective, so only one side of them vanishes to the horizon line.

Linear Perspective

Linear perspective — one-, two- and three-point — is the way artists use line to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional plane, or painting surface. The artist draws lines that appear to be parallel as they recede in space (think clapboards on a house). Actually, they’re neither parallel nor receding in space; they’re drawn at an angle pointing either up or down depending on their relationship to the horizon line, or eye level. Below eye level, the lines point up; above eye level, the lines point down. The further they begin from eye level, the steeper their angle will be. The closer these lines are to the horizon line, the less steep or flat they’ll be.

Eventually these lines intersect the horizon line, meeting at places called vanishing points. Paintings have only one horizon line. But they can have one or more vanishing points, as in Mixed Emotions and Under the Accademia, respectively. Once the horizon line and vanishing points are established, executing the drawing can be almost as easy as connecting the dots. Nearly all vanishing points are located on the horizon line, with these exceptions — if you’re looking uphill or downhill. In those cases, everything except the ground will vanish to points on the horizon line. But the ground will vanish to a point either above or below eye level; uphill vanishes above, downhill below.

Landscape Composition: The horizon line in Black Bay Shallows (watercolor on paper, 141⁄2×11) is located about 20 percent down from the top. The rocks, beginning with those below the water, gently lead the eye back and forth from the foreground through the middle ground on to the horizon. Note the cloud also pointing toward the horizon.

Directional Lines

Directional lines work with linear perspective to strengthen equilibrium. They lead the eye through a painting toward the horizon line and then back out again. And they often stop at points of interest along the way. These lines can be actual lines, such as a curb along a cityscape or a series of windows that both describe the side of a building and carry your eye deep within a painting. They also can be implied, as in the arrangement of cloud formations. Or, in the case of Black Bay Shallows, by rocks along the shoreline.

Incorporating concepts such as format, proportion, equilibrium, linear perspective — and a carefully considered horizon line — can help to enhance the structure of your landscape composition dramatically.

A version of this article originally appeared in an issue of Watercolor Artist magazine.

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