What the fog leaves

Fog is a good teacher of composition. It removes everything except the two or three shapes that matter: the dark line of a jetty, a single tree, the faint shape of the far shore.

This June has been unusually grey, and I have used it to make a set of very small paintings, each one limited to three values. Light, middle, dark. No details allowed. They are some of the most useful paintings I have made this year, though I doubt any of them will leave the studio.

Now, when a larger painting starts to feel crowded, I squint at it until it looks like a foggy morning and ask what would still be visible. Usually the answer is less than I have painted.