Give Your Paintings Life the L Path

Whether painting a landscape scene or putting together a still life setup, the L Path is a tired and proven method for balancing the major movements in a composition.  It creates a balance where the vertical leg gives sets a vertical axis, usually close to the edge and the horizontal leg stabilizes the weight.  It's usually on the horizontal line where we find most of the activity in the painting.

Take a look at how these three artists have successfully employed the L path. 

Qiang Huang  used the coffee pot to set the vertical of the leg, the arranges the images along the horizontal leg to give us the balance.  Notice how the major activity is along that horizontal leg.

Jennifer McChristian does the same thing, but in reverse, flipping the L movement.

 

Joe Paquet's vertical leg actually hugs the edge of the canvas, and like Qiang's still life, the major activity lives along the horizontal line.

Here they are together with a diagram showing the L path in each.