Framing the Landscape

In this activity, you will:

• use different types of lines to create drawings
• look carefully at the shape of a tree to make contour drawings
• experiment with horizontal and vertical compositions

• 30 – 60 mins

• Clipboard
• Paper
• Pencils

As a young boy, Théodore Rousseau passionately loved nature. He grew up to draw and paint lots of pictures that showed how beautiful nature was. A big part of Rousseau’s art was drawing or painting en plein air or outdoors. In this activity, you’ll think about how Rousseau used composition in his drawing called Forest in Boisrémond.

What is Composition?

Composition is a fancy word that just means, “how you arrange things in your picture.” When an artist decides where to put trees, sky, or ground in a picture—that’s composition!

One of the most important choices is: which way does your paper go? Will your picture be VERTICAL (tall paper—portrait)? A vertical composition is great for: tall trees, things that reach up high, subjects that feel strong and powerful. Or will your picture be HORIZONTAL (wide paper—landscape)? A horizontal composition is great for: wide forests, open fields, things that spread out sideways, like a whole row of trees!

Look at Rousseau’s drawing of the forest in Boisrémond in northwestern France. Did he use a vertical or horizontal composition? Why do you think he chose to orient his paper in that way?

Warm-Up: Practice Making Marks

Mark making means making lines, dots, and textures on paper with a tool, in this case your pencil. Every mark you make shows something about how you moved your hand.

• Take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the middle to make two sections.
• In the first section, fill it with lines. Draw straight lines, curved lines, zigzag lines, short lines, long lines. Try as many as you can think of.
• In the second section, practice making marks that go from light to dark. Press softly, then press a little harder. See what happens.

Practice Contour Drawing

A contour drawing is when you draw just the outline of something. Use your finger to trace the shape of just one tree in Rousseau’s drawing. Notice where the trunk gets wider or narrower. Notice where the branches go. Next, make the outline on paper.

• Look carefully at the tree.
• Draw its outline slowly. Keep looking back at the tree as you draw.
• Try to draw the exact shape you see, not what you think a tree looks like.
• Use the different types of marks you practiced earlier to draw your tree.

Create a Drawing En Plein Air

Go outdoors and find a tree. Look carefully at your tree. Before you draw anything, spend one full minute just LOOKING at the tree. Ask yourself:

• Where does the trunk start and stop?
• How do the branches split apart?
• Are the edges smooth or bumpy? Thin or thick?
• What’s the biggest shape? What tiny shapes do you see?

Make two drawings of the same tree using different compositions.

Drawing #1: Vertical Composition

• Hold your first piece of paper the TALL way (like a door).
• Now make a contour drawing of your tree. Go slowly! Follow every edge. Try to fill the whole paper from top to bottom.
• When you’re done, write “VERTICAL” at the bottom.

Drawing #2: Horizontal Composition

• Hold your second piece of paper the WIDE way (like a TV screen).
• Make another contour drawing of the same tree—but this time, think about drawing it wide. Maybe you can add more trees to the sides, or show the roots spreading out.
• When you’re done, write “HORIZONTAL” at the bottom.

Reflect on How Composition Affects Your Drawings

Look at both drawings side by side.

• How does the tree look in the VERTICAL drawing?
• How does the tree look in the HORIZONTAL drawing?
• How would you compare the feeling you get from each drawing?
• How does the tree seem different depending on whether the composition is VERTICAL or HORIZONTAL?
• Which one of your drawings do you prefer? Describe why.

A French term meaning painting outdoors in natural light instead of in a studio.