Dividing up the "canvas"
While I don't actually work on canvas, often artists speak of "dividing up the canvas", before they begin to work--sorting out the composition, etc. I work on panels and divide up my image once I've finished the painting so to speak. In this division process, I'm looking to force the focus of the viewer to certain areas of the painting. Drawing emphasis to some of the smaller details with the overall goal of keeping a viewer engaged with the image for a longer period of time. Especially with landscapes, I feel that it can be too easy to quickly dismiss the subject--or maybe not dismiss but think that you know what you are seeing because it is so familiar. Trees, sky, land. Done. But there is so much more to see--the elements that draw me to paint in the first place. Quiet relationships between spaces. Tension between a cool dark shadow and a warm sunny patch of grass. So once the painting is resolved for me, I pull out the table saw and divide up the panel. Sometimes part of the painting is left behind, to be used in conjunction with another painting later. Or I reverse the order of the panels. This construction phase of the work is perhaps the most engaging for me.
Top painting is small, @12" wide, second image is 48" wide, third image is @ 28" wide.