Phi Lecture by Barnstone Student Ryan Brooker

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Ryan Brooker, a fellow student of Myron Barnstone, makes a great point of what is priority of the rectangle you are using to put your subject in. It’s more important to use dynamic symmetry and design elements to compose your art, rather than a specific ratio of rectangle. Even though the PHI rectangle is one of my favorites and I like the mathematics behind it, I can’t cripple myself by sticking to a specific rectangle just because of it’s celebrity. It’s important to have a subject in mind, then fit it inside the proper rectangle. My mentor Myron Barnstone would say “The dog that wags the tail, not the other way around. You don’t choose your rectangle before the subject.”

Within the lecture, you’ll also find that he covers Gestalt Psychology and analyzes some work by Dali. Ryan will also give us a glimpse into his work in progress and show how he uses design techniques to effectively compose his painting. Enjoy!

Thanks Ryan for sharing!