Are rules for painting different?

[Doubletakes]

In other words, would you have taken this picture with the boat on the right?

[kwhite]

Are you asking about the composition of the photograph or the composition of the painting?

If you are talking about the composition of the painting my cultural bias is the read it left, to right top to bottom. Others may have a different bias. Changing the horizon line might help.

If you are talking about the composition of the photograph of the painting then I think it is fine the way it is.

[bondarnes]

The rules for painting are not different, in fact the photography rules were taken from painting rules. I would not have shot it like that.

[kenw]

agreeing, the rules are no different. In general terms, the rule of thirds would prefer that if the boat is placed as it is, that the 2/3s part be in FRONT of the boat, giving it somewhere to go visually. Also the water line is smack across the middle, which adds to the imbalance.

However it appears that the artist was trying to show a bridge (or something distant) in the background in which case the compostion isn't all that bad but the balance is still off due to the visual weight of the highly detailed and colorful boat, and the distant but supposedly important bridge being small and "hazy".

My dad was known to re-arrange elements in his watercolors (painting from a photo that he had taken) to obtain the best balance. Had this been a photo, when he got around to painting it he probably would have turned the boat around 180, strengthened the bridge by enlarging it ("moving" it a lot closer) and moved the water surface down to the 1/3 level.

Now that we've jumped all over it, is this something you did? or bought? or did someone you know paint this or buy this for you?? if so accept it in the spirit it was given.

[90 5.0]

No I do not like the composition, but art is art and apparently someone thought it was the right way to express it.