SEVERAL YEARS AGO I made a

discovery that changed the way I view

nature and the way how I approach
the problem of painting: I call it the
principle of the organizational shape.
Tis new approach changed what I
look for in subject matter, how I go
about composing a painting and what
I think about when fnishing a piece.
An organizational shape is a type
of massed shape. Massing is the act
of combining small shapes to make
a larger shape. Te shapes which are
massed are typically of similar value.
Tese combined smaller shapes are
either overlapping, touching or in
close proximity to one another. (While
massing is usually done by value, it
To begin Coastal Land (15x19), I limited
myself to thinking in terms of values only.
I set up the design by rst blocking in
the dark value, thereby establishing the
organizational shape.
Te Shape of Tings
Thinking about the organizing shape in a composition can bolster a design
and lead to a whole new level of excitement.
SKILL BUILDERS
BY DOUG DAWSON
14 www.pasteljournal.com
can also be constructed around hue,
intensity, color temperature, etc.)
An organizational shape is a massed
shape that dominates a painting. Tis
dominant shape is a result of its value,
size and location in the painting. Its the
primary shape around which all other
shapes in the painting are organized.
Its because of its importance in the
composition that I call it the organiza-
tional shape. Although it doesnt work
in every painting, the concept can be
applied to all subjectswhether fgure,
landscape or still life. You can fnd
examples of an organizational shape
in the best work of many artists from
the past and present.
I frst discovered this compositional
idea through my practice of thumb-
nail sketches. I had always begun a
painting with small black-and-white
sketches to act as a sort of blueprint
for the piece. I typically limited my
values in a thumbnail to four: dark,
dark-middle, light-middle and light.
I often experimented with diferent
sequences, sometimes starting with
the darkest values; sometimes with one
of the middle values; and sometimes I
would isolate the light value by blocking
everything else in with one value. What
I discovered was that for some paintings,
blocking in the dark values frst told me
all I needed to know. Te area in which
those dark values massed into a large
dark shape established the composition,
In this thumbnail for Coastal Landone
of the rst in which I learned to see the
organizational shapesthe dark tree trunks
overlap groups of trees in the distance.
OUT ON THE EDGE
Another discovery Ive made by thinking about the organizational
shape is that massed shapes that are made up of different types of
objects are usually more interesting than massed shapes made up
of a single object. For example, a massed shape made up of a house
and a tree is more interesting than one made of trees alone. It has to
do with edges. When the massed shape is a combination of different
types of objectseach with unique contoursthe edges take on an in-
triguing, unpredictable quality
that engage the viewer. In the
pastel study, London Town, for
example, the massed shape
has edges that are character-
istic of a bus, shadows on the
street, people on the sidewalk
and architecture.

In the thumbnail you can see how
the variety of edges enriches the
organizational shape.
London Town Study (8x9)
Pastel Journal February 2012 15
and I didnt even need to fll in the
sketch with the other three values.
Sorting the Shapes
The simplest type of organizational
shape is one that is made up of smaller
massed dark shapes. Te painting
Coastal Land (on page 14) is an example
in which the organizational shape is
the dark value.
From my experimentation Ive found
that for some painting problems, start-
ing with the dark middle valueand
adding the darkest values laterworks
well. Tis seems to be particularly true
with subjects in which the darks are too
scattered and isolated to make a good
massed shape. In this type of organiza-
tional shape, its the dark middle value
that acts as the glue holding everything
together. I think of it as a massed dark
middle shape thats enhanced with
interesting dark shapes. Te painting
Near Forest Lake (above) is an example
of an organizational shape made up of
both dark and dark middle values.
Abstract Tinking
A massed shape, and therefore an
organizational shape, is an abstraction.
Tis is because its a composite of many
smaller, often unrelated shapes. Years
ago, I read an Andrew Wyeth quote in
which he said that he saw himself as an
abstract artist. I wondered about this
at the time, because I was just a child,
and I thought I knew what abstract
art was, and Andrew Wyeth was not it.
Years later, as an artist myself, I realized
that the same thing could be said of all
the best representational painters; its
just that the real world is the well from
which they draw inspiring abstraction.
When were learning to paint, our frst
thoughts are about how to paint rocks,
trees, etc., but as we move beyond
the how-to, we begin to delight in the
abstraction of nature.
Tink of it like a song. With just lyrics
and no melody, it isnt as interesting.
Likewise, a representational painting
without abstraction doesnt hold our
attention. Te organizational shape
is one of the ways in which delightful
abstraction can be woven into the fabric
of a painting. I love to think a viewer of
my work might go away with a memory
of my painting remaining in his or her
mind much like a lingering melody.
Test out these ideas. Experiment as
I have. And search out the work of your
favorite painters. See whether you agree
that much of their best work features
well designed organizational shapes.
DOUG DAWSON (www.dougdawson
artist.com) was named a Hall of Fame
artist by the Pastel Societ y of America in
2008. He has taught art in a variet y of set-
tings, including The Art Students League
of Denver, where he currently of fers
classes. He also travels regularly to teach
workshops across the country.
In this thumbnail for Near Forest Lake,
the beautiful massed shape of the distant
forest caught my eye rst. Often the under-
side of forest shapes is at and predictable,
but here, the shape was exciting. It was nat-
ural to carry the organizational shape down
into the rocks surrounding the stream.
I might have approached the composition for Near Forest Lake (25x27) using the light shape
of the stream as the organizational shape, but the dark and dark middle shapes won out.
TO VIEW MORE EXAMPLES OF DOUG DAWSON S PASTEL
PAINTINGS AND CORRESPONDING THUMBNAILS, VISI T WWW.
ARTISTSNETWORK.COM/ MEDIUM/ PASTEL/ DAWSON-ON-SHAPES.
16 www.pasteljournal.com
SKILL BUILDERS