Selective inclusion

A part of being a painter is being a designer. You can’t always find a scene with perfect composition and just paint it as-is. Most of the time what is in front of you needs editing or designing. Moving a tree, adjusting the angle of a road, altering the relationship of subjects to the horizon, or just leaving something out. This can be done to simplify a scene, take away a distraction, or just because you find it more aesthetically pleasing. Artistic license.

In the case of this painting, I preferred to have a more natural scene of paradise than to include the Hyatt Hotel sticking up above the palm trees.

Island Shore, oil, 9" x 12"