Greetings!
The most confusing part of an emerging artist's learning process is the collection of rules we are told we must follow to prevent our paintings from falling into trouble. Utmost among these is to avoid centering the main subject or its twin sister, to avoid dividing the painting in half.
First, it is important to take a deep breath and realize that these ideas are simply rules-of-thumb. Merriam-Webster's first definition of "rule of thumb" is "a method of procedure based on experience and common sense". The second definition is " a general principle regarded as roughly correct but not intended to be scientifically accurate." So there you have it: out of many artists' experience, it has been found that centering a main subject or dividing a painting in half can be troublesome. But this general principle might not always apply.
Here's an example of when it didn't apply: one of the most famous paintings in our history of art, Leonardo's Last Supper, locates the main subject in the center therefore dividing the painting in half. But he ingeniously uses the main subject as a fulcrum and uses the secondary subjects as mechanisms of balance by mirroring their groupings on either side of the main subject. He uses the architecture behind them all and distant view behind the main subject to guide the eye back to the central subject as well as add depth and interest. What Leonardo understood was that a subject can indeed be placed in the center of the painting and made to work by symmetrically balancing around it.
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Leonardo da Vinci The Last Supper circa 1496
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Rather than make a rule about placement of images and space, a better guide would be this: make sure whatever is in the painting feels balanced and supports the main subject. All you have to know is that symmetrical balance will indeed place the subject in the center like Leonardo does, but asymmetrical balance will place the subject elsewhere. Beyond that, placing images, shapes, colors and values should be done according to how their arrangement feels to your sense of balance.
Balance is a universal condition directly connected the distribution of the weight. We lose our balance when weight becomes unequally distributed. So if our main subject, say a portrait, occupies half the space and the other half remains empty, the half occupied makes us feel like we're going to fall, throwing us off balance. But something as simple as filling that empty space with dark color can add enough weight to balance the painting; however, if that dark won't enhance the painting, then occupying more space with the subject might do the job. The subject, then, should feel as if it's reaching into the blank space enough to restore a sense of balance.
Enjoy looking for balance everywhere.
Dianne
P.S. Balance is one of the forces of nature that maintains stability. Within ourselves, in our art work, and in the universe itself, balance is one of the principles that sustains life.
P.P.S. May we all enjoy this New Year as a time for discovering the potential born in each of us.
