Composition Troubles

["William Urmenyi" <urmenyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Tonya

You will need to get inside your head and do a bit of self analysis to find
out why you want to represent the history of your town in the first place.
you will need to be selective in what is to be included and what ignored.
this should crystalise your thinking.  What belongs and what does not will
be determined by what is important to you and don't worry about what you
think others would find important, it is your work not theirs.  It is all to
do with essence. If something is not crucial to what you want to express, it
has no business being there. Don't lose track of why you want to make this
work when chosing what should be included and what not.

As for negative space,  you cannot assign a sign to a space so there is no
such thing as a negative space. There are spaces and forms and that is all.
the work needs to right (as in correct) within itself and try to say or ask
just one thing.  So the trick is to find out what that thing is and never
lose sight of it.

You then have to decide whether you realy are making this for yourself or
whether others are to see the work as well.  If others are to see your work,
you will have to let them have access to your work and i don't mean just
physical access. It is a matter of finding the position which lies between
the personal and the universal.  Too far in either direction will ruin the
work.  If it for your eyes only then you should forget about the universal
and concentrate on the personal.

As for style,  if you are not copying other works, your own style will come
forward.  This is unavoidable so just let it happen.

i hope this helps.

bill urmenyi