One of the great advantages to living here at Le Choisel in Normandy (northern France) is that when you want your art class to explore the crucial topics of composition and structure in landscapes, you have no end of stunning vistas for them to choose from! Using easy-to-make viewfinders that you can draw on with whiteboard markers, we started this afternoon's session wandering round part of the grounds mapping out potential landscapes trying to find the ideal horizontal and vertical thirds with an S to lead the eye through the scene. There was lots of laughter mixed with lots of intense concentration - the best combination for learning and having fun. The sweeping valleys and rolling hills gave lots of potential for the horizontal lines, but there are fewer verticals, while the roadway did help create S shapes. There is even more potential for verticals and S's when we try a session down by the river in summer. Thanks to my art group members for their totally infectious enthusiasm - it's great!!