Fix Your Composition: 4 Common Mistakes and How to Correct Them

Composition is one of the hardest parts of landscape painting to diagnose—especially when something feels “off,” but you can’t quite explain why.

In this video, I walk through four of the most common composition mistakes I see in landscape paintings and show you how to correct them. These aren’t advanced design theories—they’re simple things you can start watching for right away.

No matter how carefully you plan a painting, composition mistakes can sneak in—and when they do, they can quietly weaken an otherwise solid piece.

If you learn to spot these mistakes early—before you commit paint to canvas—you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration and create stronger, more natural compositions.

Watch the video below first, then use the notes that follow as a quick reference when planning your next painting.

1. Repeating Patterns That Feel Unnatural

One of the easiest composition traps to fall into is repetition—placing objects in evenly spaced or mirrored arrangements without realizing it.

This shows up when painters:

• Place trees at equal distances

• Repeat similar cloud shapes across the sky

• Create foliage with rhythmic, predictable contours

The problem is that nature rarely arranges itself symmetrically. When everything repeats evenly, the painting starts to feel artificial or stiff.

How to fix it:
Break the pattern. Vary the spacing, scale, and shapes. A large tree paired with a smaller one—and maybe a third, barely suggested shape—feels far more natural and interesting.

I catch myself doing this too. The key isn’t perfection—it’s awareness and adjustment.

2. Unfortunate Positioning

Some placements are hard to fix later—a centered horizon line is one of them.

When major elements land right on the vertical or horizontal center of the canvas, they tend to demand attention in an unhelpful way. This includes:

• Horizons placed dead center

• Large clouds straddling the center line

• Trees or structures aligned perfectly in the middle

That center zone is powerful—and often dangerous—unless you intentionally design around it.

How to fix it:
Decide early. Either commit fully to a centered design, or push elements clearly past the center line. “Almost centered” is often worse than clearly off-center.

Think of the canvas as having zones, not just edges.

3. Tangencies That Pull Attention the Wrong Way

A tangency happens when two shapes touch—or almost touch—in a way that creates tension or distraction.

Common examples include:

• A tree barely touching the edge of the canvas

• A cloud aligning exactly with a mountain ridge

• A horizon line intersecting the base of a building

Tangencies are powerful. If you don’t mean to use them, they can steal attention from your intended focal point.

How to fix it:
Let shapes clearly overlap, clearly separate, or clearly exit the frame. Avoid “almost touching.”

Here's a helpful habit to get into. Do a final scan at the end of your painting just to look for tangencies—this is an editing step, not a painting step.

4. Misuse of Leading Lines

Leading lines are one of the strongest tools in landscape painting—but only when they guide the eye into the painting.

Problems arise when:

• A road leads the eye out of the frame

• A strong line ends in a corner

• A leading line is unintentionally blocked by another object

• Highlights form a line that points away from the focal point

Photos are often the culprit here. Remember: you’re not married to the reference.

How to fix it:
Let leading lines be subtle and intermittent. Roads can curve, fade, disappear into shadow, or reappear. Highlights can form a rhythm that gently guides the eye rather than shouting for attention.

Keep in mind, just because it’s like that in the scene, doesn’t mean you have to include things that harm your composition in your painting. You absolutely can adjust these things so they work FOR your composition and not against it.

A Final Thought on Stronger Compositions

All four of these issues—repeating patterns, unfortunate positioning, tangencies, and misuse of leading lines—are things every painter runs into at some point. The goal isn’t to avoid them perfectly, but to learn to recognize them early enough to make simple adjustments before they weaken the painting.

The more aware you become, the easier it is to make small adjustments that lead to much stronger paintings overall.

If you’re starting to see how these composition issues show up in your own work, that awareness alone is a big step forward.

Remember, composition doesn’t exist in isolation. It works alongside values, color, edges, and structure, and the stronger your awareness of how these elements interact, the more confident your decisions become. These ideas are part of the broader framework I teach in Mastering the Fundamentals of Landscape Painting, where everything is tied together into a clear, repeatable process.

📚 Related Reading

4 Basic Rules for Easier Landscape Paintings
A foundational overview for painting landscapes, designed to help you simplify decisions and create stronger, more confident paintings.

Take the Next Step

If you’re ready to see how these fundamentals come together in practice, I invite you to join my free workshop, Secrets to Painting Beautiful, Realistic Landscapes. I’ll walk you through the same structured approach I use in my own work, so you can paint with more clarity and confidence.

👉 Secrets to Painting Beautiful, Realistic Landscapes

In this workshop you’ll learn my four-stage approach that helps painting feel simpler and more enjoyable—regardless of the medium you use.