Composition with Margaret Ryall

• Move beyond instinct alone — understand the underlying structures that make compositions hold together.

• Develop a larger visual vocabulary — learn 10 distinct structures you can deliberately use, combine, disrupt, or abandon.

• Get unstuck faster — use composition structures as starting points when the blank page feels too open-ended.

• Strengthen your decision-making — better understand why an arrangement works, rather than simply knowing that it feels right.

• Experiment with more confidence — structure provides a framework that makes it easier to take risks without becoming formulaic.

• Learn through thoughtfully designed exercises — the workshop combines Margaret's practical experience as an artist with a Master’s degree in Education (Curriculum and Instruction), so the focus is not simply on demonstrating composition, but on creating experiences that help participants understand and apply it.

Composition is about choices, not rules.
The ten structures are not formulas for making successful art. They are ways of organizing visual information and expanding the choices available to you.

Learning to see is as important as learning to make.
Before creating, we will look closely at how established artists use compositional structures and begin recognising what is happening beneath the subject matter.

Knowing how to assess your own work is a learnable skill.
When something feels “off,” you don’t have to rely entirely on instinct. The course provides questions and possible strategies for identifying what may be happening and what you might try next.

You will see the thinking behind the making.
Through modelling, we will see not just a finished composition but the decisions, changes, mistakes and reconsiderations involved in getting there. The emphasis is on the decision-making process rather than copying an outcome.

The goal is independence, not mastery of ten structures.
Ultimately, the structures should recede into the background. The aim is to develop a larger visual vocabulary so that students can make stronger, more intentional and eventually more intuitive compositional decisions in their own work.

• 10 different composition structures to explore and make your own

• 8 hours of recorded teaching with Margaret

• Carefully designed exercises to develop your eye and your own visual language

• Opportunities to look, assess, experiment and create

• A private course space to share your work, ask questions and receive feedback

• Access to the recorded course so you can revisit the lessons whenever you like

• Zoom calls with Margaret and Jayne to discuss and share your work

Each composition structure in this course follows the same four-part process: Viewing, Assessing, Modelling, and Creating.

This sequence guides you from looking and understanding to making and applying.

1. VIEWING — See the Structure at Work

We begin by looking at work by established artists who have used the composition structure you are studying.

As you explore the examples, you will learn to recognize the underlying structure and notice how it contributes to the strength, movement, balance, emphasis, or energy of each work.

2. ASSESSING — Develop Your Critical Eye

Next, you will examine compositions created by the instructor and consider what is working—and what could be improved.

This stage encourages you to look beyond simply identifying a structure to question the intricacies of the composition.

You will strengthen your ability to make thoughtful, informed compositional decisions.

3. MODELLING — See the Decision-Making Process

The instructor will demonstrate how to develop a composition using the structure being studied.

The goal is not to give you a formula to copy. Instead, you will see the thinking behind the composition made visible: selecting, placing, adjusting, reconsidering, and refining.

You will discover how a structure can serve as a flexible starting point rather than a rigid rule.

4. CREATING — Put It Into Practice

Finally, you will create your own composition using the structure.

This is where your observation and analysis become practical experience. You will experiment with the structure while making your own choices about materials, imagery, placement, scale, colour, and emphasis.

You will use the structure as a supportive framework for developing your own visual language.

What materials will I need?

The demonstrations use collage with paper to make it accessible to every artist no matter which medium they use. The focus is on experimenting and learning,  rather than creating a polished product.

jayne@norulestextilesociety.com