ENTER a gallery and scan the room. It doesn’t matter how cleverly and convincingly a painting has been rendered – the composition must feel ‘right’.

In an exhibition at The Gallery Upstairs, Upton Country Park, celebrating the importance of composition, members of Poole & East Dorset Art Society (PEDAS) create artworks for ‘Equilibrium’ a project set by the group’s new artist patron, Helen Talbot.

Helen said: “Composition refers to the arrangement of shapes, colour and tones within a specified area to create balance within the design.

“In a painting or drawing the ability to recognise a good composition is often an instinctive reaction to whether it looks right or wrong.

“Members have been encouraged to use the ‘rule of thirds’.”

The exhibition runs until Monday, May 22, and is open 10am-5pm.