Horizons: Flat, Straight and Level

If you’ve ever stood on the prow of a ship channelling your inner Kate and Leonardo, or stood on a beach gazing wistfully out to open sea, it’s easy to comprehend how early civilizations might have believed that the earth was flat. Having personally sailed from London to Sydney (anti-clockwise – via the Panama Canal) in early 2020, and then flown home back to London from there, stopping off briefly at Qatar, thereby effectively circumnavigating the globe in the process, I can confidently confirm that the Earth isn’t flat (sorry flat-earthers… you’re wrong). At no point in the long flight did I feel I was being deliberately distracted by the stewards serving in-flight meals, or was prevented from looking out of the window where I might see evidence of a conspiracy cover-up. I saw no great waterfall tipping over the edges into space, and there were definitely no elephants balancing on the back of a great turtle. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who genuinely thinks the earth is flat in 2022, contrary to popular, enlightened opinion and all the clear evidence, is either super-deluded or just plain bonkers.

Here is a fact, though; water always finds its own level, so from a painting point of view, the horizon – if we’re looking out to open sea – should always look flat, and level, in the horizontal sense.

The same is true with lakes and rivers, where horizontal lines to explain the surface of the water is generally considered to be best practice. There are minor exceptions to this, of course; depending upon your viewpoint, and taking into consideration any curves in the shape of a river, or the shoreline of a lake receding away from you, then some minor sloping may be appropriate. In the case of the horizon, where the sea meets sky, however, I can think of no exception, and if your horizon slopes by even a tiny amount, then it’s likely to look just plain old wrong.

Personally, I rarely use a ruler for anything other than trying to play the ‘Jaws’ theme on the edge of a table with it. In general, run-of-the-mill freehand sketching however, a ruler shouldn’t be necessary, although I acknowledge how helpful it can be for some people, when planning out a street scene containing buildings. Drawing out the horizon on a seascape, however, might be one of the few circumstances where I might actively encourage its use; better to be safe than sorry.

Another little tip for creating a straight horizon is to apply a strip of masking tape to it before painting in either the sky or the sea. Again, if its something you don’t feel confident about, then it can take away some of the anxiety, and the result will usually be convincing.

I do have a small confession to make. The painting you see here, of St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall (which was painted many years ago, and is long-since sold and hanging in pride of place on someone’s living room wall), didn’t have a level horizon. Being out by just a couple of degrees, it had to be attached to its mount a few degrees off-centre to compensate and make it look right.