The purpose of the foreground is to provide an entry into the painting. It should be kept simple to avoid competing with the
Center of Interest. Here are a few paintings that illustrate this principle. First, this rural landscape, with just a bit of color in the foreground. The viewer's eye immediately jumps to the mid ground - the barn and other buildings - which is what this painting is about...
Next is a seascape. Seascapes usually have a simple foreground because it is just water - perhaps with some swells or even waves - so the eye jumps right to the main subject in the mid ground...
Here is another example where the center of interest is in the mid ground. The foreground is entirely a smooth roadway with a shadow. We've talked before about the
dark doorstep which leads the viewer's eye directly into the painting...
One other fact we've discussed previously is that it is almost impossible to make objects in the foreground too large. It's very easy to make them too small! Here's an example where a tree branch in the foreground is actually longer than the barn in the mid ground... and it looks just fine...
So when you do put "objects" in the foreground - tree branches, roads, fences - they need to be LARGE to look correct!
It's not easy to keep the foreground simple. It does, after all, cry out for more value contrast, more definition, and more texture. But fight the tendency to put too much detail in your foreground, and those viewing your painting won't get "hung up" there to the detriment of what the painting is really about (unless, of course, it's really about the foreground).
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