Composing the Whole Page

Our son sent us a new woodcut of his.  As I kept admiring the purple dove on heavy white stock, I began to appreciate the symmetry of the print.   The beak points gently down to the right, while the extended wing and tail feathers point up to the left at a similar angle.  The large single white eye--we see the dove's profile--is echoed by white circles and stars in the body.  The round-bellied breast is echoed by the shape of the up-thrust wing, itself striated with purple and white.

My wife reminds me of Dan's ability from a very early age to see the whole page.  He has had a seemingly innate capacity to compose and arrange in the space provided.  In the context of his visual-spatial intelligence, I wonder about teenagers composing essays.  When and how do they gain the intelligence to see the whole "page" of the piece they will construct?  At his young age, Dan had a sense of satisfying placement.  Granted students' composing an essay involves an array of word-based skills, but I can't help but wonder how to use parts of what Dan has been showing me over the years with his woodcuts.