The weather has been pretty poor in the last few days and the forecast for the next week looks like more of the same. Disappointingly our planned camping/climbing trip to the Lakes looks like it will have to be postponed, on the upside this does mean more time in the studio for me.
Every cloud........mind you a few days break from the daily routine is a real tonic but not in the rain.
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| A bit cold for cycling,note the red legs!! 7/April |
Out cycling on Saturday I took some photos of the grey skies. Looking at these later I felt less than inspired so I decided to play around with the colour contrasts to increase the drama and highlight the shape and form of the clouds. The results, although somewhat crude do let you
see more.
Photography is a pivotal element in my painting. Like many artists I use it as a form of recording, editing and as a memory aid. The history of photography and its relationship to painting can be traced back to Vemeer in the 17th century .
The use of the camera obscura through to the Kodak portable camera in the 19th century is well documented and known. All things considered photography and how artists use it is still a contentious issue for some. Where it causes the most concern is when artists use photographs to directly copy from. However used as additional stimuli to all the others ways of researching ideas there is no problem with it and I see it as a rich vein of exploration.
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| Digitally enhanced clouds |
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| Eildon Hills |
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| Storm 1 18x13cm Oil on canvas |
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| Storm 2 18x13cm Oil on canvas |
In 'What Landscape Painting can Teach Photographers' Geoff Wittig says some very useful things with regard to how the the two disciplines interact. His article can be found
here
Regardless of how you approach landscape painting whether through the strict rigours of colour balance and en plein air study to the more edited and artificial world of the studio one thing is for sure weather and the
conditions will in someway dictate the outcome of your painting.
The paintings I have included here are in part pure artifice. They come from actual memory, invented memory, things I have soaked up through time and a whole plethora of visual stimuli. I recognise in them small traces of things that I have seen elsewhere.
They are my imagined storms, mists and rain.
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| Detail |
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| Detail |
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| JMW Turner Sun Setting over a Lake 1840 |
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JMW Turner Norham Castle Sunrise 1845
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