Yesterday woke up to overcast skies. Its the kind of light that seems to flatten out the landscape and on first impressions things visually seem quite uninspiring...
It's useful to have a number of paintings on the go at once....dying times, and general working methods make this a good way to work. I started a couple of big tree themed paintings a while a go now and yesterday seemed like a good day to get back to them. We went for a rainy walk in the afternoon, another chance to focus on my subject matter.
Despite the overcast conditions there was still a good level of colour and texture to see. The light seemed to draw out certain subtleties in both. As the foliage growth increases the landscape in general is becoming greener.....a slight problem for me personally!! I don't dislike the colour green as such but I find what it does to the landscape difficult to deal with visually.
It's always useful to look for clues and find answers to your own quandaries by looking at other artists work.
At a talk in Edinburgh a couple of years ago by the artist Barbara Rae I asked her why she apparently didn't like the colour green. She dismissed this notion replying that it was not that she didn't like green but that she preferred the landscape in winter and spring because at these times of the year more structure and form can be seen. Leaves and foliage just add unnecessary clutter! (my words not hers)
It's interesting then to look at an artist like Hockney who embraces both the naked and clothed tree. For myself in my own small quest I wouldn't mind finding a middle ground. So it was to my advantage yesterday that the weather was so overcast and that the spring growth is just beginning.....
....because at this current stage the trees and their structure seem thrown into relief against the subtle backdrop of new growth. From the point of view of my paintings I think this will make things more interesting....somewhere between representation and abstraction.
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| Damson blossom |
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| Wet ground again a bit of a novelty |
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| Rained soaked bark |
It's always useful to look for clues and find answers to your own quandaries by looking at other artists work.
At a talk in Edinburgh a couple of years ago by the artist Barbara Rae I asked her why she apparently didn't like the colour green. She dismissed this notion replying that it was not that she didn't like green but that she preferred the landscape in winter and spring because at these times of the year more structure and form can be seen. Leaves and foliage just add unnecessary clutter! (my words not hers)
It's interesting then to look at an artist like Hockney who embraces both the naked and clothed tree. For myself in my own small quest I wouldn't mind finding a middle ground. So it was to my advantage yesterday that the weather was so overcast and that the spring growth is just beginning.....
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| Pinel Heugh in the mist |
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| Photos for reference |
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| Beautiful beech |
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| Ruberslaw in the mist |
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| Amazingly zingy green moss! |
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| Large tree (detail) painting work in progress |
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| Work in progress |
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| Large tree painting (detail) bees wax and oil |
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| Barbara Rae Tomatoe Vines |
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| David Hockney Woldgate Woods |
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| Not that obvious at first but the tree structure & shapes stand out against the colours of the new leaf growth. |
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