I may do some very minor adjustments but this painting is finished.
Tapestry, Northumberland.
THE EMERGENCE OF LANDSCAPE
The painting is no longer a tapestry. The trees have given clarity scale and space to the landscape.
I really like the character of this particular area. I like the way the landscape appears manicured with its little groups of trees. Their shapes suggest random decisions designed to amuse. I may focus on these in a future painting.
This painting is almost finished.
Tapestry, Northumberland. Day 4
SOME SMALL GAINS
The painting is still in a rough state. The aim today was to work on defining the space and structure of the landscape. The acid green has been reduced which I think has improved things a little. My doubts as to whether the painting will remain abstract have been answered. The trees will appear in a subtle way, the painting is so small that it has to be this way.
I think the basic structure of the landscape has been found.
Tapestry, Northumberland. Day 3
AN INVITATION TO ABSTRACTION
This is an unexpected development. At the moment this painting would qualify as an abstract. I had no intention of going in this direction but it already has enough of the elements I am interested in to make me stop and think. I will let the painting guide me as to how it will eventually be finished.
My belief is that the strongest connection between the viewer and the painting is made when the viewer can identify objects within the painting and then understand them against their own idea of ‘reality’. It is that duality between the object and how it is depicted that holds the fascination and there needs to be enough ‘realism’ in the depiction to create this tension.
Only time will tell what these landscapes may look like in the future.
Tapestry, Northumberland. Day 2
TAPESTRY
Tapestry is the first thing that springs to mind in terms of a title. The landscape looks like a patchwork of random shapes thrown together. If I was an uncompromising artist I would see this painting sized in metres rather than centimetres and the style would be a delicate coming together of Bruegel and Rothko. Painted in a slow contemplative manner, it would be a decorative colour field painting. Maybe one for the future.
Tapestry, Northumberland. Day 1
ENOUGH
This painting seems like it has been packed with information and yet it contains only a fraction of what I was looking at. I have tried to simplify the composition so that the rhythms and undulations of the landscape take precedent. For me it works, the essential elements are in place and it makes sense spatially. I think this is the starting point for future paintings. The painting is finished.
Across a valley, Northumberland. Finished.
PASTEL ARCADIA
I have put this title up as a warning to myself not to stray too far away from the subject matter. I don’t want my landscapes looking like they are made out of pink candy floss. These current paintings are an abstracted and idealised interpretation of the actual landscape but I want there to be a tautness about them. By that I mean that the essential topography is maintained, along with the connected rhythms and tensions within the landscape.
I am pleased with the way this is progressing, this is the closest I have got to the type of landscapes I am trying to make.
Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 4.
MUST TRY HARDER
That is the first thought that springs to mind and its in disappointing contrast to the last entry. Its the getting started that I find the hardest and I never learn my lesson. All I need to do is to sit down and start mixing colour, as soon as I do that I am back in the zone. Luckily I realize that these new landscapes are a worthwhile project and hopefully my enthusiasm will gather momentum as the world drags itself out of the current gloom.
A half hearted dabble this afternoon turned into a productive few hours which has moved the painting forward.
Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 3.
A MEDITATION
It’s almost as if I was stood at the top of the hill watching the fog clear. This is a meditation in the art of painting. It’s a slow concentrated process and the painting slowly reveals itself. This has been an enjoyable, relaxed morning in the studio, the kind of morning that Matisse would have enjoyed.
Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 2
ACROSS A VALLEY, NORTHUMBERLAND
This is going to be a slightly different painting. Looking out across a valley, higher up and I’ve also tipped up the perspective. Its almost an aerial shot. You can see the rhythms in the landscape and how lines are connected across the picture plane in every direction. Its almost like looking at a skeleton, or the bones of the landscape.
Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 1
FINISHED
Not so gloomy? I have just stayed the right side of it. I think this painting is more successful than the previous one in that I have captured the sense of place and atmosphere that I felt when I was there. This ‘sentimental’ attachment is important in landscape painting as it conveys to the viewer the particular character and feel of the place. Everything has been highly simplified and a lot of detail has been emptied out and yet there is still enough left in the painting to make it work. I am finding this editing process quite revealing about the paintings I am trying to make. The painting is now finished.
A gloomy April, Northumberland. Finished
TOWARDS NATURALISM
There was a decision to be made, keep the yellow tree or move more towards naturalism. The yellow tree is now grey, as in the real landscape. I think that’s the direction I want to head in, and actually the painting looks slightly better for it. I think I’ve pushed the gloomy theme as far as I want to, anymore and it will start looking bleak and cold.
A gloomy April, Northumberland. Day 3.
TONAL MODULATIONS ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Painting can be a form of meditation when things are going well.
There are some photos of Rothko sat in his studio contemplating a painting. I always imagined this inactivity would stretch across days of drowsing, sleep deprivation and hunger.
My day has been slightly more productive but I believe the success of these paintings partly rests with careful consideration of tonal modulations to capture the feeling of the place.
I need to understand the particularity of light and how it shifts across the landscape. Not easy when painting from photos, that’s a potential dilemma that may need to be solved.
More effort required? This afternoon has not been wasted, the painting is progressing nicely. I have decided on a title change. I am becoming more interested in capturing the particularity of place and weather, and so my titles should reflect this.
A gloomy April, Northumberland. Day 2
WIND BLASTED HILL
Unsure of the titles but more sure of what I am trying to do which is the important thing. The side of the hill in the foreground is in a striking light, hopefully this will become more apparent as the painting progresses. I took these photos on a cold gloomy day and I wasn’t sure what kind of paintings these would lead to. However it seems to suit the bleak and desolate landscape.
I think I am going to have a bright yellow tree! My friends advice on the previous painting is turning into a theme, and it is working in the paintings, more importantly.
Wind blasted hill. Day 1
AN ACT OF DESPERATION
I thought I would continue with the dramatic titles during the Easter period. The act of desperation refers to the use of ‘the big brush’. After an age of fiddling the frustration was getting too much to bare. I was messing around where the tree line meets the horizon and getting nowhere. I just could not get the subtlety I was after and so I got a big dry brush and just blended everything together, and it worked.
I think this painting is finished, I may tweak it after a couple of days of contemplation but no big changes are expected. I am happy with it and also excited about what is to come. This is a bit of a turn around, at last.
High plateau. Finished
MENTAL EXHAUSTION
The title is a bit theatrical, but I thought by painting small and infrequently I would be able to avoid any unnecessary fatigue. This is not the case. It seems to me that the smaller the painting the higher the level of concentration is required. Any tiny misjudgement with the brush seems to be multiplied ten fold in terms of the unsightly impact it has on your painting. It is now the afternoon and I have wisely called it a day.
The painting has progressed nicely and I am pleased to report the bright green tree is going to remain as is. Now the other areas of green underpainting have disappeared the tree itself seems more convincing. I think this is because the colour seems more particular and intentional.
High plateau. Day 4
A 2ND OPINION
I got a text two days ago from a friend telling me that my current painting was already finished. This thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, and when I went back to the painting I could see his point. My main objection to this comment was that I hadn’t planned on leaving the tree on the left in its present state, ie bright green. However I am not opposed to this idea and even though I have continued the painting the tree is untouched.
I will keep an open mind as I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I am liking the stone wall, and got a bit carried away with it. I am not wanting to turn it into our local Hadrian’s Wall.
Hight plateau, Day 3
ENJOYMENT RETURNS
Suddenly everything is so much easier now my source material is much closer to the paintings I want to make. I have a good feeling about the landscape I am now working from, I think I always knew where I should be going. Note to self: don’t be so lazy and act on your instincts.
Certain aspects of this painting have an Edward Burra oddness and tonality and I have no objections to that.
High plateau, Day 2
THE PROPER LANDSCAPE
I took a trip into the windswept wilds of Northumberland and it was worth the effort. There are several high plateaus in the area which give you great views down into the valleys. With just a couple of miles of walking I have enough source material to last me 2 years. I expect I will go again soon as at the moment it still has the look of winter, being so high up.
At last I am now spoilt for choice in terms of compositional ideas and with an area I can keep going back to. Now I have found somewhere with such potential I expect to see some good progress.
High plateau, Day 1
TIME TO MOVE ON
I have been labouring with this painting and for some reason cannot make it the painting I want it to be. Its probably a case of I didn’t know what I wanted in the first place. I think the strong bands of colour of the field have become too much of a mannerism and they may have frozen the development of the painting. Although I don’t regard it as a failure, its not a success either. I am hoping to return to it in the future, that’s why its has avoided an untimely death.
Corner of the field