Hi All, Ive been nominated by Amy Donahue and Kay Lipman to participate in the 3 in 5 Art Challenge, whereby I post three paintings everyday for the next five days. Each day Im also to nominate another artist to participate in the challenge. I will post a mixture of old and new paintings with the aim to illustrate my progression. A big thank you to Amy and Kay and be sure to check out their art and if youre on Instagram be sure to follow Amy. So without further ado here is Day Two. Day Two - Trees To the insensitive or unfeeling, a wood merely represents a heterogeneous multitude of vertical sticks. A good stand of trees means dollars and cents; or perhaps a place where one can hunt. To the artist the the forest is an asylum of peace, of dancing shadows, of sun-flecked green. The rugged trunks are stalwart guardians - green, violet, and rusety grey - with their reaching branches meeting in a noble arch overhead - John F. Carlson, Carlsons Guide to Landscape Painting. Trees and forests have always been an environment that intrigues me and fills me with awe and reverence, so when I first started to paint I was itching to try my hand at depicting scenes that I found appealing. What I found in the process is how hard it was to take something out there and make it look the way I wanted it to on my canvas. I consider the three following paintings to be a good example in my progression toward understanding treess in order to be able to depict what I find appealing about them, effectively. The first image is of a stand of casuarina (she-oaks) on the shore of the lagoon at Yarramundi. This was very early on in my life as a plein air painter, July, 2011. On this day, I walked as far as I could on the Nepean River side trail ending up at this small enclosed end of the lagoon. It was windy so the casuarinas were swaying in the breeze and I hoped to catch the effect. I remember at the time thinking that Id made progress and was happy with the way it had turned out. Id captured, to the best of my ability, this interesting grove of trees hugging the shoreline, illuminated by the late afternoon light. Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10. With the second image we jump forward for three years to April, 2014. Now Im starting to get the hang of it. This is a beautiful little acacia sapling in the Mitchell Park division of Cattai National Park. I noticed it one morning while I was painting another subject. The way the morning light was hitting it just caught my eye so I made a promise to myself to go back as soon as I could to paint it. Unfortunately the day I went was overcast so the light was all wrong. I was in two minds about whether to still attempt it under the different lighting conditions of wait again for another day. Needless to say, Im glad that I stayed. This is one of my favourite paintings. Im starting to understand the compositional elements that appeal to me and to develop an eye for these small, intimate motifs that I really enjoy depicting. It was also at this time that I was beginning to work with oil primed supports. This opened up a whole new world for me as previously id only worked on acrylic gesso. Untitled (Cattai), Oil on Linen, 8 x 11. The third image is hot off the press and is a little A5 sketch I recently did based on some photo reference taken over the Christmas break. It was taken at King Edward Park in Newcastle on a windy, overcast morning. I didnt have my painting gear with me on my break so had to rely on taking photos and what I can recall from that morning in my memory. This is everything I love about a small unassuming scene. The dark shadows under a lone pine tree, the cool light and warm shadows of an overcast day and a small track cutting through the undergrowth. I hope to use this small study to work up a larger studio piece sometime in the near future. King Edward Heathland, Oil on gessoed canvas paper, A5 size. Today I will nominate Daniel Marshall, to the 3 in 5 Art Challenge. Daniel is from New York and is a Tattoo Artist and an amazing water colour plein air artist. Cheers, D
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 10:10:07 +0000
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