Landscape artists from different eras.
Having studied many landscape artists over the years I am aware that the responses to landscape by artists are varied and idividualistic. My own efforts have been to express an emotion through the physicality of what is seen, ie, to express the fragility of our existence or the overwhelming force of nature.
I enjoy the delicate watercolors of Durer and Claude Lorrain's proportionate works but to me the works of the Impressionists and then the art of Turner has always held my attention. The masses of light and the swirling motion of the Turners work always left me breathless and I have tried often to emulate his capture of light. His enormous skies seem always to reflect the vulnerability of the human in the face of nature and of life and his brilliant golds and yellows, emphasised by the moody browns and blacks, force life and brilliance upon a landscape which could be quite ordinary. To me they are more expressions of life than reflections of the outside world, more life within, projected onto a landscape.
The lovely loose rapid brushstrokes of Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and Courbet drove me outside in vain attempts to emulate the intense feeling of light and the joy of painting outdoors.
Recently the work of American contemporary artist, Alex Katz caught my attention
Alex Katz, Gold and Black 11, 1993,
I love the utter simplicity of line and the strong feeling of light in this work - albeit flat and understated it still reflects a feeling of a warm Spring day.
I
Samuel Palmer. Moonlight, A landscape with Sheep. c 1831. Pen and Ink
In complete contrast to this is the work of Samuel Palmer whose work is detailed and graphic yet at the same time , mysterious and poetic, almost illustrative.
LS Lowrey has always amused me: his whimsical enjoyment of urban life around him, of the people and the places that they inhabit, their daily routine that is captured in a naive way and yet elevates them to semi-heroic proportions. Their busy bodies, heads down, moving in the landscape make them one with the buildings and the industrial machine that works and breathes around them.
L.S. Lowrey. The Pond. 1950
The works are somewhat reminiscent to me of this work of Breugel:
Peieer Breugel the Elder. Hunters in the Snow. 1565
and wheras the composition of the former is flatter and less refined, both works reflect life as it is at that time. The to and fro of the figures in Lowrey's work tell less of a story and express a feeling of man as landscape whilst the narrative element in Breugel's work is stronger. I appreciate both works and I feel the use of a figure in a landscape always give a sense of dignity and reality, a relatable element, to it.
Looking at the work of Sarah Woodfine I was excited by the crisp drawing element in her work, her unusual flat approach and the interesting way of presenting the elements of landscape
Sarah Woodfine, Untitled, 2015
To me the crispness of line and the use of black and white lends itself to a childhood fantasy, almost an elevated book illustration.
Sarah Woodfine,Newfoundland, 2005
Having studied many landscape artists over the years I am aware that the responses to landscape by artists are varied and idividualistic. My own efforts have been to express an emotion through the physicality of what is seen, ie, to express the fragility of our existence or the overwhelming force of nature.
I enjoy the delicate watercolors of Durer and Claude Lorrain's proportionate works but to me the works of the Impressionists and then the art of Turner has always held my attention. The masses of light and the swirling motion of the Turners work always left me breathless and I have tried often to emulate his capture of light. His enormous skies seem always to reflect the vulnerability of the human in the face of nature and of life and his brilliant golds and yellows, emphasised by the moody browns and blacks, force life and brilliance upon a landscape which could be quite ordinary. To me they are more expressions of life than reflections of the outside world, more life within, projected onto a landscape.
The lovely loose rapid brushstrokes of Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and Courbet drove me outside in vain attempts to emulate the intense feeling of light and the joy of painting outdoors.
Recently the work of American contemporary artist, Alex Katz caught my attention
Alex Katz, Gold and Black 11, 1993,
I love the utter simplicity of line and the strong feeling of light in this work - albeit flat and understated it still reflects a feeling of a warm Spring day.
I
Samuel Palmer. Moonlight, A landscape with Sheep. c 1831. Pen and Ink
In complete contrast to this is the work of Samuel Palmer whose work is detailed and graphic yet at the same time , mysterious and poetic, almost illustrative.
LS Lowrey has always amused me: his whimsical enjoyment of urban life around him, of the people and the places that they inhabit, their daily routine that is captured in a naive way and yet elevates them to semi-heroic proportions. Their busy bodies, heads down, moving in the landscape make them one with the buildings and the industrial machine that works and breathes around them.
L.S. Lowrey. The Pond. 1950
The works are somewhat reminiscent to me of this work of Breugel:
Peieer Breugel the Elder. Hunters in the Snow. 1565
and wheras the composition of the former is flatter and less refined, both works reflect life as it is at that time. The to and fro of the figures in Lowrey's work tell less of a story and express a feeling of man as landscape whilst the narrative element in Breugel's work is stronger. I appreciate both works and I feel the use of a figure in a landscape always give a sense of dignity and reality, a relatable element, to it.
Looking at the work of Sarah Woodfine I was excited by the crisp drawing element in her work, her unusual flat approach and the interesting way of presenting the elements of landscape
Sarah Woodfine, Untitled, 2015
To me the crispness of line and the use of black and white lends itself to a childhood fantasy, almost an elevated book illustration.
Sarah Woodfine,Newfoundland, 2005
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