A PAINTER’S PROGRESS
My enthusiasm for this painting has wavered but it has turned out better than expected. I don’t think it is quite finished yet, but it will change very little. My lack of enthusiasm is due to the fact that I don’t have a vast collection of successful finished landscapes to refer to. This is number 2 in that respect.
Anyway, things will improve over time.
Country park. Day 5.
The first half of the morning was a struggle, every brushstroke seemed to be the wrong decision. I have been here many times before and know that its a case of plodding through until things start to turn around. Often its just a tiny fragment of improvement and your decisions take a miraculous turn for the better. My efforts were rewarded, now I have something to build on and the painting is getting closer to being finished.
Country park. Day 4.
Dark skies and continuous rain outside, I wasn’t tempted to go chasing wallabies today. It must be getting hungry by now.
This painting is progressing nicely. If I continue painting these balmy autumn scenes the winter may be more bearable.
Country park. Day 3.
Its not every day that someone asks me if I have seen a wallaby. I was on the golf course today and apparently one has escaped from a garden. The owner was looking for it. I imagine it will only get caught if it wants to, it has the whole golf course to run around on.
Anyway, happy with the progress today.
Country park. Day 2
Titling this painting ‘Country Park’ is a bit disingenuous, it’s the local golf course. ‘Golf course’ however is not a suitable title for a landscape painting, it lacks a sense of grandeur and ambition. It has none of the romantic and epic connections to the landscape tradition. Now that I have recognised this, I will be looking further afield to a more traditional setting for landscape painting. For now, this will suffice, but you will see no red flags sticking up from the ground.
I am happy with this start, what I am searching for in these paintings is becoming more clear. These qualities are the traditional ones, a sense of light, space and atmosphere with a feeling for the drama of nature. Lets see if I am up to these grand ambitions.
Country park, day 1.
I didn’t need to drag myself into the studio, I entered with enthusiasm. Just a morning needed to finish the painting. I am still pondering my stylistic direction. I think this painting is close to the direction it will be. It has a touch of John Nash about it, simplified, illustrative and poetic.
Anyway, this is my first successful landscape and as its only the third in many years, it is encouraging.
Line of trees. Finished.
I don’t know why my enthusiasm has dipped in recent weeks. It could be this new landscape subject. I don’t have a clear approach so maybe this lack of certainty has something to do with it. I should be more optimistic, when I look at this current painting I like where things are going.
Anyway, this painting is almost finished, just need to drag myself into the studio again.
Line of trees. Day 5
Today’s painting session bought back childhood memories of painting by numbers. I had all my trees neatly drawn out and now I just had to carefully fill in the white spaces. That was todays objective. Focusing on just getting the colour right and then assessing where to go from there. I am pleased with where I have got to, only problem being, now none of my fine brushes has any sort of point on them.
I like the quality from the individually painted leaves on the left tree, and I will go in and use this more to break up the flatness of the trees.
Line of trees. Day 4.
I don’t think an employer would regard my days as full working days. Now that I am retired it doesn’t matter anymore. Still, mustn’t get too complacent. This painting is creeping along, but my concern is on quality, not time, and I am happy with how it is progressing.
I can also see a significant improvement in each landscape and this is very encouraging, 2020 seems to be ending on a note of optimism.
A line of trees. Day 3.
Painting away today, trying to capture the delicate branches of the trees, I was struck by how irreverent my concerns were in these troubled times. I decided not to dwell on this thought. Painting is a useful distraction from reality, and if you can lose yourself in it, you are a lucky person.
This highly illustrative landscape is progressing, though very slowly.
Line of trees. At the end of day 2.
I am quickly realising that the landscape genre is a whole new language, I have spent most of my time painting still lifes. Understanding what the landscape means to me and learning how I want to paint it is almost like learning to paint all over again. Anyway, I think that landscape no.3 is closer to my idea than no.1 so I am heading in the right direction.
Line of trees. At the end of day 1.
That is the best way to describe this painting. Like de Koonings grotesque women before his great late abstracts or Pollocks curious early paintings, this has the same feel. I may have strayed too far from the source material but at least it has some strength to it. It also has some charm.
As for the cherry blossom title, that was lost in the process of painting. I might do a little bit more before I leave it.
Landscape day 4.
An appropriate title for these troubled times, and if the only problem I have is my painting then I am in a very fortunate place. This painting has been bullied into the direction I am trying to go in. I can see a style that is mine slowly emerging. And that has been one of the problems with this painting up to now, it was a little directionless. A more decorative sense of stylisation and colour is coming through and I think this will strengthen over time.
Anyway, there are encouraging signs.
Cherry blossom, day 3.
Looking at this painting I feel uninspired and disappointed. Its not finished yet, but I don’t think I will feel much better about it. I will have to work out why I feel this way then I can start to turn a corner. I will have to paint many more disappointing landscapes before things start to improve.
Cherry blossom, day 2.
Wrong time of the year for it, given I took the photo in November, but it resembles it in some way. I am not sure where these landscapes are going, though this does not concern me. I will find out through making more of them. I have never had a concerted spell of landscape painting so it will be interesting to see what direction they go in.
Anyway, encouraging start.
Cherry blossom, first stage.
If this is the way I am going to paint landscapes then it is going to be an enjoyable if unpredictable wrestling match. It seems to me that I am looking for shapes and forms in the landscape that are simplified and decorative. This is probably the way I imagined my approach would be.
Anyway, this is finished, and I’m pleased with the way it turned out.
In the park. At the end of day 6, finished.
I am on the steep bit at the moment. I don’t expect to find a style that seems right for the subject for some time. However, I am pleased with the way things are progressing. I have a load of source material (photographs) to get me through the winter, and who knows, maybe I will start sketching. Though I don’t think I will do it unless I feel its a real benefit.
I think another decent day of painting and this will be finished.
In the park at the end of day 5.
I can already tell that its going to take several months before I am painting the kind of landscape paintings I want to make. I think they will take longer than the bird paintings and be more challenging, but they will also be much better paintings, both in form and content. Still, there is no rush, and this painting is starting to show some promise so I am quite optimistic that its just a matter of time.
In the park. At the end of day 4.
I spent the morning painting without looking at any source material (photographs!). Its a search for a way of painting when you are starting out on a new subject. I think it has much more room for a personal approach, this is clear, there are abstract landscape painters and photorealist ones, I am somewhere in the middle.
Setting out to find suitable views for landscape, I had my doubts as to what to look for. It seems any view will probably do, its how you interpret it. I am enjoying this far more than expected!.
In the park. At the end of Day 3
I say new, but I have painted plenty of landscapes. Still its been a couple of years and I am now searching for a ‘style’. I like the way this is going. I am not one of those English impressionists who insist on a palette of green and brown. I have nothing against this style, and in fact I like a lot of this ‘traditional’ tonal painting, but it is not me.
This painting is progressing, and I like the way it looks. It needs a lot more definition and detail and it will be interesting to see how I am painting these in a few months time.
In the park. Day 2.