(TSoT = The Story of Trees)
The word “buttress” I heard in a church service for the first time and I learned it meant “support”. When I look at “Buttress” which I created, it seems ready to reinforce a structure. It seems as if this last tree trunk image could be the “calmest” of the seven studies. The muted background does not have any “new” or random dots on it.
The tree trunk is very dominant and most of the colours used on the trunk are echoed in the background; the colour scheme adds to the unity of the work. I seem to have repeated the techniques I used in “Fortress” here. I have more or less lined the dots up to flow with the suggested lines of the bark. Had I reached the beginning of a new style here? Unfortunately I only made seven of these and I stopped in August 2020. Hopefully the brain will remember where to start when I take up the same procedure again.
Just a reminder here: I prepared the backgrounds in advance and I used a combination of drawing ink and watercolour to create these studies. Why I am mentioning it yet again, is because I wanted to reiterate the fact that a prepared background is not to be frowned upon; it could add a “mature” and “layered” effect to one’s work that is often hard to achieve on a blank sheet.
Please note that I am not saying my works are “mature”, I am merely reminding “us” that there are tricks we could use to “up” the appearance of our works without much effort. Another note: I used watercolours, but the prepared backgrounds forced me to use a thicker application of the medium, so in the end, it resembles a more gouache-like effect. The black outlines also triggered the use of brighter colours to restore the colour balance in the studies. If you look at the collection as a whole, my use of lighter and whiter dots increased gradually from the first to the last study; the intensity of the highlights increased.
It appears to me, as if my affinity for dots started to “pop” in “Anchor” and then it continued to “Buttress”. I think the dots may indicate that my love for abstraction was starting to take over - again! However, I must state here, tongue-in-cheek, that I stayed within the lines; the trees or trunks are still recognizable, aren’t they? Another important aspect of this collection is to remember that these studies were all done on location; I sat in front of these trees as the photographs reveal.
Why I am drawing attention to this aspect, is because I think it definitely influenced the way I looked at the trees and the way I portrayed them. I am not exactly sure how, but as artists we agree that drawing from life is preferred. Most of us have worked from a photograph and we can all recall the frustration that comes along with that method. (I am not sure the French Impressionists would have granted me a seat in their midst though, but I tried doing it their way, 150 years later.)
I discovered a wonderful video online in which the experienced Nitin Singh addresses a few of the remarks I made (earlier and now) with regards to outdoor (watercolour) painting, with more gusto. One of the important things he states is that we overcome our "fear". Nitin also underlines what Cezanne said, "For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations". https://useum.org/exhibition/curated/Impressionism/quotes
Please have a look at the wonderful work Nitin does and listen to his advice. It is inspirational. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u-iuaEDSF0
Today I feel I cannot say, "see you at the next tree", because in the next blog I want to discuss a few exciting issues (I hope you will see it like that), which relate to the next steps of the process I followed; I hope to "teach" a few things some of you may not be aware of yet. Well, I can still say, "remember there is art in your heart".
Commenti