still with the trees

... slightly to the right, or was it the left? slightly more marks. which ones are mine? and which one those of the graphite.
i don't think the photobooth minds though.

light and shade. round 2

leads to this. in unspecified dimensions.

Urban Water Exploration #1

I was a tourist here once.
I no longer am.

The city looks different whether you are or you are not.

Want to follow me on a bit of discovery?

Turn on the soundtrack and on we go.



Out of the subway, across the car park to the embankment.

The river glistens in the winter sun.



But the Kelvin is not my destination, not for today.





I walk past some new build development, a dingy underpass
I wonder if this was a railway tunnel or wartime shelter
Or maybe both.



Hm, this is more like it. A bit of watery calm.
Some reflections.

But not quite right.
I am looking for light trunk dark backgrounds.
Onwards,
Past the bridge to the little pond.

It is half frozen, just the tiniest bit of open water around the edges.
Where does the water change its state.








So many trees
So clearly reflected.

Ok... time for the coffee with M.
I back track, go to my favourite coffee place - offshore... how fitting
Order a coffee and [click repeat] hear this song.





Water, the city, reflections, trees... all in an hours walk.

Note to self: need to do this more often.

Frosty interlude... I wish

Alfred Sisley's Frost in Louveciennes had greeted me one morning a couple of weeks back, and after a Saturday which never quite made it to a proper day with all the low clouds and heavy rains, I wish for precisely such a winter morning. Hm, maybe tomorrow? Maybe not?

Alfred Sisley, Frost in Louveciennes, 1873,
Oil on Canvas, Puskhin Museum, Moscow

Sisley's trees tell us about the time of year, but even more so it's the colours of the sky and air which capture so well the crispness of a clear winter morning. Cool grey blues are combined with a hint of red reflection on trees and buildings to carry with them this winter air.

Makes me think of how to capture the invisibles, impressions as in Sisley and his fellow impressionists in their outdoor painting adventures.

Much more mundane, some of my own bare trees against a clear sky sketches:



Backgarden and Tyseley Station,
Pen and a bit of Neopastel ii on Moleskine

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All collaged out...

... was what Irene called me this morning. It was the last session for this term of our Saturday morning class, so as of next week I can have lie-ins on Saturday morning (and longer Friday nights).

I finished two more of the desert landscape mixed media pieces by introducing some more collage, alongside acrylics, gouache and pastels. Similar to the first piece of the series, I worked with some smaller detail scenes rather than the whole motif I initially planned.

The easier piece first: Easier since it seemed to work straight off in terms of composition. But, that's possibly also a bit of its weakness (as so often).

Colored Sands Series #2,
Mixed media collage on board,
30x30cm

The second piece kept talking back at me that (a) its composition wasn't right, and (b) that I just can't do trees. Fullstop.

Colored Sands Series #2,
Mixed media collage on board,
30x30cm

We took it to the hallway, and Tom, Irene and I did a good crit session. For them, the spidery shape in the front provided just the kind of ambiguity to make the piece work beautifully... that much for my obsession with trees...

Oh, and then we discussed plans for a group exhibition in Spring, which would be fantastic, in particular with us exhibiting together. We'll discuss this early in the new year. Very good.

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The difference a bit of sunshine makes...

Continuing with some applied simple observations, here's a rough and ready sketch from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire from the weekend. Rolling landscapes on moleskine (with some incidental acrylics thrown in), while we were waiting for our lunch.

Ross-on-Wye, 21x14 cm
Graphite and neopastel in Moleskine

Just have a look at the two reference photos... one without sunshine and one with... It's the kind of really simple observations, but again: captured on photo just amplifies the difference not only the shades make to the whole scene but also the difference in light and tone of tree lines and water reflections.

Working too late... on a photo set

... to accompany the tree talk... here are some of my own photos on the subject.

www.flickr.com

James Paterson's trees

James Paterson

Craigdarroch Water (Landscape with River), 1889

Oil on Canvas

One of the name that came in my art group yesterday was the Scottish painter James Paterson (1854-1932). Loosely associated with the Glasgow Boys, Paterson along with contemporaries such as James Guthrie and John Lavery, influenced Scottish art in the 1880s and 1890s and challenged the dominance of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Art (good old city rivalry in practice) - many of them to become later in their career established society painters.

In any case: Paterson painted primarily landscapes around the village of Moniaive in Dumfrieshire where he had moved to in the mid 1880s. His paintings in oil and watercolours were often done en plein air - in the spirit of the Glasgow School.

I think I found the painting Tom recommended to me yesterday, but it's a fairly poor reproduction. However, the painting is displayed at the Kelvingrove Gallery, so I will pop along to have a better look at it. Tom admired Paterson's ability to paint the trees very lightly, and transparent while giving them solidity nonetheless.

James Paterson
Craigdarroch: Looking down Glencairn, 1891
Oil on Canvas

Paterson was also a keen photographer - capturing many of his scenes on film. This publication in honour of his 150th birthday in 2004 provides some very good examples of how photography and painting complemented each other in his works.

Woodland moss

Woodland moss, pastel on paper, 30x40cm

This is the first of the many impressions from last week: a quick pastel onsite from which I then started a small oil painting yesterday:


Oil on canvas, 40x40 cm

I kept working on the oil this afternoon and only then went back to have a look at the photos I took - the pastel is very loose and the colours are pushed far away from the original sap and light greens to add more impact. The pen and wash sketch was the last of the three - going back to the original composition.


Pen and wash, 21x28 cm

From these first three ones of the same scene, I can now go and simplifying and abstracting further - both with oils and pastels.