Painting…Why I Do It.
Welcome all to my new, albeit somewhat creaky Blog/Rambling section of my website. This is something I have been meaning to create and do for so long, and finally I have built up the courage to have a go!
Now, a quick disclaimer before we get into the swing of things.. I enjoy writing immensely, but I am NOT a writer, nor is my grasp of grammar and punctuation that accurate. And, to make matters worse, the way I write is very similar to how I talk..I ramble a bit. So please forgive me if the methods I use here to wrestle my speeding train of thought into something physical, are on occasions an insult to the English language.
So with that covered let us begin this journey into my take on art, what interests me (and what doesn't so much) my inspirations and some discussions on the way and the reasons I paint. I do hope you enjoy!
Someone, I'm sure at some point must of asked me why I am so obsessed with painting the world around me? And to that person, who ever they where, thank you for putting this question my way, as its probably the most critical question to ask me regards my work, because without any doubt the landscape has always been my truest inspiration. For me, it has always been evocative, Ive always enjoyed being in it, exploring it, wandering through it, and just experiencing the unique feelings of being outside in all weathers and at all times of the year. These experiences have never failed to inspire me. Sometimes its a subtle thing, it can be light (its actually very often the light) the way it changes on a group of trees, the way the cloud shadows roll over the hills. Or it can be something far more dramatic, a storm being summoned and cascading down a valley like an angry god of the sky, rain swirls blotting the blue sky and turning it dark gray as it passes. The landscape is a living thing, its a legion of intertwined organisms, all obeying the changing seasons, all obeying mother nature. And if we stop and just consider this point for a moment, how incredible it is that the leaves turn red and orange and drop, how the ground freezes and the plants whither with the coming of the frost, how the birds sing different songs, and how the small fresh buds appear each new spring. With all this wonder around us, the question should be in my opinion anyway, why wouldn't you want to paint it?
But here we have maybe the first of many conundrums regarding this romantic idea of landscape art, and that is how? How can we manage to capture this rapturous, vast and awe inspiring world that surrounds us? How can we select that one moment of rain, or light or cloud that we are so very fortunate to witness and record it with nothing more then a swirl of ultramarine blue on a hog hair brush? Its a challenge to say the least. But one that artists have gladly faced up to for hundreds of years.
For me personally, I suppose the first memories I have (or maybe moments would be a better description) to me responding to the landscape around me would be walking with my dad and our golden retriever along Winchelsea Beach. Even now, some thirty years later, I can still vividly remember these walks, particularly in the winter months when the sea was crashing so hard upon the shore that you could feel the shingle shaking beneath you as you walked. It was these early moments Im sure, as well as one particular teacher I had at primary school that helped stir this eagerness in me to stop occasionally and look at what surrounds me. His name was Mr Dean, and his was a unique and rather wonderful method of teaching us Year fours. Often we would visit the Nature reserve near Rye Harbour, and there we would all look at the birds busying themselves amongst the tall grasses. Sometimes the class would head out to the local woods to build dens, and we would pay particular attention as we grazed our knuckles tackling the fallen tree branches, as to which tree it was that they had fallen from. Looking back now, its obvious to me that he was a man who regarded nature as paramount and he felt strongly that it was vitally important for the younger generations to learn about it. His enthusiasm in this certainly transfered to us, well me at least. After this, well I would ride my scooter up to Winchelsea and using willow charcoal, I would sketch the trees and the churchyard, or look out over the valley at the sky as it changed above the fields. I would take my small water colour set and sit amongst the grass and try to capture the shadows or the shape of the trees as they swayed along the rivers and ditches. It was also around this time that I began my obsession with this country's greatest ever artist (In my opinion!) J M W Turner
Its not a huge surprise to those who know me, or those that know my work that Turner is my top, all time most enamored of painters. I however, and rather shamefully cannot remember which painting of the great man I first saw that began this obsession. It may not of been one of his oils at all, as I did have a book on his watercolour sketches, and these did, and continue to inspire me.
I will certainly talk more about Turner in a future post, as well the other artist who have inspired me and my working practice. But I feel like this will certainly do for a start!
Huge thanks for reading this, and apologies if the grammar has been painful!
Till next time
AViner.