Painting; "Lifebuoy"
Background and Context
I am continuing to explore painting on larger canvases and colour, using a brighter palette. During my research, I have looked at the palette used by John Singer Sargent for his landscapes. I found examples of works by Sargent where his use of colour in sun and shade was very relevant to my work. I illustrate “The Black Brook” by way of example (see below). I like the way that the dark depths of the water spring out into the bright sunshine, and the grassy, sunlit bank includes colours which are both soft, but also shimmer in the light. The palette is very “English” (even though Sargent travelled widely and painted many views of Continental Europe).
The “English” factor is important to me as if I get the
colours wrong, for example too bright, then I could end up with a Mediterranean
feel.
Another artist who captures the unique colours of the
English coast and countryside is Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970). At an early stage in her career Knight painted startling views of the
Cornish Coast, often on the cliff edge with a figure looking out. In The Cornish Coast (below), the light
on the figures and rocks is subtly bright and atmospheric, whilst the sky
remains cloudy with a lot of grey and intermittent blue. I think that you get this
sort of effect very much in England, and I have tried to emulate this result in
“Lifebuoy”.
Laura Knight, The Cornish Coast, National Museum Wales, National Museum Cardiff
As I moved onto a larger canvas, I had to “scale up” the
sketch and oil study I had done earlier (see images below). This gave me the
opportunity to widen the viewpoint and open up the composition. I set out to
capture the vast horizon of the Humber Estuary, and maximise the shadows in the
foreground.
Sketch for “Lifebuoy” painting
Oil Study for “Lifebuoy” painting
Process
I used the same palette as previously. I also followed a similar
process of working from dark to light and then adding detail. I painted the
water in one session, allowing the paint to drip and drizzle in appropriate places.
I added some highlights to the water at the end of the painting process, e.g.
at the foot of the bank (see below).
Detail -water dribbling and highlights added
In the distance the north bank of the Humber tails off into
infinity, and this aspect is a crucial part of the composition. The suggestion
of an horizon is enough to evoke the scale and vastness of the view.
Detail – suggestion of the horizon in the distance
The strong sunlight created interesting shadows in the
foreground. I had evoked these in the sketch and study. When I came to paint
the view on a much larger scale the shadows took on greater importance. I
therefore used my artistic judgment to add some tree shadows and elongate the
shadows inwards from the grasses on the side of the bank. The image below shows
the painting before I added the “extra” shadows. I had been on a walk along the
bank of the Humber that day (different location) and noticed the tree shadows
en route, which gave me the idea. I think that the additional tonal elements
and shapes provided by the shadows adds to the composition and provides more
foreground interest.
Before the addition of tree and grassy shadows in the
foreground
Lifebuoy, final painting
Outcome
The large canvas gave me the opportunity to widen the
viewpoint and explore the use of a vast horizon, as in some of the works of Anselm
Kiefer. I continued to experiment with a warmer and livelier palette, and as a
result I was able to portray the bright colours of the spring grass and deep
shadows as I remembered them. Looking at the colours used by Singer Sargent and
Laura Knight helped me to focus on expressing the “Englishness” of the view and
the subtle light in the sky and water. I used the painting techniques of
dribbling for the loose expressions of water, which I had discovered during my
research into Peter Doig and Michael Andrews.
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