Jazz Green : Artist Journal

Posts tagged ‘fields’

on landscape photography

September 26th, 2011

these landscape photographs have all appeared in previous posts, from 2005-2010 (part of an ongoing recycle & reuse images whenever possible philosophy due to the sheer number of images accumulated). i decided to collate this small selection of photographs of the east anglian landscape in one ‘place’ as it were as a simple means of a personal review, having been lost & buried elsewhere in the ‘blog’. these photographs were all taken from a humble point ‘n’ shoot perspective. there is the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words but here the apparent air of mundane detachment or plain objectivity contained therein means they are perhaps unworthy of many words…

suffolk fields, old airfield, passing place sign
[a field, a 'passing place' sign]

from previous post: passing places part ii may 2006

old airfield, overgrown by fields, suffolk
[edge of old airfield, with rubble]

from previous post: beware of banality december 2005

suffolk fields, old airfield, passing place sign
[old airfield track and fields, a misty winter morning]

from previous post: farmscape painting february 2010


[field, late afternoon]

from previous post: on vacant and empty landscapes april 2010


[stubble field in winter, with ground frost, norfolk]

from previous post: some secrets revealed november 2010

on a train, passing through the fens, winter fields
[fields, seen from a train, the fens, winter]

from previous post: passing places april 2006

[misty morning by the lake, winter]

from previous post: mist opportunties again may 2010


[early morning mist, reflection of trees in lake water]

from previous post: winter solstice december 2009


[high snow drift, a field, two trees and a farmhouse, winter]

from previous post: from white snow to grey earth january 2010


[snow on ground, meadows, ditch, late afternoon light, winter]

from previous post: walking, in winter, wander land december 2009


[hoarfrost on trees next to the lake]

from previous post: the art of making soup january 2009

winter field, misty morning
[field, early morning, winter]

from previous post: mist opportunities january 2010


[the north sea, a view from dunwich cliffs, suffolk]

from previous post: on vacant and empty landscapes april 2010


[covehithe cliffs, suffolk]

from previous post: on vacant and empty landscapes april 2010


[salthouse marshes, north norfolk]

from previous post: salthouse surveyed march 2009


[on southwold beach, the north sea]

from previous post: two pebbles, a drawing october 2009

i used to take quite a few landscape photographs but i have not been very inclined to do so in more recent times. these landscape photographs seem no more ‘vital’ to me now than having just a memory of the time, place or location to draw upon. perhaps it is just photography fatigue. not only does it become all to easy (with digital cameras) to take yet another photograph but one feels simultaneously guilty for not taking a photograph, for not framing the moment as witnessed there and then. then, much later, one wonders whether it should be kept or erased, whether it has any lasting use, significance or meaning.

from previous post: taking the scenic route april 2009

to swiftly conclude, here is a photograph (not really a ‘landscape’ per se) of a lone seagull on a roof in the pleasant seaside town of aldeburgh, suffolk – all appears to be quite innocent, peaceful and calm…

‘thinking should be done beforehand and afterwards, never while actually taking the photograph.’

henri cartier-bresson (as quoted in on photography, susan sontag)

farmscapes, in focus

February 13th, 2011

farmscape i - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas - by jazz green
[farmscape i 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape ii - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas
[farmscape ii 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape iii - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas
[farmscape iii 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape iv - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas
[farmscape iv 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape v - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas - by jazz green
[farmscape v 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape vi - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas
[farmscape vi 2010, mixed media on canvas]

farmscape vii - abstract painting - mixed media on canvas
[farmscape vii 2010, mixed media on canvas]

these paintings are all 60cm x 60cm, unframed…

it was time to see some of the abstract farmscape paintings in the altogether – and some words, quoted from previous entries in my online journal…

the broad idea behind the farmscape paintings?  that they remodulate, within a very reductionist format, both the farmyard and the fieldscape, a mathematical sense of order with an organic surface, as a means to challenge or recontextualise ideas of a pastoral vision of the rural landscape. i actually view them as another form of blind paintings, the images that a blind person might perhaps conjure up in a touchy-feely world devoid of spatial perspective…

the farmscapes are meant to be very cool, sparse paintings, hinting at enclosure, mechanisation, rural industral landscapes, reducing the pattern and structure of agricultural land and its outbuildings to an economic geometry…[03.08.09]

another farmscape [working title].. there is no reason to hurry.. like the mould and decay they portray, it takes time.. and i am a slow painter.. [18.08.09]

the farmscapes are developing slowly, as i will wait for the cooler hues of autumn and winter to pervade my colouristic senses.. at present they look bereft of true colour – dark olive green, slate grey, ashen blue, taupe.. [25.08.09]

with a cooler palette of metallic greys, bronzes and blues… [18.02.10]

agriculture depends upon the seasons, and nature through its cyclical changes imparts its own identity on an otherwise structured landscape… [18.02.10]

there is a reference to landscape in colour and format, a modulation of stripes hint at the structures of agriculture – a farm (buildings) and its landscape (fields) distilled into one work, when viewed in both the horizontal and the vertical… [28.02.10]

the farmscapes have their obvious mechanical, minimalist geometry, but on some days I question their formality, they seem too detached from their source…. [08.02.10]

this led me to research the origin of the word farm, which as a verb has only been in use since the 19th century, the noun farm derives from the Latin firma meaning ‘fixed payment’ (from the Latin firmare) denoting a lease of land, later specific to agriculture… firmare also leads to the word firmament, a tangible expression of the skies or heavens above… [03.08.09]

the landscape of East Anglia, broadly-speaking, with its patchwork pattern of arable fields and reclaimed fenland, especially when seen from above,  has all the obvious markings of a rural landscape shaped by man – a factory without a roof… [18.02.10]

it was the early morning shock of seeing a thin film of ice on the inside of the windows that prompted a couple of snowy walkabouts this week… for some exercise, some fresh air, to warm up, an excuse perhaps to think more about and reconnect with this rural landscape…

suffolk snow landscape painting - sketchbook

a hill and some snow, acrylic on paper, 8″ x 12″

i carried with me a sketchbook (or three!) but, for a change, i took some small tubes of acrylic and a few offcuts of card. why on earth go out sketching in this inclement weather? well, the intention was to go for a bracing walk and the opportunity to do some outdoor sketching seemed like a good idea at the time… i just needed some white, brown, blue, a little yellow ochre… (you can view last week’s before the snow winter field sketches here)…

these three small sketches are about 5″ x 16″

suffolk snow landscape field - sketchbook

suffolk snow sketches - sketchbook

suffolk snow fields horizon - sketchbook

[click to view larger]

i discovered a new footpath which i had not seen signposted before, perhaps because all the surrounding vegetation that would have concealed it had died back. some farmers, it seems, don’t like to draw attention to the public rights of way that circumnavigate their fields. this particular footpath began at the roadside – it was a quick scramble up a steepish, stepped incline through a small thicket of elder, hawthorn, briar, bramble and the like, which soon thinned out onto a small footbridge across a ditch, which opened into the corner of a large field – regimental stalks of harvested maize pricking through the blanket of snow..

suffolk field snow landscape sketch

winter field with stubble, 8′ x 22″

i walked a narrow path between the hedgerow and the broken lines of sown crops, minding the occasional black hole which indicated a rabbit burrow. in the snow i could see the pitter-patter pattern of animal footprints, probably a dog i thought but i could see no human companion footprints -  were they the trail of a hare, a fox or muntjacs perhaps? the hedgerow seemed to have shaken off most of the recent snowfall and so it exhibited an interesting patchwork of textures and colours when viewed against the snow – from the sepia hues of damp, dead wood to the musty grey-black of dead nettles, small patches of fading green to grey, the auburn brown of tall docks, shades of bronze and tarnished copper on the edges of leaves, the prickly hawthorn branches dotted with red berries…

suffolk snow field hedgerow - sketchbook

field and hedgerow, acrylic on paper, 8″ x 12″

the line of the hedgerow led slowly uphill, then turned an abrupt corner at an oak tree – and hereabouts, sheltered from the chilled midday air with a scattered carpet of acorn husks underfoot, it afforded a clear view of valley ahead. smooth white fields, lightly traced out by their boundary hedgerows, sloped gently to the south and east, a distant cluster of trees merged into a mist of many layered greys. to the north the field’s straight crop lines seemed to converge at a point near the flat horizon, with only the faintest delineation of trees to suggest where the land ended and the sky began…

snow winter field sketch painting - sketchbook

winter field, acrylic on paper, 8″ x 12″

some people assume that suffolk is, in the main, quite flat, but this is because the most travelled routes follow more level ground. walk a little off the beaten track and the views become much more undulating and expansive – made even more appealing to the senses when there is snow on the ground. all seems for a short while quite serene, quite still. snow softens the sounds and disguises the blemishes, it sculpts and redefines, drawing out the best features of a seemingly natural geography…

perhaps on reflection it was not such a good idea to use acrylics as they did not dry properly in the ice cold air. to stop the sketchbook pages from sticking together i sandwiched them with maize leaves, powdery bark and even clumps of snowy soil, all of which had added some interesting textural effects by the time i had headed back. something of real substance to work with, so i applied more white acrylic here and there, the remains of soil and the blurry smears of paint became the tangible traces of walking. i rather like that they turned out this way, incomplete and unrefined, within each rough gesture or mark is a brief thought or memory that relates to the experience – exhibiting the very spirit of a brisk walk in the wintry, white landscape…

these two sketches are 8′ x 22″, on black card – it is (or was) a photograph album…

field snow landscape sketch

suffolk fields snow - sketchbook

[click to view larger]

so, these small studies have really become remembered landscapes, they no longer exist, the snow has now vanished, but we have been warned that the snow will return…

i often remind myself that i have become something of a cave painter – i see things (discarded, redundant or dead things, mostly!) and then i retreat to the studio cave to make art out of the experience. sketching in the landscape seems to be a means to re-engage but also to step back a little, to take in the wider view…