Landscapes

The nearest bit of natural landscape to my home is the Grand Union Canal which stretches from Birmingham to London. So far I am yet to get tired of drawing and painting it! As we live on the edge of town, the urban parts of the canal, with the interesting graffiti on the bridges, give way to the stretches of water in the rural areas, surrounded by fields. The long straight waterway creates dramatic perspective, whether you look down from the elevated position of a bridge, or from the towpath. The mostly flat path invites you to wander with no chance of losing your way!

The effects of sunlight on the canal at different times of year give me ample painting challenges. When the sun in high in summer there’s gorgeous dappled light on the canal banks. In autumn and winter, low sun throws dramatic gold or misty beams across the water.

There are, of course, many many different approaches to creating a landscape artwork and I love to explore the work of other artists – too many to mention them all here, but to name a couple;

David Hockney’s wonderful colourful landscapes have been an inspiration to me for a long time. He boldly places complementary colours in a high key (like acid yellow and lilac) with such expertise, the result is totally joyful paintings.

There are many wonderful landscape artists who use mixed media. One whose work I admire is Jenny Grevatte who uses oil, ink and resist techniques to create her textured, distinctive works. She overlaps objects at unusual angles to make exciting compositions. When I was teaching I often showed students her work as examples of how to keep a landscape looking lively and interesting.