Research point - Landscapes of Durer, Lorrain & Lowry

It was not until the 15th century that landscape painting became a genre it its own right, in the western world,  prior to the this landscapes were just garnish in medieval painting of biblical scenes. Durer is considered one of the first western artist of the this period to produce both paintings and drawings of landscapes.

Most of his landscapes appear to have been done in water-colour, and in my opinion, the colour is a lot more intense than the I would have expected for the period.

 My sketch of Durer's View of Katchreuth near Nuremberg 1511

Particularly like the "sketchbook" quality of this landscape some of the other landscape that I could find have overly composed feel about them (e.g. Landscape with woodland pool 1496).  Certainly get a better feel for Durer's abilities as a draughtsman through is animal drawings than I do in his landscapes

Much prefer Lorrain's Landscapes to Durer's (not suggesting that Lorrain is better artist). But again, given the fashion/ tastes of his time,  I find the compositions a little too polished, beautiful building offset by a tree set off centre in the foreground ( e.g., Landscape with the Nymph Egeria)

Two drawings of his pen and ink drawings that I particularly like,  again both have the appearance of sketch, are  A group of trees in sunlight and Landscape.  Would not be surprised if Van Gogh had be influenced by such drawings.


My sketch  of  Lorrain's A group of trees in sunlight:

Lowry landscapes unlike the early artists are less, if at all  romanticised and tell us the viewer about life in a northern industrial city, figures are very evident in his work conveying the hustle and bustle of the life in such a setting as oppose to the solitude of country landscapes with odd figure. His work is very much about the interaction of the setting with the people in it.

My sketch of Lowry's The canal bridge 1949

Exercise - A sketchbook walk

Sketches done in the back garden, overcast October Saturday, not cold but looked as if it could rain at any minute. No strong shadows the only darks in the windows of the shed and house and in the trunk of the cherry tree that appears in all but one of the drawings. Small garden so the cherry tree is going to make an appearance wherever I position my self with a sketch pad.

Leaves have all but fallen from the tree, and I feel that the landscape section of the course has come at the right time..might not get the contrasts in light and darks that come with a sunny day but I prefer to draw the leaf less tree.

A4 sketchpad  and a HB and 4B pencil

1st drawing is off the edge of the conservatory, with wind chime hanging over a chair, (loving polished each year with danish oil - oh the joys of owning garden furniture, rarely find time to sit in it so I'll make it the focal point in the drawing) the chair I have tried emphasise by making the neighbouring plant pots quite dark. steps leading up to a shed, dark patch on shed to indicate window.. conservatory window white, pale blind is drawn in this room (no dark reflections visible).

2nd drawing cherry tree in front of arbour and wall with flower pot standing on it that in front the tree, plants between pot a tree lightly rendered to help give a sense of distance between the two objects.

3rd drawing and possibly my favorite, like the black patches that define the windows and patio door, sitting in arbour looking past the cherry towards then back of the house... confusing patch of graphite in bottom right corner of drawing is a trampoline in front of the conservatory.

Last drawing looking across the garden from side of shed  towards neighbouring houses, altering scale of the v of the roof line and window to, I hope,  give a sense of one house being very much in the background, the second house in middle ground and the cherry tree in the foreground. Tried to hint the mass of ivy that is grow along the fence.

.

Research point - Ben Nicholson

In Ben Nicholson work landscape and still life are the two main themes. His focus was on capturing a zen like simplification of the subject matter, it's inner essence rather than a literal representation. His approach was influenced by the cubist movement, and reflected by his use of overlapping planes, but rather than overlapping objects that appear in a cubist still life (I am visualizing a violin and sheet music) he overlaps simplified still life forms (e.g., jugs, cups, bottles) with colour memories from landscapes he had visited (e.g.,Tuscany) or from where he lived (e.g., St Ives). A good example of this can be seen in the work March 14 1952 WBG, see following link:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/ben-nicholson/march-14-1952-wbg-cLWtj11dAwZ0zEVnOK5n0w2


Reference Material: Ben Nicholson  drawings and painted reliefs, Peter Khoroche