24 August
Today the
Friday class met at Greenwood Farm again, but with a very different prospect in
view. We hiked further into the property, until we had a view of the Paine
House, silhouetted against the Ipswich salt
marshes.
It's a motif,
though usually backed up by the ocean, that was used repeatedly by Worthington
Whittredge (1820-1910), an American painter. Whittredge traveled a road leading
from his early Hudson River
School paintings to his
later life interest in the French Barbizon painters. Initially he studied in Germany, so he
came a very long way indeed.
Whittredge
deserves to be better known. In addition to writing an engaging autobiography,
he modeled for Emmanuel Leutze, standing in for The Father of Our Country in
Leutze's giant canvas of Washington
Crossing the Delaware.
Today the task
was to paint a back-lit, hazy subject in a situation of strong glaring light.
The trick seemed to be to paint the objects in a hazy way, while still having a
few strong darks to reinforce the lights.
You can see
that the canvas was primed a thin pink, actually a tint of Blockx Jaune Capucine
Clair----which, despite its name, is definitely reddish.
This, of
course, is just a beginning. Finishing a 16x20, on site, in direct light, is a
bit more than I can manage. But also, to the horror of real plein-airistes, I
think that most plein air paintings benefit from a time-out, in the studio.
Usually I'm then able to re-organize my thoughts, and to refine things without
battling changing light, etc.
My real goal
is to make a good painting, one that is true to the spirit of the place. This rarely requires a whole catalogue of facts about the scene. Mostly it
wants an eye sympathetic to the mystery and poetry of the site.
Should I do
more, I expect I'll post it. At the moment, as those of you know who follow the
blog, I have a huge backload of paintings begun in class. Perhaps they'll be fodder for good
work when it's icy outside. In the meantime, I'm working on a 48"x72"
canvas, most definitely NOT outside.
Oh, yeah...when I go back in to sort this out, I'll paint in the apple tree. Don't worry.
Paint well.
