Landscapes are a popular subject matter when it comes to what artists paint. Could possibly derive from the fact that nature offers us endless colours, the foundational shapes for construction and awe inspiring views? The subject of landscape paintings is also a very historical subject matter. It was historical artists who documented the development of land and regions through their ways of seeing. Through them, we can see vistas now lost to urban development.
In acknowledging this big topic, I asked the artists of “Interpreting Landscapes” a few questions about what draws them to the land and how they fit into the cannon of art history.
Take a read.
VICTORIA PEARCE
What is it about the subject matter of landscapes that draws you to interpreting them?
VP: Play was the initial inspiration for my labyrinth landscapes. I had taught landscape painting up north 8 years ago and was teaching painting on a coloured ground allowing the base colour to show thru. I was demonstrating later that fall at AGB when I went from outlining a cloud shape to playfully doubling back. Somehow, I created the beginning of a labyrinth. I got so excited at the possibilities that I kept playing. I had used labyrinths to line some of my nest paintings so the metaphoric element was exciting to me. That first piece had varying widths of line and did not include the trees or smaller elements, just the clouds. It was all new to me and took a considerable amount of work\play to figure it out. I like to tell young artists this story to encourage them to play.
You filter the landscape subject matter through your own personal style of painting. What do you think your visual perspective contributes to the cannon of Canadian Landscape painting? Where do you see yourself fitting in or adding to such a major topic?
VP: Sketches are a very important element to me. These pieces are very time consuming so changes are hard to do in progress. I make sketches from my hiking photos and figure out the overall large shapes and palette as well as the compositional flow of the colour and tone. I do a small strip of the base colour with the intended colours on it as a guide. From there I chalk on the large shapes onto a gridded canvas. The labyrinth lines are painted freely from there.
When immersed by the land, how does the atmosphere of your subject matter affect the colours/mood/light/composition of your paintings?
VP: The beginning of my process begins on the trail or in a canoe. I am truly excited about the beauty of the Bruce Trail, Algonquin, Haliburton and numerous other wild places, especially waterfalls. So when I look for what will eventually make its way to the canvas it are the raw elements of rock, water, sky and grand tree forms that really get me excited. I focus on shape and line to ensure an excellent composition as I photograph. I think it goes back to my days as a student with Robert Bateman. He had us wandering around with a filmless slide frame to look at the world with. Of course a camera makes that easy. Plein aire doesn't really work for me so I sketch from my photos.
I think question 1 answers a lot of that but the labyrinth itself is a perfect tool to illustrate the interconnectedness of nature. Everything in nature is not only connected but in constant motion. It's most obvious in the clouds and water and swaying trees but even the rock is moving, just much more slowly. The labyrinth satisfies my deep reverence and connection to nature and the geography geek in me. If I hadn't taken Fine Arts at York I probably would have taken geography.
What is your favorite region/location to capture and why?
VP: Painting landscapes gives me endless excuses to hike and paddle the great outdoors. My artist's eye is constantly searching and composing and I love to share that love with others. Talking to people about my work gives me an excuse to encourage others to get out and discover a waterfall or a rock cliff or paddle a lake to take in the wonders of a wide open sky. I actually get anxious as I am finishing one painting and am deciding what I will paint next. There are so many possibilities. I also like the challenge of trying out new palettes with each new piece and figuring out how ro apply the labyrinth lines to the forms. "May I Walk Beside You" was just such a challenge. I feel truly blessed to spend most of my time painting or hiking.
I hope to start leading hikes with Bruce Trail this summer \ fall with a focus on seeing the world through an artist's eye.
CAROL FINKBEINER THOMAS
What is it about the subject matter of landscapes that draws you to interpreting them?
CFT: This body of work was of course inspired in part by our beautiful Ontario landscapes and I’ve spent many days swimming, hiking and just watching the fields go by from the car window. But these paintings are not necessarily about specific places as much as they are about the feelings of places that are familiar.
The thing I like best about painting landscapes is trying to capture the energy and the atmosphere of a place. We recognize a sense of space and the objects in a landscape without having them fully illustrated. I like to leave it a little open and unresolved and that way we can each bring our own memories and feelings to the work.
You filter the landscape subject matter through your own personal style of painting. What do you think your visual perspective contributes to the cannon of Canadian Landscape painting? Where do you see yourself fitting in or adding to such a major topic?
CFT: I’m an intuitive, emotional person so it’s understandable that my work also has those qualities. I’m trying to approach the vast subject of landscape painting in an honest way, as a painter who reacts to the subject through a process of trial and error, experimentation and play. I am interested in the feelings of a place, and the memories that might be evoked by landscapes that are recognizable without being specific. In my larger works I try to combine the traditions of composition with the looseness that is achieved in the smaller scale plein air pieces. Hopefully the energy of the process comes through in the final product.
When immersed by the land, how does the atmosphere of your subject matter affect the colours/mood/light/composition of your paintings?
CFT: The painting Beaver Dam in the Summer is specifically about long hikes taken to a remote lake, and occasionally emerging from the dark forest into a clearing of sunlight and sky where beavers have built dams and lowlands have flooded. In my mind the deep blue tells the story of a mid-summer sky and the sharp black lines and rough textures in the foreground tell the story of a tangle of water-soaked logs. I’ve left out the black flies.
What is your favorite region/location to capture and why?
CFT: I am drawn to large forms in the landscape such as fields, skies and bodies of water. Close to home I find the Grand River has a very beautiful proportion to it and anywhere near water in northern Ontario is a favourite subject because it has an emotional attachment to a childhood cottage.
