Thursday, August 21, 2008

What to paint?

sunny fields
Since taking up landscape painting a few years ago, I am always looking for sources of inspiration. My interest in photography many years ago taught me a bit about composition. Of course, painting gives even greater flexibility since it is possible to "re-arrange" objects in the scene unlike in photography. Yet what I find is that often the same scene evokes many different interpretations of light, space, form and perspective.

Sunny Fields reminds me of an American midwest scene, such as you might drive by on the freeway without paying attention. Even the greatest hurry is insufficient sometimes to allow one to ignore certain scenes that have just the right combination of elements -- perhaps even something as trivial as an angled sliver of light hitting the grass or the treetops in a way that makes an ordinary setting memorable. The painter is at liberty to interpret such moments in a way that perhaps a photographer might not.


Sunny Fields, Acrylic on canvas board, 12"X16", $100 (unframed)

3 comments:

  1. Hi Atul,

    I very much like the light you've painted in your trees.

    Adding to your comments of how a photographer doesn't have quite the liberty that a painter has in interpreting such moments, and speaking as someone who is also a photographer as well as a painter, I think a painter is able to see light in ways a photographer does not. Perhaps caused by the tendencies to completely dissect a memorable scene in our minds, very slowly, and then rebuild it, still in our minds, as we'd paint it.

    At least, that's what I always do with memorable scenes I drive by or see somewhere other than in my painting studio. ;o) A favourite passtime during those many moments throughout the day at work when I'd love to be painting instead.

    Thanks for visiting and commenting at my blog. I've got yours bookmarked and will visit often.

    Deb

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  2. I like the way you paint your trees and that golden light in the foreground. Nice touch.

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  3. Deb:

    Thanks for the positive comments. You are right about the photographer's perception of light as compared to the painter. One is much more technical and analytic while the other is more emotional.

    Living in picturesque North Carolina has given me the opportunity to construct scenes in my head even as I drive back and forth from work at different times of day and year. Amaxing how similar that is to the process you describe.

    Thanks again.

    Atul Pande

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