My mission statement is as follows:
“Armed with only paint and a canvas, reveal the beauty that surrounds us enough, to make you cry”
No person has ever been remotely close in capturing the magnificence of even the simplest natural scene. Many have tried, and there are some exceedingly beautiful paintings in the world, but they all skirt around the issue of capturing the beauty of the real world. I am also taking on this challenge.
The methods of my work are direct and simple. I use a limited palette of colours, as any colour can be mixed from the primary colours. And any colour is relative to others. I also only use brushes, no palette knife or special effects, as I believe in the challenge of beautiful mark marking with these original tools. This is a choice, simplifying my materials makes my methods less complicated, and allows me to more efficiently paint a scene. Efficiency is important, especially when painting outside as you have a limited time with the changing light. My method is to make a direct, honest and efficient painting.
I am a big advocate of painting from the source, and in painting landscapes that means painting outside. I paint in all kinds of weather, mostly cold where I live. The natural world with all its magnificent colours, fleeting and changing light, beautiful shapes, intricate patterns, motion and sounds. Each scene that I look at is of the utmost Design, one no human could ever best. As such I am usually trying to simply paint what I see. You cannot always paint outdoors, sometimes it is more practical to paint in the studio. Much of my larger paintings are painted here from field studies. This is where the art or artiface comes in. You are no longer at the scene, so you have to rely more on your instincts to paint. You have to rely on your accumulated knowledge to paint what is real. I do use photographs to paint from, but find them slightly misleading.
My intent is to capture a scene in paint. Simple intent. But with all the nuances, virtually impossible task. The scene starts with a mood. If you are drawn to a scene it is an emotional connection. It is an emotional connection to the light poking through the cloud, to the mountains bathed in light while shadows cover the valley floor, to a lone tree silhouette, to the density of a forest, to the life of a river, to low lying clouds and a scene shrouded in mist. All these scenes are moods with an emotional connection. Capturing the mood is my primary intent in painting a scene. There are other intangibles to bring into a painting. Capture the motion of the wind, the sound of the water, the warmth of the sun, the danger of being alone in the woods. These of course are trickier, but still worth the effort. My intent is to paint a simple scene.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the paintings.
Stephen