NEW REVELATIONS

New Revelations:

Throughout this term I have still thought profoundly about why I'd want to paint the landscape, why have I endeavoured with this theme for such an extended period of time, and why do I envisage it continuing for a long time to come. 

When En Situ, I realised that the natural landscape is unassuming, undemanding and untamed, it doesn't prescribe any attention or any depiction. When I'm in the natural landscape it's almost as if a weight has been lifted, the soul is cleansed, thee's nothing pressured about that environment. 

I visualise the painting process in the same way. A painting is not demanding, it only prescribes the amount off devotion that the person creating it, believes it deserves. Although at ties it is a challenge to try and transcribe what you believe is the most approproiate narrative, painting as a process is a purely contemplative and therapeutic process and I believe this is why landscape and the act of painting itself merge together so succinctly and so poetically. 

 Because I feel so at peace on site and I want to document my admiration of the landscape, painting seems to be the perfect accompaniment to satisfy this desire to transcribe.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

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OUT TO SEA: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

Out To Sea:

This final large scale piece that I produced, in terms of scale, I was thinking more about what might go up for the degree show, at this stage, and I envisaged that I’d have the piece ‘The Blue Elephant In The Natural’ on display. So I wanted to prepare another canvas of the same size, so that if it did get presented, there would be another to balance the wall out and create a clean and crisp presentation, so the size followed the same suit at 240cm x 180cm.

In terms of the visual that I chose to represent, I wanted one of the onsite images that would complement the height of the canvas, that I wouldn’t struggle with making larger and extending the proportions of the features.

I searched through my smaller pieces and found the one titled ‘Out To Sea’ I thought that the characteristic of the piece related to the scale of the painting, the dunes created the height that I needed, and they framed the sky and the sandy walkway perfectly. I don’t think, at that stage, I could see any other piece fitting the criteria, or having the features that were so appealing at the time and so I decided to progress with it, it was getting closer to when we would be getting the studio’s ready for the degree show, so I needed to be daring and simply progress with it, and see how it developed.

In the initial stages of the piece I recognised that I was spending too much time observing the miniature piece and that there wasn’t the spontaneity occurring that I had on previous pieces and so once the structure was in place, I thought less about being specific and particular and just allowed the work to progress more organically.

I think throughout the process one of the main areas that I really had to work upon was the integration of each area, the dunes, the sandy beach , the sea and the sky, they all had to unite somehow. I believe that the drips have aided this bond as well as working into the sky, scraping away at it to create more texture and variety in terms of marks, furthermore larger splatters of colour within the grassy verges and the sky create a collaboration between these areas.

Although I haven’t had a huge amount of time to contemplate this piece more, I don’t feel that it has been a rushed opportunity, I didn’t want it to appear in a less satisfying light or less fulfilling than the previous pieces before it and I do feel that I have been efficient with my time, in order to achieve what I wanted from it and still have time to enjoy the process. Would I change anything about it, the sky is still very busy, it could be worked into further, though it does contrast other areas of the piece, so I don’t feel that it is an area to become too contemplative about.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com

Out To Sea 2014, Oil on Canvas

LONE BEACH HUT: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

Lone Beach Hut:

When I made the stretcher for The Merging Of Water & Land piece I decided to make another the same size, I believed that at some stage one of the onsite pieces would appear to suit another canvas that scale, though it might take time to realise which would be better acquainted.

When I had thought it through, I realised that the onsite piece titled ‘Lone Beach Hut’ would appeal to the proportions of the stretcher. The piece itself was particularly intriguing with the beach hut (Lifeguard Station) to the left, the pier in the middle framing the sky, sand and grassy verge and the sea to the right, so there was a lot crammed into this small piece and so expanding it, elongating it, would perhaps, allow the space for each area to truly express itself.

The progression of the painting opened up numerous elements to ponder, for example the sky in the original is so subtle and unfussy, so I had to try and tone this area down and use a very delicate colour palette and marks to try and represent this accurately. The beach hut itself, I wasn’t too sure what technique would work best, I decided upon a palette knife effect, similar to that used upon the railings in The Blue Elephant piece, and it actually works quite well, keeping the subtle shades of white, though adding a bit of texture to break it up further.

The pier and rocks in the centre of the piece posed quite an issue, initially this started off being very linear, lots of lines made with the brush, layered on top of one another, in differing directions. However this appeared to become too overworked, so I left this time to breath for a while, allowed it time to dry slightly, so that I could scrape into it later on, not only revealing some interesting detail beneath, though also creating texture, through the folding up of the scraped away paint, it made this area more diverse in the visual intensity of it, and created more of a balance through the central section of the piece.

The sea, originally I was going to scrape into slightly after it had dried, however now that I have toned down and worked into other area of the piece, the busyness of the sea seems to create some drama and offset the subtlety of the contrasting elements within the rest of the piece.

In regards as to whether I’m satisfied with the piece as a whole, I believe that there is a fantastic balance between the textures, marks made and the composition of the overall piece, I did reach the stage where I felt that I had achieved what I wanted to represent, I believed that the painting had accomplished and achieved its integrity and so I think it has progressed very efficiently in order to capture very element at its fullest potential.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

Blog: https://paintingtheland.blogspot.com

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com

Lone Beach Hut 2014, Oil on Canvas

A COLLECTION OF TREES: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

A Collection of Trees:

The Collection of Trees piece has been created to the same size as the Coastal Pathway piece, again at 120cm x 90cm from a stretcher of a previous year. Once again the size suits the scale of the features of the piece, so I believe that there isn’t really an issue, of course you could always create something larger but if I’m representing it through a similar visual, scale doesn’t matter as much, there’s more scope to be braver on a larger canvas, though often it’s just as difficult to proportion a smaller one and say exactly what needs to be put forth.

The initial onsite study captured my eye because it had one very integral feature, a forest of trees directly central of what I was viewing. I thought that they framed the rest of the composition rather fittingly, where the skyline and the grassy fields surrounding were fairly balanced. It was simply an interesting focus of attention which caught my eye.

The painting started off in a similar manner to the Coastal Pathway piece. I experimented with the background, before I knew what the piece would depict. Initially I began a piece corresponding to the onsite piece titled ‘The Logs’.

However I felt that it wasn't progressing as I had hoped, I wasn't excited by the outcome so far, which sometimes happens, the piece that you want to create is not ready to be transcribed at that stage, perhaps later in the development. I had a look at my En Situ works and simply thought that the piece could work on that scale and the composition was fairly intriguing, so that’s how it began.

The beautiful aspect of working with oil paint is that it is relatively easy to completely change the visual expressed, In this case I believe I kept the original painting as the background and elaborated on top the new imagery which I was prepared to develop further.

The painting has progressed well, I feel, it incorporates a lot of the heavy, thick oil paint techniques of the Coastal Pathway piece, however the areas surrounding have more of a variety of textures and marks made, which really break up the composition far more and create a balance within the piece.

Would I change anything about it, there is a lot of green, which does reflect the visual of the original, though more of a variety of shades and perhaps adding more brown earthy colours into the forest area, would have broken it up slightly more effectively, though apart form that I believe it’s a nicely proportioned piece.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

Blog: https://paintingtheland.blogspot.com

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com

A Collection Of Trees 2014, Oil on Canvas

COASTAL PATHWAY: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

Coastal Pathway:

The Coastal Pathway painting developed on site, with me observing a gravel path, in the background of the coastline at Skegness, which meandered its way through the dunes and around the trees and bushes at the edge of the land. There was just something about it leading you on a journey, and the position of it in regards to the fields or dunes and the sky and trees was to the far right, so it created an interesting composition in my mind, one that would lead you into the distance.

Initially I began with a canvas from the previous year, so the size of 120cm x 90cm was predetermined, however I believed that it would suit the composition and the shape was almost like a scaled up version of the onsite piece that it would correspond to anyway, so I didn't feel that there was any major issue with it.

I started by creating some marks on the canvas, dripping paint onto it, creating an inspiring background, this was before I knew what I would paint upon it. However my ideas seemed to develop quite quickly, in regards to me realising that this was the onsite piece that I thought would sit right on that canvas.

I believe this was the first piece where the paint really started to get a lot thicker, and I did think I was in danger of it being overworked and just a mess, though I am surprised that with some more precise palette work it has developed far better visually than I thought. In this one the mark making is less adventurous or varied, though it creates an interesting contrast in design to the other pieces, I've also hardly scraped away at the paint, I think in the end I realised that perhaps is was destined to be a bit more heavily built up and has provided me with further feedback for my schema, which I can and have progressed with in more current works.

Am I happy with it, I would say satisfied, it clearly portrays the narrative, perhaps areas could have been even more defined, though that simply the contrasting process that has taken place within this piece, I believe.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com



Coastal Pathway 2014, Oil on Canvas

THE MERGING OF WATER & LAND: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

The Merging Of Water & Land:

The Merging Of Water & Land was created after a period of wet weather swept its way across Lincolnshire. The nest day was slightly brighter and I had planned to create some on site paintings, for this particular day I was visiting the West Common area.

The scene in question caught my eye as I was searching for perspectives of intrigue. With this scene you had the woods in the background, with the sky above, the grassy fields further in the foreground and two puddles of water saturating the ground in the middle of the space. I simply thought that it had so many aspects open to the eye, many areas to transcribe, I thought that it would create a piece where your draw all over the painting, always becoming more inquisitive, the more you glance at it.

I decide to change the size of this piece from the 240cm x 180cm of The Blue Elephant in the Natural, to more of identification with the true landscape panorama, at 240cm x 90cm. I don’t believe that the scale of the previous is inaccurate, as it suits the proportions of the subject matter and in this case it would link each section of the land more closely, unifying it better.

Throughout the process I developed the techniques that were open to me, trying to emphasise the possibility for mark making, scraping away at areas when dryer to create texture and to reveal some interesting visuals underneath, hidden gems, as well as breaking up the boldness of some areas.

The water was a particular area to get right, not only the colours, but how much would be revealed, after all it is the merging of the water and land and so there needed to be a balance. Ultimately I am happy with how it progressed, there was a lot of subject matter to cover and make sure that it was represented through the accurate colouring and the most appropriate texture that would suit it.

In terms of when I thought it was ready to be left alone for a while, it emerged when I was adding to the outer layers, the grassy field, when I felt that the detail of the surrounding areas was in danger of overpowering and the ideas of sparsity and density balance, was instigated.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

Blog: https://paintingtheland.blogspot.com

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com

The Merging Of Water & Land 2014, Oil on Canvas

THE BLUE ELEPHANT IN THE NATURAL: AN EXPLANATION OF THE PAINTING PROCESS

The Blue Elephant In The Natural

Firstly let begin with the explanation of the profound and quirky title. The name of the piece is rather metaphoric, when I was at the coast in Skegness, I saw a boat yard which was surrounded by these steely blue railings and at the time I was trying to capture more of range of narratives, which included capturing some man-made features within the natural.

The impression I got was of these cumbersome, ugly metal railings in amongst this natural beauty, which was being lost in the translation. I thought of a large clumsy elephant simply sitting there, not realising that it was distracting from what was around it, not acknowledging that it was, perhaps, drawing some focus away from the complexity and beauty of the natural landscape which failed to engulf it.

I chose the En Situ piece, of similar title, to work form initially, because I thought that the composition was quite striking, the spaces seemed to work really well with each other, the sky, the sandy pathway, the railings and I was quite excited for it to be the first one to transcribe from, with the adoption of this new thought process on the development of a painting and the visual journey of a painting.

The painting itself has adopted the more spontaneous style which I addressed, and so there’s little to comment upon the progression really, it has been more of a visual progression for each of the larger pieces. One thing to note is that I do begin by looking at the structure and the basic principles of the En Situ piece, however as time transgresses, a more organic process exudes and it really becomes more about being daring and seeing what might work and detracting from what we realise won’t.

There comes a stage when I say to myself, ‘Is there anything you could add to the painting, that would enhance the visual narrative, beyond what can already be comprehended’, if this turns out to be a satisfied not really, then I assume the role of moving swiftly on to the next project, there will always be a stage to come back an reflect upon the decision further, though I have realised that the painting needs time to breathe, to settle and allow everything to be digested.

As of yet, since the time when I left the painting, I have not ventured back to change anything, I believe now, it is what it is meant to be, I don’t think that should be challenged, with the possibility of over elaborating the visual which is very simple and honest and has the integrity it deserves, so deliberating if there’s anything I would change about it or the process, I would have probably liked to work outside on it, it was created in the studio, but then I may not have achieved a similar visual, I believe that it can relate to the smaller version, though expands quite dramatically from it, which is what I envisaged it progressing towards.

Email: paintingtheland@hotmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintingTheLand

Blog: https://paintingtheland.blogspot.com

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Website: www.danielgoodchild.com

The Blue Elephant In The Natural 2014, Oil on Canvas