about 5x5 pastel on Uart paperWhen the son of George Inness describes his father he says,"Out of doors he was quiet, rational and absorbed. I have seen him in the same spot everyday for a week or more studying carefully and minutely the contours of trees and the compositions of the clouds and grass. He seldom painted from nature He would study for days and then go at a canvas with the most dynamic energy."
The point is to notice. To absorb all that you see and then it becomes part of you. No cameras, no sketchbooks. I have done many memory type paintings, before, when I have forgotten my camera. Now it will be an intention. 3 memory paintings a week...small. and yes, lots of sitting and watching.
11 comments:
Ooooh...you KNOW I love this one! Me with my fondness for simplicity and beautiful color.
You've done such a great mental translation of your memory study. And your Rio Grande underpainting is awesome. I love seeing what you've been up to. Very inspiring!
Thanks Jala. Simplicity visits the studio much more frequently than on site. It's just easier to be reductive when the splendor of it all is not in front of me. Thanks for your feedback.
Hi Janelle,
Memory studies seem to be so important, don't you think? I always believed so but now even more after reading all these writings by Inness I am feeling it is paramount.
I love your recent glazed pieces too. they are obviously inspired by memory.
Beautiful pastel and fascinating thoughts on painting from memory. I spend so much time observing and thinking but am afraid I wouldn't have enough information to paint with if I don't rely on a sketch or photo. Do you think work done from memory alone packs more of an emotional punch? (I think about that too!)
Hi Donna,
It is amazing how much you will really notice...especially when you start to train yourself to take the chance and paint from it!
Inness truly believed it was the only way and he related to a spiritual thing. "George Inness and the Science of Landscape" is a great book you can borrow from the library. Check it out. It is fascinating..
Take a chance and enjoy it...you don't have to show it to anyone.
Enjoy!
very well said and this piece is fantastic!
Thanks Brian. I know you understand.
Loriann- Two quotes by the artist Karl Schrag-
"What we carry away from an expereince often lives
in our memories more intensely and more eloquently than that which we actually see"
"What is most important to me is to paint & draw
what I feel but is not there"
Karl Schrag was a remarkable expressionist painter
He would spend summers on Deer Isle, Maine. I went to a traveling retrospective exhibition organized by the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland Maine. The exhbition was shown at the Bergen Museum of Art & Science, Paramus NJ back in 1992. He had a wonderful way of using color.
Great quotes NJ. I know a little bit about Karl's work, but I didn't know his quotes. Good stuff to think about.
Deer Isle is a place I love and have painted there for many summers. It is a beautiful inspirational place.
Beautiful painting and a very nice plan to do three memory paintings each week. The "sitting and watching" will certainly be easier as the weather warms up a little more - at least for me (you seem a little tougher with the cold weather!).
I finished "George Inness and the Science of Landscape" earlier this week and will be starting "George Inness: Writings and Reflections on Art and Philosophy" next. He was certainly a fascinating and inspiring person. Last spring I visited Montclair, NJ, and hoped to see the place where Inness lived but apparently it has long since been built up. I spent a few hours that day at the Montclair Art Museum where they have a small but wonderful room with around 12 paintings by Inness. It's one of those perfect exhibit spaces where it's quiet and intimate with benches to sit on while studying the paintings. The room is large enough that you can stand back far enough to take in the big paintings but you can also get right up to them to see all of that scratching and digging Inness did. If you've never been there before that may be a weekend trip you might want to try.
Brian, I will put that weekend trip on my list with Olana. Inness's writing are fascinating and his paintings more so...combine the two and wow!
While I would much rather about in the field, I realize doing the memory paintings is just as important.
I always welcome your thoughts Brain.
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