Gardens Under Investigation

While still-lifes with flowers may have begun with Caravaggio in the 16th century, the history of garden imagery goes back thousands of years. Eden, Arcadia, Hyperion, Shangri La are all idyllic garden states. We seek them in art. We aspire to live in them. Whether In the wild or in a courtyard we find microcosmic garden idylls. Rambling through the Stonebridge Nature Preserve I found small natural vignettes, little vistas framed by trees, sky and meadow.  I took photos. If I wanted more flora in my vista then, I subtracted sky. The higher the horizon, the more the meadow.

After reviewing my photos and returning to my studio I recalled other artists whose ramblings resulted in similar compositions. My examples here are by Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Lucien Freud. All used high horizons, triangular dependent compositions, and unified patterns suggesting foliage.  Example 4 demonstrates simplified diagrams of their compositions. Their use of triangles are obvious. Van Gogh uses linear perspective as he stacks horizontals in progressively thinner bands. Cezanne’s interest in reflective planes guides his patchwork of brushstrokes and, we see Lucien Freud’s interest in a scrupulous observation of textures and forms following a unified pattern of micro saccades.

example 1. Van Gogh’s Flowering Garden,1888.

example 2.Cezanne’s forested hillside (Chateau Noir),1904.

example 3. Lucien Freud’s Painter’s Garden,2003.

example 4. Compositional diagrams.

Like Van Gogh I began with a design using horizontal bands.  first is  the widest and closest band, then I stack thinner bands  on top.  I insinuated a subtle triangular design into the arrangement by relying on a  vertical stem of bright phlox to  serve as the apex of the triangle. I slightly tilted the horizon and placed a reverse-angled pale shape on that horizon.  To trace the history of my composition see example 5.  Notice  two triangles forming a foreshortened square. The design implies three of a square’s  four corners  (three reside outside the picture plane). The apex corner is occupied by  the wild phlox.  Sketch No.4  shows  a stack of arcs in the foreground, each slightly varied as well as the arrangement of lights and darks. Example 6 shows my palette. For tools  I used a 6″ squeegee,  8″ flat brush, 4″ flat brush, 3″ flat brush and three 1″ flat brushes (flats are soft, like watercolor wash brushes).

example. 5. my compositional sketches.

example 6. my palette.

I planned to over-paint an older snow scene, an oil on linen which I inverted. You can still see it as I begin to lay-in color with an 8″ flat in example 7 ( step 1). In example 8 (step two) I blended the lay-in and brightened the sky area. In example 9 (step 3) I began deleting paint with my squeegee applying gestures suggestive of leaves.   I applied dark patches to surround my light shapes in example 10 (step 5). The darks recede in space, the lights advance as leaf matter. Furthermore, I applied saturated yellows in the upper meadow to help pop the pink of the phlox and heighten contrast with the rest of the painting. The dark touches also create other subtle light shapes by default (wherever I don’t place dark we see flora). Example 11 (step 6) is as far as I have gone. Here, I overlaid the image with more squeegee gestures. Overlapping forms always generates a stronger sense of space. I reinvigorated the pinks for more snap and pop.

example 7. step one, the lay-in over the inverted snow-scape.

example 8. step two, blending for unity an atmosphere.

example 9. step three, gestural squeegee deletions suggesting flora.

example 10. step four, inserting darks and deep yellows.

example 11. step far, image to date after additional squeegee overlays and brightened pinks.

I  invite you to join me painting on Tuesdays at The Silvermine School of Art (Silvermineart.org or call 203 966 6668,ext 2 to register for classes). In the morning I will paint on bucolic and varied locations (easy access and shaded, if hot or rainy we meet indoors). The afternoon the class is completely indoors. It  continues with investigations in all forms of landscape from cities to rural life to beaches from representational to abstract. Classes will begin after the July 4th weekend.

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