Through the Veil, Designs For Winter Part 2

Biologically,  we have  x-ray vision. Whatever is less than 5cm wide ( the space between our eyes) we can see through. Try it. Hold a finger up just 12 inches in front of your nose. Don’t look at your finger look at a subject  farther away. You will see through your finger.  We are adapted to looking through  a network of stuff, trees, vines, grasses, leaves.  This  adaptation also offers  aesthetic possibilities.  Our brains are adept at assembling an image which is  not fully presented.  We can recognize a face from just two eyes, we recognize a song from  a few notes, we recognize what’s cooking from a sniff.  Creating images that exploit our natural abilities and, our ability to assemble an image from the evidence of  a few disparate parts is part of the joy of problem solving,  of puzzling.  This is an innate pleasure according to V.S. Ramachandran, the neuro-researcher  and author.  We have long recognized the possibilities for painting. We have many tools and systems to employ here. The following examples  refer to  our  x-ray vision sense.  In example one I painted an iconic house shape obscured by  vertical smears  of suggested trees(example 1).  In example two I  add occluding atmospheric effects and textures. I also  soften and  redden the edges of trees to suggest their  light reflectant properties and  create an illusion of  additional  volume (example 2).  In examples 3, 4, and 5 I present  detail swatches from older paintings  which  set  precedents for  looking through a silhouetted set of trees  to see the  view beyond.  The silhouette pattern  obscures the distance but, creates a sense of deeper space, a more interesting puzzle.

example 1.  first stage in this painting through trees.

example 2. second stage after the application of atmospheric effects, color and texture.

example 3.  A detail from Van Ruisdael’s mid 1600’s painting, “The Wheatfield”. Here we see only through a few trees  which obscure a view of an illuminated house behind them.

example 4. another detail  from a Van Ruisdael landscape.  Here we look through the silhouetted dark forms into a vast distance.

example 5. This is the full image of a contemporary work by Donald Sultan. Here, we look through the pilings on a Venetian  canal to assemble  the iconic Rialto bridge.

In example two notice that the design  is  a series of  concentric circles, dark to light to dark to light. I created a corona of  light around the  dark house then, another  layer of light (top and bottom) above and below the trees.  Like Van Ruisdael,  I rely on the viewer’s attention finding the edges of  contrast between dark and light  arranged in a unified pattern.

I  have the idea of cascading light from an etching  by Rembrandt, also in the  mid 1600’s. Here is an example (example 6) of  a diffusing vertical cascade of light falling over a set of  rising vertical shapes. This is the fourth state for this etching.  Etchings often go through a series of different appearances as the artist works on the plate. They print the plate at different stages to see how the image is progressing. These stages are referred to as  “states”.  You can see how I was seduced  to use Rembrandt’s dramatic chiaroscuro effect of blended  falling light.

example 6, fourth state, Rembrandt etching.

Of course, the light can emanate from  an area other than the sky.  Here are two  more examples by Rembrandt.  Each demonstrates the localized use of light, a light which emits  a radiating  glow.  Our attention is attracted to the source of the light and, to edges which are defined by that light.  In the first example (example  7)  is  Rembrandt’s “Flight into Egypt”. The family  is lit by their own fire in the lower left , a light which  balances the light in the  upper right of  the sky.   The light areas seem to drill a localized luminance in the darkness. In Rembrandt’s other painting, “Road with the Good Samaritan”. You see a standard landscape design,  a  horizontal rectangle with a  horizon below the middle but, with a vertical stand (architecture or  foliage)  usually  placed left or right of center .  The foliage is presented as a dark shape but, defined by surrounding  light (example 8.)

example  7.  Rembrandt’s  “Flight Into Egypt”, a classic landscape subject. Even Turner would try it.

example 8.  Rembrandt again. Observe the  design’s use of  localized lights.

When I took this photo (example 9) I had the classic  Dutch landscape design in mind as well as the effects of  warm, localized light to create a chiaroscuro  effect of  localized light defining the subject against an enveloping darkness .

example 9. my photo.

The following examples present a step-by-step development of  a  painting  in which I re-organized  the photo of example 9  into a square shape.  I begin the painting (24×24) on a brushed silver anodized aluminum.  The choice of the brushed silver was to generate a more reflective surface (example 1  is step one).  In example 1  begin by blocking in a simple shape using iron-oxide red  then , mixing in ultramarine blue in parts .  My approach is traditional;  I work from the general( big shapes) to the specific (smaller shapes). I proceed with big tools first,  using a flat 4′ synthetic sable brush.

example 10. step one.

example 11. step two, I apply a blue ( ultramarine blue and Scheveningen blue light mixed with  a small quantity of white)  to areas  of the sky.

example 12.  step three, I begin rubbing away dark areas to prepare for  the area of headlight illumination and  distant meadow.

example 13.  Final step to date. Specifics have been added such as,  more texture in the foliage/ earth and tree areas, snow patches in the meadow,  misty blue spots alluding to the distance visible through the trees,  headlights and headlight reflections,   and the receding  linear-perspective bend of the roadway.

I found the effects discovered on a sunrise walk  were parallel to those in my twilight painting example above. In this photo the sun’s localized light is moved to the far left of the scene and, like the headlights in example 13, it diffuses its light. Again, this localized light  is set on  eye-level.  Here too, we continue to look through a matrix of trees  into a distance(example 14).

example 14. morning .