There was a show on TVO last night about the Group of Seven. This group of artists changed the face of Canadian painting. (It can be streamed online.)
I'd seen it before but that was before I'd been up to Algonquin park. It was only after being there that I truly understood why the group loved painting in the north. Not only is it beautiful but there's a softness to the light. I've always loved the fact that most of their paintings have an abstract flavour. They were simply trying to put the illusive light on canvas.I learned a lot that I'd missed last time.
While doing my watercolours in Grundy, I felt pressured because I believed it was necessary to put exactly what I saw on paper. In an interview, one of the artists was talking about the need to pull key elements out of any landscape so the artist is actually capturing the essence of a landscape not the actual view. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I've never had patience to do anything remotely like the high realism often favoured by wildlife painters. It left me feeling my own artistic ventures were less than ideal
It's helped me look at my own work from a different perspective. The little watercolour sketches I did in Grundy do capture the essence of the landscape without getting bogged down in the details. Although, I would have liked to put the silver wakes of the water beetles in the moon scene but it would have to be painted in acrylics to accomplish that.
(Note to self: when painting in Nova Scotia, be sure to tape the paper onto the board so the edges are square. :D)
It feels as though a whole new world has opened up. I like that!
"For we dare not classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us--a sphere which is especially intended for you." 2 Cor 10:12-13
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