Saturday, October 27, 2012

Garden Study - Japanese Anemone


Anemone hupehensis var. japonica

Painting directly from nature has a transcendent effect on a person. The physical act of sketching outdoors and dealing with all of nature’s elements forces you to truly engage with her. You are in the elements; you feel the sun, hear the wind and smell the subject. It all assists in your attempt to capture the essence or spirit of a place. You see it and feel it, it is like painting a portrait of a hug.



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The season is starting to change and all around me nature is transforming into her fall colors, the normal subject of my outdoor work this time of year. However I could not pass up these Japanese Anemones, blooming conveniently in the garden just out my studio door. To make sense of all of the visual confusion I really had to choose what was essential. My brushwork is more gestural and laid down fairly quickly and simply. I wanted to capture that experience not just a moment in time.






We have to teach our eyes to look at nature, and there are many of us who have never seen it and never will.
                                                                                    — Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin





Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim