[farmscape i 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape ii 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape iii 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape iv 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape v 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape vi 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[farmscape vii 2010, mixed media on canvas]
[and... possibly farmscape viii, in progress in the artist's studio]these paintings are all 60cm x 60cm, unframed...i thought it was time to view some of my abstract farmscape paintings all together - and review some of my thoughts and words about them, as 'quoted' and collected in my artist journal [blog]...what is the philosophy behind the farmscape paintings? they remodulate, within a very reductionist format, both the farmyard and the fieldscape, a mathematical sense of order within an organic surface, as a means to challenge, subvert or recontextualise notions of a pastoral, romantic vision of the rural landscape. i actually view them as blind paintings, the 'images' that a sight-impaired person might conjure up in a touchy-feely, tactile environment devoid of spatial perspective... [this week]the 'farmscapes' are meant to be very cool, sparse paintings, hinting at enclosure, mechanisation, rural industral landscapes, reducing the pattern and structure of agricultural land and its outbuildings to an economic geometry… [03.08.09]another 'farmscape' [working title].. there is no reason to hurry.. it takes time.. and i am a slow painter... [18.08.09]the 'farmscapes' are developing slowly, as i will wait for the cooler hues of autumn and winter to pervade my colouristic senses.. at present they look bereft of true colour – dark olive green, slate grey, ashen blue, taupe.. [25.08.09]with a cooler palette of metallic greys, bronzes and blues… [18.02.10]agriculture depends upon the seasons, and nature through its cyclical changes imparts its own identity on an otherwise structured landscape... [18.02.10]there is a reference to landscape in colour and format, a modulation of stripes hint at the structures of agriculture – a farm (buildings) and its landscape (fields) distilled into one work, when viewed in both the horizontal and the vertical… [28.02.10]the 'farmscapes' have their obvious mechanical, minimalist geometry, but on some days I question their formality, they seem too detached from their source... [08.02.10]this led me to research the origin of the word farm, which as a verb has only been in use since the 19th century, the noun 'farm' derives from the Latin 'firma' meaning ‘fixed payment’ (from the Latin firmare) denoting a lease of land, later specific to agriculture… 'firmare' also leads to the word firmament, a tangible expression of the skies or heavens above… [03.08.09]the landscape of East Anglia, broadly-speaking, with its patchwork pattern of arable fields and reclaimed fenland, especially when seen from above, has all the obvious markings of a rural landscape shaped by man – a factory without a roof... [18.02.10]this review has helped me refocus...