Skying

Skying

watercolor

6 x 8 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

When I see a dramatic sky I think of John Constable's cloud paintings. And as he said, "I have done a good deal of skying." He would add notes to his sky studies on the weather conditions, direction of light, and time of day. This was painted for the second challenge that I submitted to Daily Paintworks. I was inspired by John Constable's cloud paintings and how he often painted unusual effects of lighting in the landscape by placing a light valued foreground against a dark sky. This painting is a scene from Edisto Beach, South Carolina, when there was a "Constable sky" happening.

Where Am I Now?

Evening Clouds
5 x 7 inches
colored pencil on pastel board
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I just spent a few moments going through all the colored pencil pieces I have done since I began seriously working on my art again, sometime around last March. This is one of the earlier pieces I completed and fits in nicely with my current cloud studies. I have also been thinking about where I want to take this renewed interest in creating art and formulating some more concrete plans for this journey.

There are times, well, most of the time actually, when the demands of each day are more than enough to keep my attention focused on anything but making art. There's homeschooling, a full time job in itself, and the house to keep up with, meal planning and cooking, driving kiddo to various classes, and all the other stuff that fills up time. And I think who am I kidding thinking I can actually get somewhere with this art? And at this point in my life? It has been quite a long time since making art was a fundamental part of my life and it isn't easy trying to start over this late in the game.

But then again, where will I be in a year, five years, if I don't? Probably much the same as now but without knowing what might have happened if I had given this art business a go. Please don't misunderstand. I love spending time with kiddo and teaching her at home, wouldn't miss it for the world. And I actually do enjoy domestic life. I only weigh the possibilities concerning living as an artist, making creativity part of what I do, versus leaving art out because it only adds more work to an already busy and full life. But, because for now I feel a need to continue working on my art you will be seeing me here for a while. I may not be posting as often as I like but rest assured that something is probably cooking (either on the stove or on the drawing board) and I will update as often as possible. Whew!

Cloud Study

Cloud Study
3.5 x 5 inches
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

It wouldn't be a review of the art of John Constable without doing a few studies of clouds. So often I see just beautiful skies, usually when I am without my camera! On a few occasions, however, I have managed to capture some lovely cloud formations.

Because I started this post earlier this afternoon and it took me an insane amount of time to figure out just how to post items for sale on Ebay, and it is now after my bedtime, I will wait for another day to discuss more about my artist study of John Constable and my progress with colored pencil drawing. (Yes, we covered conjunctions last week in our homeschool!)

Skies

Variably Cloudy
acrylic and oil on canvas
36 x 24 inches
copyright 1996 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky



I was still in college when I first discovered the art of John Constable. Seeing a small exhibition of his sky studies at a local museum, I was fascinated by this concept of focusing solely on sky as a subject matter and filed it away. Later, after having earned my degree, I returned to landscape as a subject and spent some time developing images of skies. The painting above is one example. (I do apologize for the poor photo though, the fish-eye effect is distracting, it's not that way in real life!) Somewhere along the way I also acquired a book of Constable's paintings, Constable by John Sunderland. Published in 1972 by Phaidon Press Limited I see from my Amazon search that this book I picked up used many years ago in a used bookstore is no longer in print. Anyway, it seemed fitting to begin my exploration of John Constable's work with the subject of sky.

John Constable, 1776-1837, was a landscape painter who held an interest in painting the truth in nature, even the precise weather of a particular time and day. In doing so he rejected those of his contemporaries in 18th century landscape painting who made generalized and idealized depictions of nature.

The American Artist Drawing Magazine Summer 2007 issue features an interesting article about John Constable's Sketchbooks. The article discusses how he carried with him pocket-sized sketchbooks in which he did graphite studies for large oil paintings. For Constable, sketchbook drawing advanced his skills as he refined his method of showing the effect of light and shadow. Yet even these small drawings show his attention to the sky as he managed to capture the quality of light at a particular time of day.

There is more concerning his interest in the quality of light that I will share later as I work on my own Constable inspired landscape drawings. But for now, I have come across an interesting correlation in the writing of Winnifred Gallagher's The Power of Place, where she states,

"Like other living things, however, our species has evolved over the millions
of years to respond to the cycles of the earth and sun with predictable
biochemical and behavioral changes. Environmentally minded scientists have
begun to question the trade-offs we unwittingly make in order to live sealed
up inside an artificially heated, cooled, and lighted world that is structured
around economic rather than biologic concerns."


And finally, I can't leave out the John Constable art project I did with my daughter a couple of years ago. We spent a year going through
Discovering Great Artists by Mary Ann Kohl, by choosing an artist to study each month and ending the month with a project in the style of that artist's work. This book is a terrific introduction into art appreciation for kids ages 4-12. We certainly had a lot of fun learning about different artists and working on the projects together!

Watercolor After John Constable
approx. 12 x 9 inches
copyright 2005 by HRN
Private Collection