Looking Up
colored pencil and Neocolors on pastel board
6 x 12 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
It's the end of my month for studying the art of John Constable. So, what have I come away with? I learned that place mattered very much to Constable. The subjects that he chose to paint were landscapes familiar and full of meaning to him. Weather was also important in his landscapes, the feel of the sunlight, the stiffness of the breeze, the foreboding clouds, were all a part of his work's content as much as the fields, farms and trees. This is where I find an affinity to the landscapes of John Constable. Place has always factored largely in my work with the associations I have for a particular location. From reading The Power of Place by Winifred Gallagher I discovered my sensitivity to certain places is more real than imagined. Where we are, and everything about that environment including color, light, and temperature, matters a great deal to who we are inside.
The image above is one such place, looking up Thunder Hill, which is along the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of my favorite spots along the Parkway, and one of the few where you can view the mountains falling away on either side. Hiking to the top of Thunder Hill gives you this view, almost like being in an airplane or perched on top of the world and everything else, as far as you can see, is below.
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!)
View from Moses Cone Manor Looking East
colored pencil on Stonehenge
9 x 7 inches
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
This is the first of my landscapes for the month of September worked with the art of John Constable in mind. In 18th century academic circles it was believed that landscape paintings should be idealized depictions of nature, perhaps including classical or Biblical figures. "Common" nature did not form the subject of great art. But John Constable wanted to paint "common" nature as he thought it had higher elements in faithful representation. He had a real love for the landscape, it's weather, and the associations he had for certain places. I was attracted to this view because of the sweeping curve of the lane and also because of the quality of light on the hillside. It was one of those days when the clouds were casting shadows on the mountains and the sunlight moved in and out as the clouds passed by overhead. I was hoping to capture that movement of light in this drawing.
As much as I would love to include an image or two of Constable's work in this post, I haven't yet figured out a way to do that here legally. So for now, I will direct you to the CGFA Artists Indexes where you can browse many images of paintings by John Constable.
Are there places that hold meaning to you? Does the quality of the landscape play a part in it's significance? Or even the light of certain times of day, during a particular kind of weather? I'd love to hear your thoughts on landscape and the importance of place. Anyone care to join me in studying the art of John Constable this month?
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 throughDiscovering 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
