Month: January 2011

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The Journey

“Those who carry on their work as a demonstration of preconceived thesis may have the joys of egotistic success but not the fulfillment of an experience for its own sake.”

 John Dewey, Art as Experience, p.144

I found this quote tucked in the binding of an old journal last week.  I returned to it again today after a frustrating morning in battle with a painting.  In an attempt to grow – and not just produce hundreds of little paintings that I know will work- I tried a larger piece again today.  I used a bigger knife, larger shapes; all of the things I thought would fix the problem.  I had progress, but not complete success.  But today I remind myself that this is necessary for the journey.

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The Experience of Landscape – Jay Appleton

I am currently reading Jay Appleton’s The Experience of Landscape.  This 1975 text delves into the Prospect-Refuge Theory of Appleton’s.  This theory suggests that there are biological, instinctual reasons for our appreciation of landscape.  Appleton writes that we create symbols of prospect and refuge and these symbols filter our aesthetic interest in landscape.

“The strategic value of a landscape, therefore, whether natural or man-made, is related to the arrangement of objects which combine to provide collectively these two kinds of opportunity, [prospect and refuge] and when this strategic value ceases to be essential to survival it continues to be apprehended aesthetically.” (Appleton, 74)

Appleton goes on to analyze landscape in a very formulaic way.  While I find the idea very compelling, it is still a little to simplistic for me.  I always imagined our emotional and aesthetic reactions to be more complex.  I am, of course, not done with the book yet and look forward to the rest of Appleton’s discussion.

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Prepared to Paint

The are the panels I use to create the smaller Chromascape paintings.  I start out painting the panel with acrylic.   I originally used just red and orange to get the warm under painting.  Now I have begun using greens and blues as well.  I often select the compliment of the landscape palette as the under painting hue.   This intensifies the color I put on top of it.  For example, if my Chromascape is based on purples, the panel I start with will likely be yellow.

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Appreciation of Landscape

A great deal has been written about why humans are so moved by the site of landscape.  In my recent immersion into landscape painting I have looked more seriously at the potential reasons for this.  I have begun reading such authors as Jay Appleton, who wrote The Experience of Landscape.  Appleton is known for the “prospect- refuge theory” which describes an evolutionary response to landscape.  Prospect defines our desire to perceive large expanses.  Refuge refers to our need for security and comfort. I am just beginning to read the text more completely, but I have to say that my initial response to this theory is that it is too simplistic.

This is a recent sketchbook drawing, in preparation for a painting. I am combining an appreciation of landscape with a decisive approach to color and form.  There is a relationship to art that I think can inform our appreciation of landscape beyond pure evolutionary concerns, but without descending  into mysticism.