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To What Extent Does Where We Live Effect What We Paint?
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Message
Posted
We moved from city to countryside about ten years ago, and I began to notice the effect of the changing seasons more when driving the 15 miles to work and back. It was soon after that I got back into art, joined a class, and started painting mostly landscapes of my local area. We also did the usual art group sessions of occasional still life, live model etc but generally your own choice. I joined a second more structured class with weekly demos but still painting mainly from photos and again mostly landscapes.
I love to paint plein air, and when my daughter finally had her own place in London, was able to take part in some ‘paint out’ days in central London, which I loved, and which made me tackle cityscapes which I normally would have probably avoided. I like to draw figures at the station and in cafes etc, but haven’t so far been able to translate into paintings, though I am aiming to do so.
I realise many people are quite happy to paint from photos, and I do so myself sometimes, but generally only my own photos, so at least my choice, and I have been there.
I think I’m still a city girl at heart, having lived 50+ years in Cardiff, and wonder if we had stayed there, would my subject matter have been very different?
So what makes you choose a subject?
Please comment, the Forum is not dead, just resting!
Tessa
Posted
Like that Tessa “ just resting” . Hopefully you are right . I’m a country girl and live in very rural north Wales . I lived for a while in Hong Kong which was fun asi knew it was only a couple of years. Landscapes yes, sheep and cattle an infrequent life class and the odd still life.
Like you I prefer my own pics and rarely use any at all. Outside painting is definitely my thing.
Edited
by Sylvia Evans
Posted
Nice chat line Tessa, we moved 6 years ago from the outskirts of Rotherham and now we are out in the country on the borders of Nottingham, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I don't do outdoor painting, except for sitting in the garden (when weather permits) i'm past all that and I rely on my ref.photos a lot, especially wild animals, we don' get a lot of wolves, zebras and the like round here, lol. Hope you all have some decent weather where you are to be able to paint outdoors, its raining heavily again here so have been cracking on with painting some Christmas cards. Linda
Posted
I love to paint industrial landscapes just as much, if not more than the stuff I generally post on the gallery.
Trouble is, in my surrounding area much of the old heritage, pot kilns, mills and so on, are ceasing to exist, so it’s more a case of painting what’s around me.
Luckily I’m surrounded by beautiful countryside, and my preference is always the autumn and winter seasons, snow being particularly attractive to me, it’s just so inspirational!
Like many of us on here, plein air is always my first choice, but obviously I’m having to revert to studio painting now in the main. I do manage to get out and sketch mind you, generally from the warmth of the car, but it gives me something to work from, rather than a photograph!
Posted
Sounds like we all live in beautiful areas with plenty of enticing sights to paint. I am just trying to paint Sylvia’s fungi while watching from my studio (tiny spare bedroom!) window a murmuration of starlings which sail around at this time of day not far from us before roosting in some trees behind the pub!
Linda, it’s been chucking it down here much of the day. I did manage to take the dog out earlier and am always looking out for painting ideas as I go. Alan, not sure we’ve seen much of your industrial work? I would love to see some of that.
We know the view from your studio is wonderful.
Must get on with my fungi before the December challenge arrives. I just haven’t seen anything of interest around here.
Tessa
Posted
Like a lot of people I have settled away from where I was born Leeds. Having spent most of my adult life in the RAF, following my father around when he was serving, it’s been nice having a static base. The Chilterns are a great place to live and work(voluntary) in the woodland, I started with landscapes and then moved onto old ships and transport mostly abandoned rusty vehicles. Now I paint what I fancy and find I go through fazes of subject and will do several of a particularly subject before the whim to do something else. Like Alan I do love old industrial scenes mines, barns etc.
Posted
Where you live must have some effect but perhaps it is secondary. I doubt it affects such preferences as whether you go for landscapes, city/townscapes, or portraits or even if you choose a representational or abstract style. That's the artist in you. But the specific subject, must be influenced by where you live. Here on the outskirts of ancient Sandwich there is little in the way of industrial architecture, so landscapes/townscapes are going to be rural or street scenes, with the odd seascape as it is only a few mils away. But certainly no big cityscapes or industrial complexes. Even though I paint pretty much exclusively from photographs they are photographs of where I live, or the occasional holiday, which I suppose is where I was temporarily living.
Posted
I live in the lovely city of Plymouth I returned after a gap of 35 years, during which I lived in London, Guildford, Bristol and Newport. I haven't painted any of these places, but when I returned to the sea the first painted trawlers in Sutton Harbour as it reminded me of my adolescent years. Since then I have concentrated on portraits and often use my holiday snaps for inspiration. I'm currently painting a male lions his cub running after his harem, who are on the hunt - this is from a game drive in South Africa. I'm struggling with painting the surrounding grasses. I've tried credit cards, palette knives, fine brushes but it hard work. Any tips would be welcome.
Posted
In my case, not so much the 'place' where I lived, in the sense of it's landscape etc. But I have vivid memories of the things that influenced my drawings from a very early age. In the early 1950s, my mum would sometimes ask me to get her some cigarettes...a packet of two woodbines. Yes...TWO woodbine cigarettes in a tiny packet. I would get them from a special shop, passing other tobacconists that sold them on the way. My target was a small newsagent/tobacconist in Deptford, in south London. This tiny shop was owned by a enthusiast. Narrow shelves lined all the walls, they were crammed with pipes, pipe racks, tobacco tins, and cigarette packets. The tin lids were little artistic masterpieces, tobacco from Egypt, America and other far-flung places...for a ten year old they were exotic and mysterious. The array of cigarette packets was similarly exotic and colorful, many with beautiful illustrations. But it was his front window display that really got me. Every square inch stuffed with Science Fiction Magazines. He was an avid fan himself. They were about A5 size, and every one had a lurid color cover. A cousin who collected these magazines told me about the shop. I found they were crammed with beautiful line drawings. OK, lowbrow pulp for the most part...but astonishing artwork.
This little shop was the nearest thing to an art gallery that I'd visited at that age. It led me to look up illustration art at the library, I'd go to bookshops, not to buy them, but just to look at the cover art.
A few years ago, I went back to see if I could find that little shop. I didn't expect to. It's gone of course, including the whole row of shops that it was part of.
These days I live on the south coast, I'm about 30 minutes from Southsea. Love going there. We watch the shipping coming in and out of Portsmouth Harbor. I like the old ships best...also old cars, and old trains. But I don't paint them. I enjoy looking at the work of those who do. Why the fascination with nostalgia? At nearly 80, the past is done and dusted, packed with great memories, and is comfortable. The future....?