I own there is much good of the past that is overlooked in the desperate quest for tomorrow. Is it not reasonable to see the good of the past and embrace it today? There seems a prejudice against Then, an assumption that it was uncivilised and primitive, perhaps in order to mark out Now as superior. I do not believe the past was primitive, without the people and events that have come before us none of what we now have would be with us. The project, titled Me Then Now, involves Painting, a traditional output of the Artist, and the contemporary art form of the Performative.
|
|
Now as Then we live in a Patriarchy which i refer to as Papa,whose expectations may be at variance with my own but which i am encouraged to think of as my duty to meet. Painting is at the centre of Me Now seeking my independence and as Me Then, my life as an Edwardian woman seeking my independence. Whereas Now it is creative and financial independence, Then it was creative, financial and social independence. To paint was considered an Accomplishment amongst the middle and upper classes that improved a girl’s marriage prospects and is associated with watercolour, being thought a suitable medium for a woman painter. I am keen to make the distinction that my painting is for Art rather than Accomplishment and so declare myself “Painter In Oils.” There is a long lineage, of mostly men, that have taken oil to canvas for purposes of Landscape. Though i look to Mr Turner and Mr Millais i look to Mrs Allingham and Mlle Morisot as well. I paint landscape in oil for this medium brings a sense of the tradition of painting, to which I aspire to bring a personal perspective to the depiction of landscape; to take a view and use it to express the Nature of the place, the sense of the place or a feeling evoked by the place.
|
|
In taking a view i remember the feeling of sun and wind upon my face, the sound of birdsong, and the rustlings of unseen life. Usually some time passes between the recording of the view and the setting to work on the picture due to other obligations, but once in the studio the sketch prompts my memory of the moment captured and with due consideration of how i should share my experience with the viewer i set to work with oil and palette knife. Reflection on the progress of a picture requires days or even weeks to pass. As i go about my domestic routines beneath the picture i become concerned over some parts and grow cheerful over others then alter or emulate as appropriate. I consider a finished picture one that could hang upon a Drawing Room wall. I wish the viewer of a picture to see the view and know a little more of it than the disposition of elements by allowing my impressions of temperature and weather, of outlook or reflections upon my journey to influence the final depiction. My aspiration is to encourage a pause from the cares of the day to linger in consideration of what might have contributed to the arrangement of colours.
|
|
