Throughout painting history,
artists have explored and exploited the landscape as a very important theme for
expression. Landscape which generally means any form of portrayal of the earth
in cognisance of
the natural environment is a classical concept for romantic painters. Usually,
it is either a mere portrayal or composition of nature per se, or an assemblage
of nature with human intervention as regards the land, and or with an attendant
body of water to it like the sea or river, etc.
I like to further describe
landscape painting as the artist’s portrayal of any view of countryside, town,
land and sky, water or even sea, in a panoramic, grandiose, local or intimate
style. In drawing and painting landscapes however, all the elements of design
and the ingredients of composition must be brought to bear because in the final
analysis, no matter how colourful or populated your expression may be, if it
tends to make the viewer overtly uncomfortable, then something must be perhaps
technically wrong with it.
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| Watercolour painting: (c) Morgan Nwanguma |
Thus a sense of balance and
harmony must be enjoyed by anyone who views your landscape painting. There must
be a sense of design which welds your composition in a harmonious and rhythmic
fashion: the plains, rolling hills, the rivers or sea, must correspond with the
sky and the entirety of nature, animals, human beings and structures, while
producing a successful ‘piece of visual enjoyment’.
When considering landscapes, I am
forced to bring to mind old masters such as the duo of British greats - JMW
Turner (1775-1851), and John Constable (1776-1837). Turner was an English
landscape painter whose treatment of light and colour is said to have
influenced the French impressionists. These old masters were outstanding and
eloquent in the use of the two most important mediums of painting i.e. oil and
watercolour. Personally, landscape painting is one of my favourite themes, and
it draws with it and for me nostalgia and romantic sentimentalism. Quaint and
natural landscapes especially of (rural) country sides, and even ruins, are
just it for me, while some artists I know are also able to portray urban and
city landscapes in a manner that will make you just fall in love.
Sometimes in a bid to show how
much there is about a particular location or subject matter, I find myself dwelling
on a subject or theme over and over again. But this is the reality of artistic attachment
and view on composition because you could actually depict a particular concept
from ten different interpretations or perspectives, and each one will definitely
be distinct from the others.
It is a well known fact that for
instance, Turner visited the Salisbury Cathedral (England) several times and
gave the world a good number of views of the spire to enjoy; so did he of the
Thames River and the Houses of Parliament, etc.
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| 'Venice, from the porch of Madonna della Salute' - Painting by Turner |
In executing landscape paintings,
some other basics such as guiding rules are well worthy of mention here. I
particularly find it exciting discussing landscapes in regards to these guiding
principles and rules because of the nostalgic feelings of my basic art classes
in secondary school, etc. And of course this discipline was upped in full
measure in studio training in art school in later years. Perspective seems to
be the most important of the basic technical skills bothering on the
understanding of drawing, and landscape for that matter. In this wise, you are
being called to higher heights in which foreshortening for instance as a major
trick of composition must be understood and mastered.
Also, landscape painting affords
you the opportunity to encounter and understand more the interplay of the climate
in weather and atmospheric conditions such as – aerial perspective. Thus you
are able to understand with deeper insight the feeling and the sense of
distance and by extension, foreground and back ground, by sheer power of observation.
By this same token, you are able to properly apply your skills to achieve
illusion of space and distance through colour perspective.
For maximum success with your
landscape pictures, I urge you to ensure this discipline while emphasising and
focusing more on the main areas of your composition. For instance, the
foreground should be given less space and details just like the camera already
does for us in ‘professional’ photography, by blurring out the less important
areas and concentrating the more on the main subject matter.
By Morgan Nwanguma
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