It's always disappointing not to have had snow at Christmas, but I have to say I'm relieved – what with the broken foot, the last thing I need is to step outside, slip and slither onto my backside and end up trading the orthopaedic boot for a full body plaster. In the absence of the real thing, I've rootled through my portfolio and found this pastel of a boy in a big orange coat stumping through a swirl of snow. It would have been impractical to do this out of doors, as snow, like rain, can ruin a painting. When a snowflake falls onto paper, it is impossible to brush off, however crisp and crystalline it appears to be. It simply sticks there, and for an enchanted moment there it is, in all its perfect symmetry. Then another and another and another fall, all perfect and different. Then they melt into the surface of the painting and totally muck up what had promised to be a decent piece of work. Fortunately, a combination of observation, rapid field sketches and photographs gave me the information I needed to complete this subject in the studio. That isn't to say I regularly paint in the comfort of the great indoors on the basis of a few hurried 'snaps.' Far from it. Even when the weather makes it impossible to work out on location, there's nothing like getting out in the elements in order to soak up the atmosphere of a place. ~ Near my home there is a vast, windy field, with a track that cuts across the most open and windy part of it. A few years ago we had a tremendous amount of snow, which kept me indoors for some days. Finally, in a fit of cabin fever, I'd had enough, togged myself up, grabbed my hiking pole, and headed out across the Windy Field. I know the track well; it is impossible to get lost. But today was different. Part way across, the snow began falling; minutes later it was coming fast, and I was stumping along, head down, into a blinding white landscape. There was no sign of the track, and no other footprints ahead of me. The snow had erased all trace of my familiar world, and was making the landscape anew. That is, what I could see of it – visibility was down to about twenty feet. I felt like a pioneer, heading into the unknown... Further along, the track was blocked by a dune-shaped drift about three feet high. Not one for turning back, I clambered over it, only to sink up to my knees, the snow half-filling my boots. Oh well, 'in for a penny...' I ploughed on, head down, stockinged feet crunching on the snow inside my boots. I fought off the discomfort by thinking how, after this, my next snow painting would be filled with a great sense of being Out There... Coming back through the village, I met the only other person out that day, a weather-beaten man in his eighties. I was about to tell him of the three foot high drift I had conquered out in the wind-blasted field, when he cut in: 'If you think this is bad, you should have been here in the winter of '47. I was just a boy. The snow kept falling until it almost swallowed the house – the only way out was through an upstairs window!' He went on to tell me how there had been no electricity, no heating and the loo was in a shed at the bottom of the garden, 'with icicles hanging right over the privy, like sharks' teeth – you needed to get your business done quick before one of 'em broke off and poleaxed you! And getting back to the house, the snowflakes were as big as your hand!'
Although I thought this last comment a bit of an exaggeration, I shelved my story about conquering what now felt like a rather feeble three foot high drift. ~ All landscape paintings, whatever the season they depict, benefit from that sense of being 'out there'. Even if it's too wet, too windy, too cold, too whatever to actually paint on location, you can still tog yourself up and get out. The experience will find its way into your work, and you'll come home feeling invigorated and with a story to tell – although presumably not about snowflakes as big as your hand... Comments are closed.
|
Judith Key
Judith Key is a Norfolk based artist, working in watercolour and pastel. She has exhibited with the Society of Graphic Fine Artists and New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries, London. Her paintings are in collections worldwide. Categories
All
Archives
May 2018
|