My image is of a landscape orientation. The terrain is rolling grassy hills with livestock grazing on the hills. The land is not fertile and so is managed by farmers and their livestock. There are a couple of wooded areas, also managed by the farmers.They provide shelter from bad weather for the livestock. A river runs through the landscape providing a natural source of water for the animals an an idyllic place for humans to picnic and children to paddle. The hut is connected to the land by a small bridge making access easier for the farmers which also provides foreground interest. There is more land visible than sky. The trees and animals are neatly grouped together bringing order to the landscape.
This landscape does not have people but there is evidence of human activity with the man made structures of the bridge and the hut. It would not be out of place to see a farmer tending to his animals but I do not wish to add the picnickers as it would spoil the ambiance of the image.
The mood is calm today. There is a slight breeze depicted by the clouds and some movement shown as ripples in the river. The mood could change though if the wind became stronger or the rain came or when the deciduous trees loose their leaves.
Reflection on why I have drawn the landscape like this
Visiting older relatives as a child who all had Constable prints on walls and table mats, and being taken to Constable country as a child i was encouraged to take an interest in the land. I have spent many holidays walking and cycling in the UK in areas which have the same type of landscape as my drawing - hills, animals, trees and evidence of man. I think I see this type of landscape as being different from where I live so it is associated with memories. At primary school I was encouraged to draw images with rolling hills or mountains and rivers. Now I am influenced by visiting areas and looking at work displayed by local artists or using the photographs in guide books to plan holidays and days out. One of my interests is mountain biking and I do read magazines which have features on certain areas in the UK and most centre spread images tend to be a big landscape with a few small bikes.
Why I chose this course
During Digital Photographic Practice, I became interested in the genre of topography. This led to a project looking at bridges along a section of a large river. Visiting the degree show at Nottingham Trent University the same year, I was interested to see that students had developed this by looking at the surrounding landscape and users of the river. This attracted me to the idea that landscape photography is varied and can narrate a story. I explore my local landscape by bike (off road) and although it is not beautiful in regards to a "beauty spot" being ex coal mining land, it is wrapped in the legend of Robin Hood. I hope through this course to learn to represent the area and record it as I see it and want to represent it. I am keen to learn about the historical context of landscape photography and recognise how and why photographers have made landscape images with which people associate.
Looking at the course aims and outcomes, it ticks all the boxes for me, so I am looking forward to beginning this journey.
13th March 2015
Reading around the subject of landscape painters, I came across a description of how a landscape should be drawn in the 1700's. Dimbleby in his book A Picture of Britain reveals that William Gilpin assisted novices to draw landscapes following a particular set of rules to ensure their finished result is "picturesque". "The artist should ensure that there are craggy mountains in the distance, not with smooth curved tops, but jagged. There should be a lake in the middle distance and the foreground should contain trees, rocks, and cascades of water.[ ....] Isolated buildings in the middle distance were also acceptable, but only if they were partially in ruins." Dimbleby (2005 p18). Gilpin apparently goes on to describe the number and type of animals of which sheep are acceptable and the number of them should be 3.
Reflecting on my rough sketch of a landscape, I had some of the necessary components to make a picturesque painting. Rounded hills are reminiscent of Derbyshire so this is from my memory bank. I had water, although mine is more typical of being at the bottom of the valley which is where I imagined that I was when I drew it; I had trees, an isolated building and the right amount of sheep. Reading further through the book, Dimbleby explains that landscape painters often made sketches and took them back home to paint at a later date. He suggests that Constable added in figures who may not necessarily have been there as metaphors and that some artists painted how the land would have looked before the Enclosures Act so as not to show how times had changed. It is interesting to look at what has been acceptable and how fashions have changed over the year and I am sure as I work through the course it will ensure I keep my eyes open to the changes in landscape photography.
April 2016
Thinking back to this exercise,my drawing reminds me of the classical landscape images. Watching (listening) to the interview with Ingrid Pollard encouraged me pay more attention to the landscape in the background of portraits and see the land as being owned by a landowner. I made the connection between symbolism of the land and the landowners. Ingrid Pollard made sense speaking about people being photographed in their environment which made me reconsider the early landscape paintings I had dismissed because I saw them as portraits.
Reference
Dimbleby, D. (2005) A Picture of Britain.London: Tate Publishing (p.18)
Bibliography
http://www.oca-student.com/course/photography-2-landscape accessed 9/3/15
Conversation pieces:Ingrid Pollard on landscape [audio podcast, online] Pres. Tate, UK, 09/01/2009. 53 mins, 28 secs. http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/audio/conversation-pieces-ingrid-pollard-on-landscape [last accessed 25/4/16]
