Optimal Conditions for Site Selection The Relationship Between Value and Color Analogous Harmony & the Envelope of Light Value Divisions in Landscape Painintg CLASSES MASTERS |
Russell Chatham
THE LANDSCAPE IS OFTEN a complex, messy subject that requires the artist to exaggerate, invent, or recompose in order to achieve a workable composition. Russell Chatham, a contemporary landscapist from Montana, composes the landscape through a skillful use of abstract, two-dimensional design, frequently relying more on the way shapes are arranged than the volume of the shapes themselves. In “Hayfields” the horizontal rows of trees are like flat strips with only slight modeling; yet, he composes them in a way that creates a convincing depth. The wide horizontals step the eye back at regular intervals. But the rows of trees are punctuated by by fields of snow: the first field, in the foreground, serves as an entry into the painting and establishes a common “ground.” The second snow field is in the middle, and is wider than the first. It maintains a continuation of the ground by revelaing a portion of it to us again. Finally, the third snow field at the top becomes wider still, and moves our eye right out of the painitng. Had that field been only a patch of color, it might have flattened the space. Instead, he places tiny trees that provide a sense of scale, and inserts field lines (at the right and left) that serve as lines of perspective to direct the space. View more of Chatham's work online at artcyclopedia.com |
