OCA FYW Assignment 3 - extended project continued

I finished my work on assignment 2 extended project with the following words:-


"So where am I going with this project? I intend to pursue landscape paintings with a semi abstract feel - getting the feel of a place without being specific about that place. I am going to  try this style in oils and separately in mixed media" 


To start what is my definition of semi abstraction? From the internet:- 


'Of or relating to an art form characterised by stylised but recognisable subject matter'

Masters who achieved what  I am striving for:-

Piet Mondrian :-

And I quote 
"In his work this translates into his initial interest in the quasi random and disorderly quality of nature (the way branches on trees grow, the shape and distribution of clouds), which then changes into his well known paintings that consist of horizontal and vertical lines, the horizontal representing femininity and the worldly, the vertical masculinity and the spiritual. In his neo-plasticism he aimed to create a balance between the horizontal and the vertical, in tune with the laws of the universe, as he saw them, and his theosophical believes!"


Gustav Klimt 

Pine Forest
Gustav Klimt
July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918


and I quote

"Klimt's forest paintings are done on a square canvas (which suggested a "sense of quiet"), with the tree trunks sharply cut off by the top of the canvas (leaving your imagination to allocate a final height to them). On closer inspection, you'll see that the trees in his later forest paintings are more distinctive or individual than in his earlier paintings. Klimt's passion was the "essence of things behind their mere physical appearance", captured with very fine tonal gradations. Klimt is also known to have used a viewfinder or binoculars to select a part of a landscape to paint"

Nicolas da Stael 

"Nicolas De Staël (1914 – 1955) created works that balanced his concrete perceptions of the outside world with his inner, abstract visions. From the former Soviet Union, De Staël lived in Paris, initially painting still lifes and portraits. His work evolved into abstractions interwoven with realistic elements, created with a palette knife in thick, encrusted blocks of color. A year after De Staël arrived in Paris, he exhibited with artistic legend Wassily Kandinsky. His existence tragically cut short by suicide, De Staël lives on as a profoundly influential post-war European artist"

I took the opportunity of travelling in Ireland to look at painting in the semi abstracted style that I so like. In situ I painted my traditional pochade paintings ( as can be seen in this other section of this assignment) . I also did a lot sketchbook work of which I have scanned some pages below ! 

I sketched everyday for the fortnight - on arriving home I painted the following semi abstract series - none of the paintings is based on a particular place rather on impressions of particular sorts of landscape and terrain ( and incorporate sketches, photos and memories).

I found this whole experience - of getting the feel of a previously unfamiliar place and immersing myself in the colours, textures and changing landscape of the area the lead eventually to a more physical way of painting for the semi abstracted series above. I found myself using on most of the paintings , thicker paint applied using various methods - credit card , palette knife , sticks  and oil bars. The painting became a lot more 'instinctive' and less measured.