My journey to paint the swedish landscape

Painting the Australian landscape

I’ve painted the landscape for a long time. Nearly 30 years I think. It took me a long time to ‘get’ the Australian landscape. I always felt what’s the point in painting a realistic image when photography does it better. And I didn’t have much interest in the technical challenge of realism. To me what’s that got to do with landscape. I was searching for something else which captured it’s essence, it’s spirit somehow. The artist John Wolseley does this by simply laying his paper directly onto the landscape. I love his work but that’s too random for me and it misses too much detail (though he does put it in later). Eventually I found my own semi-abstract style that hovers between dimensions-to capture the ‘lightness’ (in terms of energy) of the Australian landscape without losing totally the structure. Though sometimes it’s one or the other.

Susan Wellington_’Galada Tamborre’ oil on canvas 2004

Painting the Swedish Landscape

It’s actually been quite difficult to adapt to a new landscape here in Sweden. Even though I’m sure people just think you get out your paints and go for it. But I don’t. I don’t simply copy what I see. The landscape has to become a part of your soul for me to be moved to do it and this can take a while. Though I’ve always loved birch trees. And so in the beginning of living here I painted quite a lot of isolated birch trees in gouache. Just getting to know the landscape. I put them in a simple atmosphere where their individuality- their white, slashed, crunchy bark and stringy branches- wouldn’t be dominated by the surroundings. (Am I talking about myself? Sounds like it.)

Susan Wellington ‘Night Birches in Stockholm’ 2010 Gouache on paper

Eventually the larger landscape came in. It’s basic flatness, the dominance of blue and pale pink and violet. Many shades of green as well.

Susan Wellington ‘Pink and Purple Landscape’ 2011 oil on canvas 20 x 50cm

2012 Onwards

I’m working on a series on the local forest at the moment as well as assorted commisions. But I must admit that the longer I’ve been here in Sweden the more I feel impelled to express myself in a more freer combination of abstract and realistic elements. This is a recent painting below. What do you think?

Susan Wellington ‘Forest Light’ 2012 Oil on Canvas 30 x 30cm

‘An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.’

Vincent Van Gogh

Monet’s waterlily paintings at the Musee de L’Orangerie

Who doesn’t like Claude Monet (1840–1926)? Nobody as far as I know. Though when I was first learning about the French impressionists I thought I was very cool calling him a chocolate box artist. Well so what! I wish I was so lucky as to be a chocolate box artist. Well sort of. I still get peeved when artists sell out to advertising. Recently on swedish tv they’ve been showing an ad with David Bowie’s brilliant song ‘Heroes’ as the soundtrack. Awful. Why David? It trivialises the song completely. Monet of course had no say in the matter. But probably he as well as Van Gogh and all the other holy artistic saints may’ve sold their souls too. Who knows?

Anyway when we were last in Paris we were lucky enough to visit the Musée de l’Orangerie where 8 of Monet’s Water Lily series is permanently exhibited. During the last 30 years of his long life Monet painted around 250 paintings of his garden in Giverny many of which feature a water lily covered pond. Wouldn’t it be great to see them all in the one place? I suppose exhibiting 250 large paintings would be a bit of a logistics nightmare for a gallery. Though 60 water lily paintings from around the world were gathered for a special exhibition at the Musée de l’Orangerie in 1999.

Thankfully we got in to the gallery just before enormous crowds of tourists blocked out the view. The Monet’s are in their own room and you can sit and relax and contemplate them on any number of seats. When I first saw them they didn’t affect me much but after sitting there awhile you kind of become submerged into them. They sweep over you like giant colour clouds. I loved them in the end and didn’t want to leave his watery, magical world.

Yes they’re pretty abstract and you can see how they connect to the Abstract Expressionists of the mid 20th C. Monet’s still about his perceptions before nature though. The abstract expressionists got rid of nature and left the perceptions. The photographs I took above look kind of barren really but that’s something the real paintings definitely are not. They seem to embody the nature of water in their lovely loose, flowing technique. And the colour harmonies are rich and subtle. I was surprised with how soft and pearlescent they were in real life. They somehow have the quality of real pearls. In the end he’s a painter you can always enjoy on a purely visual level.

Musée de l’Orangerie Jardin des Tuileries 75001 Paris

website: http://www.musee-orangerie.fr./
phone: + 33 (0)1 44 77 80 07

Opening times:
Open everyday, except on Tuesdays, May 1st and December 25th
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (premises start to be vacated at 5.45 pm)
English guided tour (1h30) (for individual visitors)
Every Monday and Thursday at 2:30 pm
Groups: reservations only
Reservations should be made writing to Musée de l’Orangerie / group reservations (FAX: + 33 (0)1 44 77 81 12)

Related posts:

A cup of tea with Monet, Turner and Twombly.

Postcards from the Snow.

Here’s a helpful amateur photographer’s guide to taking photos in Paris. 

‘Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.’

John Lennon

A spring visit to Gothenburg Museum of Art

Carl Milles sculpture of 'Poseidon' (1925) outside the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

Sweden’s pretty flat from what I’ve seen so far. In fact dead flat, though I haven’t been north yet but Gothenburg’s (Göteborg) surrounded by these small pine covered hills which makes it quite picturesque. It’s on the west coast of Sweden and its second largest city and most important port.

At the Gothenburg Museum of Art

So while we were there wandering through the crowds lapping up the spring sunlight we decided to seek more darkness and visit the Gothenburg Museum of Art, which is part of the brilliantly designed Götaplatsen – the centre of the arts in the city. Surprisingly it’s actually light and airy inside and full of masterpieces from the 15th century on such as the usual suspects Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet and many more. The Nordic section was of course huge. The ones you’ve heard about such as Munch, Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson and there were also a number of Nordic Fauvist artists I’d never heard of. I liked them better than the French varieties-even Matisse perhaps because their technique was more refined. Can’t remember any names though. You just don’t hear about them in any of the art books on the 20c in english so I’m going to have to do some research. And perhaps go back again in future.

Gothenburg's neo-classical Art Gallery (1925) looming over the tents. It is built of a yellow brick called ”Gothenburg brick" which is common all over the city.

Inside looking out of Gothenburg Museum of Art.

The Hasselblad Centre is part of the Konstmuseet (Art Gallery) but we didn't get time to have a look so we'll have to go back again cos the photos looked fantastic.

My favourite painting at the Museum

My favourite painting at the gallery was the brilliant Rembrandt ‘Knight with a Falcon’ (1666) which was cleaned a few years ago at the Getty museum. His incredible perceptiveness into character and unflinching honesty is beautiful and moving. The colours glow now, which they must as no-one has ever painted so many browns and dark, dull colours.

Rembrandt's 'Knight with a Falcon' (1660) A great painting.

Info:

Göteborg Museum of Art

Address: Götaplatsen,412 56,Göteborg,Sweden

Website: www.konstmuseum.goteborg.se

Email: info.konstmuseum@kultur.goteborg.se

Opening hours: Tue, Thu: 11.00-18.00
Wed: 11.00-21.00
Fri-Sun: 11.00-17.00
Opening hours may vary.

Phone number: +46313683500

Admission 40SEK ($8/£4) adults, 80SEK ($16/£8) adult entry to special exhibitions, free for students and children under 20. Or free with the Gothenburg Pass.

Related links:

• Paul Graham – 2012 Hasselblad Award Winner (fidest.wordpress.com)
• Anders Zorn Museum in Sweden

A painting that is well composed is half finished.

Pierre Bonnard

The kangaroo in Australian painting

Aboriginal wall painting of kangaroo in X-Ray style. Aboriginal artists in general have continued to depict the kangaroo seriously in their paintings. From time immemorial to now.

Since I’ve been living in Sweden I’ve found out how many people love Australian animals. I had no idea that people all over the world love them. When I was young growing up in the 60′s and 70′s it seemed to me that nobody cared much about Australian animals in Australia. Well I’m sure that’s an exaggeration though here’s the appalling extinction stats here. 

I remember going on a painting trip when I was about 19 to the outback of New South Wales. We went to a pub one night after the days painting and it was filled with a bunch of rowdy drunk roo (kangaroo) shooters. Kicking back after the days shooting. Regaling us with the days stories.  I remember being horrified by their glee about it all.

George Stubb’s painting above was commissioned by the botanist and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. He brought back to England kangaroo skins and skulls from his journey with Captain Cook to Australia in 1770 which Stubbs used as a basis for the painting.

There are routinely in the Australian news horror stories of someone torturing kangaroos or other animals. On the outskirts of Melbourne or any place in Australia where there’s open bush you’ll often see kangaroos. Many people see them as a menace. (They often jump across the road while you’re driving at night in the country.)  When I last lived in Melbourne some young men in the outer suburb of Bundoora decided to use them as shooting practice using a crossbow. They were caught luckily. Perhaps if the negative attitude wasn’t so ingrained you wouldn’t get this kind of insanity.

I think this attitude stems from the fact that in Australia images of kangaroos are used on everything from coins, coats of arms, films and tv, cartoons, clothing, children’s books, Qantas, football teams etc. Mostly they’re represented as a bit of a joke. Many people take them for granted.

Garry Shead ‘Kangaroo’ Oil  This painting is part of a series Shead completed in 1993 which was inspired by D H Lawrence’s novel ‘Kangaroo’.

Just doing a google search many of the images (not photography) are comical and ridiculous. In general I found very few established Australian painters that have used Australian animals occasionally in their art in a non ironic way. Clifton Pugh, Garry Shead, John Olsen were some old school artists that depicted them. Of course there are others but not many. A few contemporary artists have used them in a way to raise political issues. And this is perfectly fine but what I’m interested in is trying to capture the actual spirit of something. Not as commentary for something else.

 John Olsen ‘Kangaroo’ 1978 Mixed media on paper

Reg Mombassa ‘Drawing of kangaroo and bird’ 2004

Having gone through the process of art school in the 80′s there was a belief that painting any animal at all was considered unworthy of a serious artist. Except as a joke or as political statement.

But it’s no joke what happens to kangaroos in Australia. Perhaps that’s why Australians find it difficult to represent them in a serious way because they’re in collective denial about how they are actually treated? Of course I haven’t done a painting of a kangaroo either. Something I’ll have to fix at some stage because they really are the most amazing, unique creatures. 

The Endeavour Journal (1768-1771) by Sir Joseph Banks 

Captain Cook’s Kangaroo comes out of hiding.

Images of the kangaroo on Red Bubble 

National Kangaroo Protection Coalition 

From De Bruyn to Pasteur: Early Illustrations of the Kangaroo

‘An artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision.’

James Whistler

Honk honk: new bird painting

 Susan Wellington ‘White Swans’ 2012 Oil 40 x 40cm

Years ago I had a very unusual dream where I met a giant bird. I can still picture it in my mind. It was about 10 feet tall with a huge beak. Kind of like a crow but with light feathers. It was stern and kind of scary as you could imagine. This bird told me it was in charge of the bird kingdom on earth and that many birds on earth were becoming extinct and that it was too late to do anything about many of them. It wanted me to know this as it wanted me to do something about it. Like what I thought? ‘Do some paintings’, it said.

Well when I woke up I thought it was just a dream and basically ignored it. However the dream never left me and I eventually did what it asked. I did a painting called ‘Requiem for the Bird’. That was the first one and I’ve done a few more since. 

I was actually a bit scared of birds when I was a child (it might have been Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ that did it) but from the point I had the dream I noticed them a lot more. I lived on a second floor apartment at one stage and a number of birds with broken wings would mysteriously end up in front of my loungeroom window. I’d take them to the vet. I had birds that would try and come and land on my head while I was out walking. I took the hint and joined an occasional birdwatching group and tried to educate myself a bit more about them. Eventually I ended up living near a breeding ground for shorebirds. I walked there nearly every second or third day and took photos. And grew to really love and appreciate birds.

The painting above is the latest bird painting I’ve done. It was done as a pair to another painting of black swans. I actually started it quite abstract like the black swans but in very pale, ethereal colours. But as I went along the white and blue in my imagination got stronger and stronger until I had to put it down. This combination of colours to me expresses dynamic clarity and the capacity to live in the present. I also wanted to give a sense of the lightness and strength of the swans who manage to float on the immense and powerful sea with great sensitivity and flexibility. Something we can apply to our own lives.

Support an artist by buying a greeting card, postcard or print of the bird paintings below.

 ‘Requiem for the Bird’ 

 ‘Spoonbill Land’ 

  ‘I heart Magpies’ 

 ‘Fairy Wrens’ 

Uh-oh: The struggle to photograph my artwork.

Susan Wellington ‘Abstract Landscape 1′ Oil on Linen 2012

I must say trying to get your photos to look like your paintings almost takes just as much time as it does to paint them. Over the last weeks I’ve been photographing some new paintings and gouaches. I have a relatively new camera with a lot of complicated buttons. I’m constantly looking at the manual wondering how to do this or that. Then looking online at how other people do it. Over and over again. That’s one thing.

The other is I don’t have professional photography lights. I just have lights I’ve got from the art shop. Which after a couple of days trying to get some great photos, I’ve come to the conclusion that to get great digital images of your paintings you absolutely need professional photography lights with umbrellas. No doubt.

Basically if there’s not enough light for your camera you have to use settings which reduce the quality of the overall image. ie. high ISO or low f-stop to get the camera to take a shot that’s light enough. And then detail is sacrificed. And especially when a painting’s quite abstract you really need that detail in the paintwork to show.

Colour’s another thing. A lot of my paintings also have a particular shade of pink in them and I cannot reproduce it accurately in my cameras. I have to add masks in paint.net. So I’m learning how to do that. (By the way it’s a fantastic free imaging program as is Irfanview.)  In the end I have the utmost respect for any anybody who can do this job well. It’s really hard. 

If you don’t have professional lights, then take your artwork outside on a grey day. You get the best results from your camera.

‘A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.’

Michelangelo

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Postcards from the Snow

Winter’s been so long in Sweden. It seems to have been dark for about 6 months. But that means plenty of time in the studio which is what I’ve been doing. With the radio and cat to keep me company. (How great is internet radio!) I’ll show you some of the results of my labour in a few weeks.

The heavy snow recently lit up the whole landscape.

We managed to see a couple of deers recently while we were walking through the forest at dusk. Luckily I had my camera. Magic.

Paintings by major artists with snow in them are quite a rarity in the history of painting. There’s a few classic ones like Brueghel’s ‘Winter’ (1565)

and Courbet’s stag paintings, this one below from 1867. (Courbet painted more than thirty hunt pictures from 1850 through 1873. He loved hunting.)

And the Impressionists such as Monet and Utrillo painted quite a few too. Much less bleak than Casper David Friedrich’s bleak “Cloister Cemetery in the Snow” (Destroyed in 1945 in Berlin.)

However even in these paintings the snow isn’t really the main theme. These are rather genre paintings, where situations and scenes from everyday life are depicted rather than landscapes. Though sometimes these categories can be pretty blurry.

Is Monet’s ‘Train in the Snow’, above, really a genre painting or a landscape? I’d say landscape as the figures are insignificant. But it’s still debatable. You could make an argument for it as a type of genre painting with trains as the main subject. Though I think it’s really the winter atmosphere that wins the argument.

And the same with the Courbet. One of the features of genre painting is that the scene should be painted in a non-idealized, non dramatic way. Like real life. (Who decided this I’d like to know. Since when is real life not dramatic?) Though Courbet paints the death of the stag like it was a character in a classical history painting. So is it really genre?

Basically the snowy landscape wasn’t a particularly popular subject for artists to paint whether genre or landscape. The art patrons from the northern hemisphere didn’t much like to be reminded of the cold probably. But it is beautiful I think. Especially when you can go back to your centrally heated home. Here’s one of my contributions.

20 Imaginative and Strange Ice Sculptures. 

Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ from ‘The Four Seasons’.

‘I think that it can be said of a lot of artists, and myself included, that we made the same record over and over from the beginning.’
Boz Scaggs