The final part of my research was to have a general search for paintings that appealed to me and had a link to Fenland landscapes.
In no particular order here are five paintings that I found.
The first one, below, is of a realistic late autumn or winter scene. What I particularly liked about this painting was how the artists has captured the tracks made by farmland vehicles in the boggy grass. The grass itself looks like it is waterlogged and the small splashes of reflected sky emphasise this. The tracks also act to draw the viewers eye through the painting towards to fields in the distance. I also observed that the trees are typical of those that I see here in the Fens.
A Fenland lane with pollarded willows – William Fraser Garden
The second painting that I selected shows a typical Fenland misty morning. The tress in the background are slowly being revealed as the mist dissipates. They are very subtlety painted only just revealing themselves against the pale sky and yellow ochre fields. The grasses in the foreground are also muted but stand out against the rest of the painting asking you to look through them.
Fenland – James Green
For the third painting I selected a watercolour which is not a medium that has been worked with during the course. What attracted me to this painting was the reflected light on the water. There was not any information about the artist and the scene is fairly generic. It would be interesting to try to paint a similar scene using acrylics or oils.
Fenland
The forth painting by an unknown artist is a monochrone study. I feel it is a little bit too stylised and lacks feeling. However I was drawn to it as I feel that there are similarities in the treatment of the trees in the background to those in my large canvas for assignment four.
The last painting in my selection is a painting that is more abstract in its execution. To me it is instantly a depiction of Fenland. The flat horizon with a few scattered trees around a lonely farmhouse, The man made drain that divides the fields and splits the painting and the large sky.
Fenland – Fred Ingrams
I suspect that Fenlands scenes will continue to be part of my paintings. It will be interesting to see how they develop.
Mark Taylor "Painting 1" 