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“Field North of the Granite Counter Top Place” is a painting of part of the Saline Wetlands that are now filled in and are part of an industrial park just west of Lincoln Nebraska… The Plovers still return though every year in the Summer. I painted this in late January it was early morning and the sunrise had happened about a half hour before I got out there.
I was reminded of what Alfred East wrote in his book” The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour”, published in 1906 that “Your attitude towards Nature should be respectful, but at the same time confident. One should love Nature without giving up one’s authority. Do not grovel before Nature—be a man.
Stand to your work, and draw and paint from your shoulder in a confident and manly fashion, feeling that you know what you want, and go for it fearlessly, with a keen observation of Nature. Look long at her, consider carefully, and then, when you have made up your mind, express it confidently and in a manly fashion.”
I don’t think that I totally share East’s attitude completely but I thought it was interesting but somewhat naive and misogynistic. I think that his attitude toward nature results in actions such as filling in wetlands.
To lean more about his painting or to purchase it click here.
You can see more of my painting here.
