Interpreting landscape

 

From my summers in Duntara, a small coastal community in Newfoundland, I have learned to observe the landscape closely.  When you are removed from the hustle and bustle of regular city life and are forced to rethink how you spend your days, you realize all the small things that pass you by. My already relaxed viewing of the landscape there is further enhanced by the  ocean sounds and visual rhythms.  

 When I travel now, I  give the landscape my undivided attention.  On a boat trip  last summer up Western Brook Pond in Gros Morne National Park, NL,  I was instantly in tune with the landscape around me. A fjord is certainly a structure that makes you feel enveloped by water and land.  Here are some of the shots from this trip and the art work that was created in the weeks following my return to my studio by the ocean.

To get to Western Brook Pond you have to hike in for about half an hour on a very well maintained trail.  The scenery is stunning and although the terrain is flat it is visually interesting. When you look over this small  bridge into the water  your imagination gets the better of you. 

 Slow Drift (2012)  6x8 in.  encaustic monotype on board

Looking to the land ( 2012)  2 (3.5 in x 7.5 in.) encaustic  monotype

If I were standing in the pond looking toward the landscape this is what I imagined it would look like. You may notice that my composition of choice in may of these pieces allows the scene to run off the page.  This is intentional because I had the feeling of a landscape exploding around me and running on forever.

 
Looking back from the boat you see a merging of land and water.  The water is deep here and even on a sunny day the water remains dark and somewhat ominous.  

 Merge (2012)  3 (3.5 in x 7.5 in.) encaustic  monotype

Immersion (2012)  3 (3.5 in x 7.5 in.) encaustic  monotype

What if you were in the water looking up?

And there are so many more to show...