A visit to Itapiranga

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Landscape near Itapiranga, oil on card, 16 x 18 cm -  -unavailable

The square format is not that easy for landscape subjects- probably simply for the reason that the compositional conventions for landscapes are based around a golden section rectangle, and the square format necessitates adaptations.

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Saco Grande

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 Saco Grande, sketchy lane, child playing, oil on card,  10 x 13.5 cm  - available

Saco Grande, entrances, dog, oil on card, 14 x 14 cm  -unavailable

Two from this somewhat sketchy neighbourhood. 

The children playing in the street offered me two Reis for my picture, rather sweetly.

Two square still lives

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 Bananas, oil on card 13/ 13 cm - unavailable

Painted patiently in phases, and aiming for a much more textured effect. I'm hoping I can apply this to landscapes somehow.

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I'm driving down to Gramado and Canela tomorrow. All being well I should be about to do some work there, and along the way.

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Heath, near Praia Moçambique

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Heath, near Praia Moçambique, oil on card, 13 / 13 cm  SOLD

An incredible, sun-filled day.



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A drive to Itapiranga

Rows of houses, Itupiranga, oil on card, 16 /16 cm  SOLD

The small towns here offer, I think, a very pleasant lifestyle for those with limited ambitions- the climate is sometimes cold, but never really inhospitable. The landscape is truly idyllic. The people are friendly and and their towns are probably quite safe: children play and ride their bikes in the streets, the air is clean, and you don't see the grotesque poverty that dogs much of the rest of Brazil.
 

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I think this set is strong- varied and purposeful. The first is a little conventional perhaps, but not so much so as to be dull. Most of the time one produces work that is mediocre, necessarily so, perhaps- so is important to take satisfaction when one does occasionally get the ball over the net.

A drive to Urubici

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 Urubici: looking up a street, 9am, oil on card, 12 / 14 cm   AVAILABLE

Landscape overlooking Urubici, oil on card, 13 /13 cm - unavailable

 

 

Street, Urubici, oil on card, 13.3 / 9.5 cm - available through No 31 Gallery

 Five from Urubici, with wristwatch for scale.

I spent a day or so painting in Urubici, a place I love, and which seems happily free of Florianopolis's trashy Barbie culture.

The curvaciousness of the landscape invites Art Noveau designs.

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The sea from the mall

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The sea from the mall, oil on card, 12 12 cm - discarded

 

 

I feell that I won this picture having had a somewhat unsatisfactory run over the last few days. 

The secret is sometimes to relax and just not to try so hard or care so much.

 

 

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Beiramar Avenue from the mall; square format paintings

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Beiramar Avenue from the mall, oil on card, 10.5 x 10.5 cm - discarded

The square format was extensively explored by Klimt, often using- to my mind, somewhat mannered art noveau compositions. There are also a good clutch of very nearly square pictures by Hammershoi, the Danish genius.

The square format is symmetrical across 4 axes, and consequently a very stable form (I might speculate that Hammershoi did not use the perfect square because he was interested in maintaining a definate visual instability in his work).

It invites a sense of flotation, of hovering: I am not clear why. Could it be because, while a rectangular format invites a horizontal .linear reading, when confronted with a square, thes eye tends to meander and circle more within much more narrow bounds inside the frame?

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