Reflection..........

Some times it is wise to pause and reflect over the work at hand, even while in the midst of it, because in the involvement of rendering, certain aspects can be overlooked regarding 'keeping on track' with the work - all too often the forest can be forgotten in the intensity of caring for the trees, and even worse, one can forget that not all trees belong in that forest...   even with the mindset of seeing themes everywhere, translating those themes to renderings and keeping them in context can be subverted by the possibilities in varieties and the need to trim the excess branches of some of the forest trees, if not indeed some of the trees themselves...

Sometimes it is cited as 'loss of motivation' - but that merely is a lacking of seeing within oneself as to why the rendering in the first place, and a momentary lapse of context in 'the joy of the doing' which is the primary reason for the doing...  such reflections need not take long, tho can vary immensely, and the work continues, and another soon is there to carry on when the one at hand is completed...  still, it is wise to remember that at times there is indeed a need for this, a form of refueling - else there is nothing but vapors to carry on, a prospect not desired, as the drop then would be horrendous, as also the consequences...

Sighting.......

The 'eagle' house is now set, overlooking all across its realm, as it were...

Now to grisaille the rest of the background, thereby gaining the overall viewing of the theming involved...

Setting the Overseer...

In viewing the addition, was tempted to go finish the house as well, but decided not to wait another day, as this has been several days since the last posting...   at first glance it does seem as if these sides are not in the same perspective - but if look on closer examination, one will see this is not so, and they both align, just that one has a greater height than the other [from the perspective of the viewer] as well as seeming closer...  there is also the matter of free-form on various objects which can give a false sense of being somewhat 'elsewhere'...   

When the last section, the one across the river, is laid in grisaille, then this will be  more readily seen - and the whole of the theming as well...

Keeping in Theme...

One of the more difficult ideas being shown in this series of WIP on a grand theme is that of keeping it together, keeping the sections in tune with the grand one yet having them as studies on their own...   how is this done?   to begin with, this means incorporating the lesser themes to the main by making then variations of the main, perhaps, as in this  rendering-in-progress, by use of examples delineating aspects of the larger theme - namely, what might 'my bigger back yard' mean in terms of visualizations ...     obviously, this would mean something not usually seen in back yards, and further, as seen in this one, the nature of what makes for 'my bigger back yard'...   most, for instance, think of it as the rear part of one's own property - whereas here it is seen as much more than that, as a place to joy in the viewing, as well as visit here and there from time to time...    further, each section itself comprises a version of that theming, but on a smaller scale, and at the same time be part of an expanding viewing when seeing the whole...

Consider, for instance, the first of the sections, that of the grove of trees along the left side, before the rocks are portrayed...   contrary to conventional approaches, theming is not an effervescence - what to many seem intuitive is, in the best artists, the consequence of long-term thinking, of making thematic decisions and seeing how various arrangements for or not fit into the proscribed perimeters...   in the case of landscapes, there is a needed direction from which to begin, and a flow to describe the path on which the viewing is to take in each work... sometimes there are several paths, but the best ones have them, if they be, in line with the major path, as auxiliaries to reinforce the theming...


As an aid, am reproducing an early essay, from June, to help refresh -

Theming as Seeing...

I am a themescapist - that is, the idea of theming is a conscious one for me, mainly because I never was satisfied at just doing scenes or studies or form composed still life, and always needed to know WHY I was doing what I was doing the way I was doing... but I am well aware that few others approach painting like this...

Most artists react from the visual - that is, they see in the world around them a scene or objects which in the manner of their setting or arrangement as first seen, intrigues... it is of interest, compositionally... perhaps it is something even so simple as a butterfly alighting on a flower... perhaps it is a series of bottles on a shelf... a themescapist sees that - AND MORE... by training to think in terms of metaphors, a themescapist is able to bring to consciousness a 'universalness' out of that incident or setting seen in the world... this means that a themescapist takes from the given and CONSCIOUSLY raises it to a visualization of some fundamentalness... this can be done by using it as part of a larger visualization, for instance... or it can be done by shifting the components for better emphasis, as a crystalization of some importance worth showing - which is given notice thru the theme/title... a themescapist is also, because of this training to think in terms of metaphors, able to draw from the memory banks [the mental 'picture file' so to speak] a visualization, at least in part, of something read or said - the abstraction theme/title itself being the catalyst... sometimes, tho, this does not come with any sense of immediacy - there are in my journal many, many listings of theme/titles for which i have yet to have a visualization of, or for which the ones I have are nebulous at best... but the theme/title itself intrigues me... in many ways, this is the fun and the challenge of being a themescapist - this questing for discovery, for a new insight into this wonderful world we live in... by the way, these theme/titles, either way they are approached, whether from the visual first to seeing the abstraction out of it, or from the abstraction to seeing a concrete visualization, do not necessarily have to be profound... there is plenty of room in the world for lightheartedness, even whimsical - SO LONG AS IT IS LIFE ENHANCING, an expression of enlightenment in the minutae is still an enrichment in the understanding of the fabric of complexity which is the universe... 
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Now, many would exclaim that the life enhancing is 'pollyandish'...    not so - the crystallization of what to the artist is of importance requires selectivity, establishing, in effect, priorities...   to me, pleasure and life enhancement is more preferred and important to achieve than pain and despair...   it is not to say that those others not exist [of course they do] but to proclaim that they are like stones or boulders, to be removed along the course of life, in planing the field that is one's vision of one's self and that of others...   


But to get back to the grove of trees seen on the left edge just above the fore grasses - note how the light/dark is structured, not just as light coming from the left, but that the light folds and undulates like waves over the leaves, leaving a chorus of crashing and tumultuous foldings proceeding below one's viewing [implying as going down the slope]... the next set shows as if the greenery splashes up onto the rigid rock, and at the same time being somewhat constrained by the volume of the rock...   the next show more restraint - cultured restraint done by the hand of man to better enhance the purposefulness needed by the vegetation...  and so on - which the viewer can make for on his/her own...  this is just an example of how this rendering is being themed all across in each area, leading onward to the fullness of the yet-to-be-finished work...