Abstract Landscape Painter. Rural Dweller. Lover of Modernist Art and Design.
The Skylarks
The first month of the year has passed in our new home. It's been a month of wind and rain, but we consider ourselves lucky when we see the flooding in other areas of the country. Between the gusts and the showers, I have done a lot of walking with our dog, Millie, along the muddy footpaths, looking out across the wide open landscape and rolling distance. For someone originally from the flattest of lands, this position in the gentle Suffolk landscape feels like the top of the world. I feel as if I'm living in the clouds! I love it. Perhaps that's why I have been so interested in the wild birds that I'm seeing, and why they are weaving their way more and more into my work. I feel as if I'm seeing the land partly from a bird's perspective.
A couple of weeks ago we were walking at a particularly high point, on a day when the sky was unusually clear, when we disturbed five skylarks. Up and up they went. I stood and watched them - powerhouses of song. Such tiny dots in the vast blue space, but filling the air with sound. They looked like minute kites tethered in the wind. I thought about Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending", and how cleverly he captured that upward movement and the voice of the bird, in his music. I can see why he would be inspired by it. It's quite emotional I think - a tiny creature, full of spirit and beauty.
It's funny really, I feel more aware of the sky here than I did as a child, living on an unbroken plane. There, it seemed to bear down upon us, almost crushing us. Here, I seem to have risen up to meet it. This is ideal for me. I find it peaceful - the perfect balance. The mass of mountains is too frightening and the flatland too oppressive, but here there is a wonderful sense of lightness. I think it is changing the compositions of my paintings and that will be a challenge. That is, however, a good thing for me. It will stretch my mind to work with different shapes and viewpoints, and make me look at things afresh.
All text & images ©2014 Carol Saunderson
http://anartistinthelandscape.blogspot.co.uk/
