Landscape Painting 1991-2011
The recently completed project “Lessendrum” (2011) relates to the whole series of Landscape work produced over a period of 11 years from 1991 – 2002. Using a range of materials, watercolours, gouache, charcoal and oils, Anna explores the visual effects of the media in relation to landscape observed in Scotland. These pieces are seen in sequence on the home page.
The Landscape work is an exploration of subject matter versus the medium and it questions how much detail must be shown and how far you can move away from reality when painting. Colour and composition are central to her painting – Cezanne was one of her earliest influences – his preoccupation with colour, form and composition taking precedence over fine detail or finish. The “Wales” (1991) and “Oxford” (1996) series mark the starting point for this group of work.
Techniques and production methods are also important to the work – it is partly an exploration of the chosen methods or techniques.
This can be seen in the production of two series of monoprints, described on the Prints page
Watercolours and Oils – Dunwich Heath
In 2001, the third series of landscape paintings in Suffolk, “Heath and Sea”, focused on the heath at Dunwich and Aldringham, near Aldeburgh. These acrylic paintings describe the unexpected intensity of colour in the early summer landscape. Anna also spent time working in watercolour and produced a series of 16 small, square images derived from studies made in the area, “Waves”. Though initially from life, she moved quickly on to explore colour, texture and the free and surprising qualities of the watercolour medium; a very different method to that of the subsequent oil paintings (2002) which concluded the series.