La Pinède, ©John O’Grady
8.25″ x 8.25″ x 1.75″ oil on deep edged canvas, ready to hang
SOLD
La Pinède or Pine grove is an accompanying piece to The Chapel in the Woods. It wasn’t planned that way and they happily happened to be the same size.
The intense light of summer brings everything into sharp relief and heightens colour in Provence.
Shadows and silhouetted trees appear blue and violet; they contrast with the warm yellow sandy earth.
What I find moving when walking through a grove of these Mediteranean trees is their tall slender elegance sweeping into the air, swaying back and forth in the breeze.
Their trunks curve in arabesques.
Between each pine, the space shifts subtly and alters the viewpoint of the distant mountains.
I wanted to imbue the painting with that feeling of looking up and through from a low perspective.
I look forward to reading your comment.
It is a very interesting painting and I agree tottaly with your comments…
You are painting with more white at the moment, am I true ?
Still enjoying them tremendously.
Thanks again, John, for sharing and for your delicate comments
Hello Dominique,
Thank you for your comment, it’s a pleasure to share them. Yes you are spot on there is more white and pastel colours in these last few particularly in the flat colour of sky
Hello John, the colour in this painting is very effective and pleasing to the eye. However, I am struck especially by the composition and the sense one feels of moving up towards the trees, surrounded and enclosed by them within the visual space that you have created. I can almost hear the gentle movement of the tree-tops swaying in the breeze.
Hello Chris,
I am glad that you picked up on that,I felt the same way too when I looked at the painting afterwards as if I was moving up and through the trees too. I think in part it is due to the arabesques and slim trunks which elongated and are stretched. i thought a little bit about El Greco and his elongated figures had a graceful and sinuous quality, I believe due to an eye condition. Thank you for your insights as always Chris
My first thought was “The Chapel” painting.
I love that you are painting the colors that you see (I’m thinking of our earlier discussion) and that the effect, in this case, is a feeling of enchantment, as though the trees, light, and atmosphere hint at the unseen, the spirit moving behind the apparent world. This is how the trees, earth, and sky appear to an honest eye — but it could be a scene from a fable, or a dream. I find that idea intriguing, and rather magical.
How wonderful it would be to walk through this landscape while the shadows are lengthening and the wind makes the trees sway.
Hello Jo,
Yes it is like the Chapel piece isn’t it? I am really interested and pleased by your poetic response to the painting. The animistic dance and colour of the pines are beyond descriptive I think. Your comment brought back memories of my own thoughts on Samuel Palmer’s early work when he spent many hours with Blake and created amazingly visionary pieces, although Christian in subject matter they ooze animism. Not that I am daring to compare myself to him 🙂 Thank you for your comment Jo