The Moon and the Poplars, ©John O’Grady
10.2″ x 14″ x 0.75″, oil on canvas, ready to hang.
Not for Sale (NFS)
Provence has a long association with painters and in particular celebrated ones from the late 19th and early 20th century that started with impressionism and went on to include fauvism.
You don’t have to travel far to see the motifs that caught their eye: poppy fields, spring blossoms, early summer lavender fields.
These landscapes are a joy to behold. Varied and colourful, they punctuate the seasons and I look forward to their return.
But because of the way I work I don’t take a box of paints and try to capture the moment en plein air. Instead I always end up working from what springs from the past and the emotions that a memory evokes.
Last November, when I came across the often painted motif of the poplars by a river, I was struck by how the raking light of the setting sun had set them on fire. At the same time, the rising moon was casting a silver green light in the sky, nature’s perfect counterpoint to the blazing orange poplars.
While painting, I muted the silver green sky to accentuate the orangeness of the poplar trees.
This bright colour adds a touch of mystery to the painting, don’t you think?
Different parts of a painting are like players on a stage. Overall, they conjure up an atmosphere that often results in a dream like quality.
So it is with this piece.
I’d love to hear what you think.
This has an intriguing effect, John, with its tranquil subject and stimulating complementary color palette. It has a mood of heightened reality bleeding into the mystical — the world above and the world beneath.
The placement of the horizon line, above center, feels perfect, with the reflections of the unseen treetops at the right melting down over the water.
The color work is gorgeous, the brushwork dreamy. That moon is hypnotic.
This is a dreamscape that I can believe you saw with your own eyes. Just beautiful.
‘Hello Jo
Yes I agree it does have that feeling of a dreamscape. The ‘world above and beneath’ that you mention adds to that quality I think. The brushwork and texture was built up on the trees using a Cadmium Orange Oil stick almost drawing and painting at the same time. Thanks very much for the comment on the moon , it was my favourite part of the painting, which I had to change several times to get it to work with the rest of the painting’.
The tall statuesque trees do indeed look ablaze with shimmering colour. You have have created a harmonious, calm atmosphere but one full of exuberance, mystery and imagination. The seasons in Provence sound (and look) lovely!
Hello Chris,
Thank you very much. I like your comment, that the trees ‘look ablaze with shimmering colour’ it made me think that the shimmering was in part the trees reflection and movement in the water and that the trees are ablaze in the water. Incongruous but quiet a poetic idea that made me think of future painting ideas to do with fire and water, very elemental!