Visual Responses to Initial Field Trip

The first images are simply reinterpretations of my observational drawings and photos. I tried to convey a sense of stillness through the my choice of calming, fragile colours and lack of outline.I also wanted to keep the looseness of the original drawings however I think they have just ended up looking a little rushed and half arsed.
The lack of outline, particularly in the images depicting a series of fields from above makes the landscape look like patchwork cloth.  This is something I would be interested in further exploring so as to see how you can bridge the gap between more abstract, pattern based work and observational drawing.

 Lonely Figures

I felt that the figurative work I had previously produced didn't convey the feeling of solitude I got whilst walking through the Peaks but rather just seemed to depict a journey. Furthermore I felt they didn't have enough sense of depth which was part of the reason I chose to focus on landscapes.

Therefore I produced I series of roughs showing an over sized figure on a journey through rural and hilly landscapes. I quite like the loose feel they have to them as wanted to retain some of the rushed feeling of my observational drawings. Also I feel I have managed to create a better sense of depth with a consistent use of dark, mid and light tones helping to break the image up.

However my main issue with them is that, rather than a sense of solitude, the main thing that seems to be expressed within them is loneliness. Given the similarities between the two feelings I realise that it is hard to successfully create images which distinctly show one or the other. Furthermore I think that weather or not you see them as images of loneliness or solitude depends on who is viewing them and what they personally are feeling.

 Digital Landscapes

I decided to create some more refined images of landscapes in contrast to the much looser pictures I have produced up until this point. Although in formed by the various images I had captures, these are imagined landscapes rather than depictions of the landscape around Castleton.

As with the others I still wanted them to focus on the use of shape with no outline present. I also added various different textures to them to help add interest and break down the images. For example I have tried to use distinctly different textures to describe different aspects. For the rocks I chose to use distorted scans of acrylic paint so has to describe the rich detail and light play that occurs on most rock faces.

I prefer the top one due to the more relaxing atmosphere present within it which I feel is more in line with the themes/experiences of my research trip. Particular there seems to be a sense of stillness to it which seems in keeping with the sparse emptiness of the hills around Castleton. This is in contrast to the dark, brooding feeling of the bottom image which is in part due to the combination of colours and textures I used on it.
Furthermore from a technical point of view I feel the top image is stronger. This is because the curving element of the viaduct disappearing into the white, texture less moon in the background makes fro both a more dynamic and easily readable composition.