Landscapes and Mindscapes

I have been a great admirer of many 19th Century landscape artists such at the German born Hermann Herzog (1832-1932) who moved to the US in the late 1860's.  This is his "The Old Water Mill", oil on canvas, 140 x 104 cm.

As a painter of moods, Herzog would appear to be amongst the best.  But I'm wondering if he is achieving little more than recording what's there.  Sure, it's likely this work was completed in the studio where he could impose his own deliberations, but there is a question as to how much the artist is revelling of himself in this work.

The Sky's Beginning To Bruise                             Oil On Canvas                                 109 cm x 129 cm

I completed the above painting in 2014, and it's based very loosely on a photo I saw in an encyclopaedia in the 1980's.  The instant I saw that image, it registered with me and I thought "I know this place", or the emotion it evoked.  It was is if I'd been there, even though it's a scene of the Norwegian tundra - a country I've never visited.

Luckily I still had access to that encyclopaedia when I decided to explore the possibilities of that scene a few years ago.  Yes, it's almost appallingly lonely, yet not entirely melancholy as it's a place where you can lose yourself in the enormity of the world we live in.  A place to absorb nature in its purist form - a place to chill out (both literally and metaphorically). 

W C Piguenit - Fame By Association?

Considered Australia's first native born significant artist, William Charles Piguenit was born in Hobart in 1830, the son of a convict who was transported to Van Dieman's Land.  He is also considered the last true Romantic landscapist, preferring to focus on the dramatic moods in landscape as opposed to the Heidelberg School who presented Australia as an amiable sunny land.

The Upper Nepean 1889

The Flood Of The Darling   1895

The above oil on canvas was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales immediately after it's completion.

Mt Ida, Lake St Clair

Piguenit appears to be largely self taught, and of particular interest to me is his background as a draughtsman with the Department of Lands survey office in Tasmania.  So I'll claim fame by association as my background is as a draughtsman with the Victorian Lands Department.

Johan Christian Dahl

"Dresden By Moonlight" (1839).

There is a haunting beauty in this work by Dahl which is one of many moonlit scenes of Dresden he painted.  I love the moonlight reflecting off the water and the dimly lit buildings in the background which give this work an other worldliness.