It’s raining.
I’m browsing through pictures from summer trips and have re-looked at a few in black and white. This scene is in eastern New Mexico, an area that appealed to American Regionalist painters seventy or eighty years ago, and a place which has changed very little in most respects. Standing in this undulating landscape at dusk two summers ago, it was hard not to think of John Steuart Curry, a Kansas painter who had the flair for sensuous landscapes.
To suggest something of that point of view, here’s a treatment that is vignetted, rendered in sepia–with no absolutes blacks or whites and with the low tones of the midrange carrying the tune.
This is wonderful, perfectly composed and a great example for any textbook. I like the way you’ve kept it to the midtones John.
Thanks for the compliment Adrian…much appreciated.
J’aime beaucoup la composition, j’aime cette maison qui semble être entre ciel et terre.
bonne soirée, val
Vos mots sont si gentil. Merci pour un tel commentaire bel–c’est la poésie.
bonne soirée
Such a nice treatment for this landscape. If I imagine it in HDR with exaggerated colors, I cringe.
Thanks Lynn. “Big like” for your comment.
Mmmm. I love the dark tones. This, to me, looks peaceful and potentous at the same time. An alluring tension there.
I like alluring tensions.
…thanks, Ashley.
So beautifully simple and dramatic.
–thanks Patti
This does look like Kansas (my in-laws come from Hays and Eureka); I can almost feel the breeze.
Yup, not far from the border with western Kansas…it’s nice out there. I never understood why everyone seems to want to drive across the state as fast as possible.
I can see the attraction! Lovely landscape, john.
thanks Janina…nice to hear from you.
This could be the front cover to a Steinbeck novel!
…that would be nice!
Sensuous landscapes – I am intrigued. Like this approach and echoing of that sensibility.
thanks Deanne.
Amazing tribute to Regionalist Art. Beautiful picture. The barn in this picture allows one’s mind to create a human story that wouldn’t be possible without it. In that respect it’s a participatory picture, for me.
thanks. I like your thought about participatory pictures.
seems to be the landscape of the Tuscan hills
…maybe I need to go there too.
Superb B/W of this peaceful landscape, a real change from the deep colours of NM (as far as I have seen so far in pictures only !), B eautiful.
Thanks Isa. The eastern third of New Mexico is desert grassland and prairie– a very distinct habitat from the mountains and canyons found elsewhere in the state.