Painting is just another way of keeping a diary ~Pablo Picasso

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Tree on the Columbia

Evening: Red Tree
Piet Mondrain.  1908-1010
Tableau I
Piet Mondrain 1921
I'm still working through the list of artists in my Artistic Photography class.  I'm not really sure I'm photographing "in the style of" Piet Mondrain (see below); so far I feel like I'm just trying to copy a painting, but I suppose it's a good place to start. Mondrain's Evening: Red Tree caught my eye, and something about my tree against the Columbia had a similar feel.  The tree painting is one of his earlier works.  He was around as cubism was taking hold, and later went on to develop a style he called Neoplasticism, which is represented here by Tableau I.  For me, the general feel of all those later paintings is the side of the Partridge Family bus.  I like his earlier stuff much better. He was still simmering a painting down to the few essential elements, but hadn't oversimplified yet.  I love the red color in his tree, and I'm disappointed in how mine looks next to the painting.  I think that color variation between warm and cold is possible with a photo; I especially see it when the sun, low in the sky, breaks through the clouds after a rain.  Then the subject is warmly illuminated and the background sky is rendered a cool dark blue by the camera.  My day on the Columbia was just your plain old overcast day. Overall though, I'm happy with the shape of this tree and how it fills the photo, and I'm especially happy with the variation in blue that the overcast Columbia provides.


7 comments:

Folkways Note Book said...

Nice, very nice capture -- barbara

Laura~Pretty Pix said...

Beautiful capture.. I love deciduous trees in winter.

TexWisGirl said...

oh, i like your take on his very much!

Linda W. said...

Nice tree! And great photo.

NatureFootstep said...

I see you do photo art as well. Maybe you would be interested in participating in my meme NF Digital Art Meme, NF DAM?

If you like you can take a look at nfverk.blogspot.com

Ida said...

I think this shot is great. It really did remind me of the painting.

Sketchbook Wandering said...

What a wonderful class. I'm thinking that it's not just about the individual photos that you create in response to the works of art, though they are lovely, but also about the sensitivities that you are developing and about your perceptions that are growing.