NEWSLETTER Spring 04 VOL 2 Page 7

ALAN LANGFORD'S SUBLIME

By Di Alexander

Alan introduced us to the Sublime when he painted a picture of a Dartmoor Tor at our May meeting. The New Forest, he said, is too gentle to be a sublime subject. It does not humble the viewer by the sheer power of nature, unlike for instance, an avalanche in the Alps, or a turbulent Turner scene. Beginning his career illustrating comics, Alan’s bold technique is put to good use in dramatic scenes with billowing clouds—”more interesting to paint than fine weather”. Firstly Alan wetted the paper and washed in a yellow ochre sky, beginning at the top right-hand corner, thinning gradually and leaving cloud shapes. Next Cerulean was washed in, leaving a yellow/grey area on the left. Alan mixed Alizarin, Raw Sienna, Cerulean and a dab of Ultramarine and painted the resulting grey-mauve along the edges of the clouds, with a darker blue-mauve section to the right of the Cerulean area. Constantly remember that watercolour dries lighter warned Alan.

He created dark, dramatic rocks with an Ultramarine/Burnt Sienna mixture for the crags and crevices, allowing them to dry and then adding washes of colour over them. The washes were bold mixtures of Yellow Ochre/Alizarin and Cerulean /Cadmium Yellow. “Always understate your greens”, Alan said “otherwise they take over”. Even at this stage, Alan was still composing the painting, adding darker areas using a no. 7 brush, being careful not to make the landscape too strong so that the sky was pushed into the background; and introducing a grey horse to stand out against the medium-toned background.

He used a wash of medium ultramarine to soften the white highlights. One of Alan’s trademark techniques is the use of yellow, pink and blue highlights, on, for example, the sheen of a pony’s coat. The quality of light is very important in a landscape scene. He had recently been painting at St. Ives in Cornwall, which is a ‘Mecca’ for artists because of its light. Some T.A.S. members agreed that a trip to St. Ives in Summer would be worth-while. Titanium White guoache—not Zinc White as it is too dull—mixed with a touch of Yellow Ochre added the finishing touch to the horse.

“Hard and soft lines make a big difference to a painting”, said Alan, as he showed how to make a soft edge with washing light colour over a dark edge. “A lot of people take a photograph, but don’t analyse the scene. Don’t go slavishly over every rock” said Alan. Inspired by that fascinating evening, we vowed to try sublime art. “After all”, said Alan, “Tors are easier to draw than people!”