WORKING FROM THE MOTIF

Cezanne was very famously obsessed by a motif that he returned to time and again, a feature of the landscape in Provence, a mountain called Mont St. Victoire. Visible from 380 degrees, it looms above the farmlands of the area, serene or sinister according to the prevailing light, and such an enigmatic feature of the landscape cannot fail but beguile the attention of any painter living in proximity to it. In fact it was while Cezanne was out painting this mountain “en plein aire”, that he caught the cold which, left untreated, later turned into the pneumonia that eventually killed him.

For me it is the looming slope of the mountain foothill opposite our village that fascinates me. Capileira is set at the head of the Poqueira Gorge, a deep ravine above which the three white villages of the Barranco perch precariously. The terraced hillside opposite us was shaped by the original Moroccan farming communities who settled here before being ousted by the Spanish some seven centuries ago.

These farmlands were cultivated by means of an interdependent irrigation system consisting of a series of leats, or small stone-lined canals known as “acequias”, with each group of farms having special rights and responsibilities concerning the shared use and maintenance of the water supply. The area supports a rich abundance of flora and fauna, and even now that many of the acequias have been ruinous and abandoned for decades, the old farmsteads are still verdant and vibrant, with plants trees and wild life.

As the sun begins to sink below the high horizon, the terraces are thrown into sharp relief by the slanting light, and the valleys and gullies become increasingly emphasised by the cool deep shadows. Stands of huge trees become back-lit and in the Autumn and the Spring, the chestnut and poplar trees provide spectacular displays of yellows, lime greens, pinks, orange and scarlet.

I have been constantly captivated by this ever-changing spectacle, and have been driven to make studies of it in a range of different media and at different seasons, and in a variety of weather conditions. The scale and monumentality of this landscape is part of it’s interest for me, but so is identifying individual features such as the groups of farmsteads clustered along the water courses.

I find that choosing the right medium to express a particular feature or effect supports my intention, making the execution of the idea more fluid and and effective. The studies in oils shown here attempt to convey the solidity of the forms within the landscape,. The vertical shapes have largely been carved out by the action of the rain fall as it flows down into the Poqueira ravine many hundreds of meters below. The horizontal shapes are the terraces made by the Moroccan farmers, working as extended family groups to cultivate their crops in the fertile alluvial soils.

The watercolours have mainly been made in response to the fast-changing light conditions. It is always a desperate race against time to catch the transient effects of sun-down on the landscape. The semi-abstract watercolour, "Barranco de las Rosas", marks what I feel might be a series of more experimental works using masking techniques, with poured and sprayed colour.

You may wish to follow a similar way of approaching making paintings of the landscape, and it is possible to do this from the comfort of your own home in winter time. Identify a view seen through a particular window in your house, and fix a rectangle of tape to the glass to isolate your focus of interest. You are then able to embark on a series of studies exploring different aspects of your chosen motif. Monet also returned to the motif throughout his long painting career, and you can look him up on the internet to see how he worked.

Best wishes, Maggy