Skagit Landscape of the Mind V: Winter's Cool
Acrylics on Cedar w/Red Oak Frame
Winter 2022-23
Acrylics on Cedar w/Red Oak Frame
Winter 2022-23
Living in the Skagit Valley is a great joy. The Skagit River Valley, with the Cascades to the East and the Olympics to the west, provides a perfect stage to observe a multitude of activities. With its well-established agricultural focus, the valley also imparts a strong sense of seasonality to those who live here. Many artists are inspired to paint its beauty, and I have felt this urge on occasion as well. Art historian Shuichi Kato’s 1994 book Japan: Spirit and Form (and the television series based on it) discussed the concept of “the landscape of the mind” as opposed to a realistic painting of the actual scene. This encouraged me to focus on just the key elements of the landscape: the Cascade Mountains, their foothills, the large migrating birds(swans and geese), and the Skagit River itself. This is not representational or abstract art but “suggestive art”, as it suggests a landscape and then asks the viewer to complete it using their own mind and past experiences. Inspiration came from Ito Jakuchu’s monochromatic woodblock-printed handscroll entitled Jokyoshu: Impromptu Pleasures Afloat (see On a Riverboat Journey: A Handscroll by Ito Jakuchu with Poems by Daiten, ©1989, by Onishi, Hiroshi). To suggest the feel of a handscroll, I chose to paint on a long and narrow piece of cedar. The frame for this painting was made out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods. I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and
oiling the oak to finish the frame.
DIMENSIONS: HEIGHT: 10 ¼ inches
WIDTH: 37 ½ inches
PRICE $525
oiling the oak to finish the frame.
DIMENSIONS: HEIGHT: 10 ¼ inches
WIDTH: 37 ½ inches
PRICE $525