Easel Art
If my head is full of unpainted sceenes, I don´t move far from my easel. If my curiosity for different motif areas is calling, I travel – if our economy allows it.
There was a time in life that I was of the opinion that all paintings that were not completed in God's free nature were of no value. Landscapes should be painted on the spot and preferably during hard conditions - raing, slush and frost. If it was almost impossible to paint and the white paint froze at minus 20 degrees Celsius, this I considered real art. During the summer I was delighted if the paint contained fir needles and mosquitos.
But you have the right to change your mind, don't you? I sometimes still paint models of landscapes outdoors and sketch animals in enclosures and coverts.
Nowadays, I try mostly to store an experience in field and recreate it at my easel. The camera is a good tool for your memory but bad as a catcher of animals- and bird characters.
The camera can not enhance what is typical for certain species. To be more exact, what differs on look-alike bird or mammal from the other. We all remember Gunnar Brusewitz's excellent explanation of this phenomenon, when he spoke of Harald Wiberg's elks, that looked more like the elk than the elk itself. To explain it in a simple way - you exaggerate what is typical of the species without making it into a caricature.
