Previous Sketchbooks (2)

From the year 2000.

Northumberland. Some in the forest and some in the North Pennine region.

Sibelius' Fifth Symphony

The Symphonic Music of Jean Sibelius invokes the spirit of the landscape of his native Finland. Extending northwards from the northern edge of the Baltic to deep into the Arctic Circle and is a wild landscape of moorland, lakes and coniferous forests and for much of the year, snow. Sibelius is reputed to have said his Fifth Symphony described a walk in the snow with the empty  sky relieved by a flight of geese (or was it swans?) passing overhead and he felt his spirit soar with them.The final ten minutes of the work strongly alludes to this.
When I was younger I often walked through a similar landscape in the Border Forest area of Northumberland; especially in winter. Granted the Sitka spruces in Northumberland are an imported species, making up a much younger forest than its Finnish counterpart. Another essential factor is that unlike the Scandinavian forests, Northumberland's is man-made. It is arguably one of the the largest, if not the largest  man-made forest in Western Europe.
Needless to say it has the same "feel" about it as the Nordic pines; - especially in winter.
The above black and white line drawing is a layout of the idea. The elements of the picture are meant to echo the  musical structure of Sibelius's work. This layout is on a sheet of A4 cartridge paper. Another sheet of Fabriano 50 x 70 cms  is stretched on the Artech  board and the first pencil lines drawn. I will show this as "work in progress" at a later stage when some of the lines have been inked-in thus making it easier to see on a screen.

Meanwhile, some satellite pieces are evolving as I work out some of the detail. Some of these could, I suppose, be little works in their own right. These are postcard(ish) sized being 11 x 16 cms and on Bockingford paper in some cases or Fabriano. This one here is made with Daler's FW acrylic inks using a watercolour technique. The stave is the opening bars of the finale as played by violins played at allegro (fairly fast).

Then the flight of geese. Played at the same speed but each note is double the length of the quivering violins' [notes]. This majestic scene is played by the horns in the orchestra.

The tall pines reach up and point to the enormous sky. The musical stave is in place but I have yet to add the notes. Likewise these foreground trees need to be developed further. This post card is far from finished. A work in progress within a work in progress. I was working on this particular piece late on last Tuesday afternoon when I had to leave it. Dinner would soon be on the table and I had to catch the bus home across town.

Bach B minor Mass: - the Drawing.

The title looks like it should read "Bach B minor - the Movie" but no, its a drawing on 300 gsm cartridge 50 x 70 cm. It is the finished piece developed from the study sketch, - along with several others, - shown previously. Close examination should reveal some of the technical drawing aspects I've used. The German Romantics have played a role here, the painter David Caspar Friedrich and the composer Robert Schumann as well as my own interpretation.  I spent lot of my time when I was younger walking the more infrequently visited parts of the Northumberland and Scottish Border areas so quite naturally, I suppose, such features as coniferous forests, moorland, standing stones and ancient ruins.  I think I've inadvertently walked in the footsteps of the solitary wanderer featured so much in both the artist's and musician's footstep to say nothing of the writers such as Goethe and Schiller. Yes it is all very German and it is my second language to boot.

But enough of that. Sufficient to say this is a drawing using black ink and micro pen for the line and the "painterly" component is coloured inks and  brushwork.

The Sanctus in Bach's work has a filigree quality which I've reflected in the  tree-tops and the tall straight tree-trunks provide the rhythmic bass which could be the huge diapason pipes of the organ. But let's not get too bogged down in explanations. I'd  prefer you to make your own interpretation(s).