Landscape and Cityscape

Wood River Gallery

Horizons

and hidden areas fascinate.

We want to know what is over the brow of the hill.

I’m reminded of that Edwardian picture my grandma had of a girl on a ladder

daringly peeping over a garden wall... or of the girl in the flat across the road from me

who had seen me unclad from the waist up while I was in the kitchen

getting a drink from the fridge, and who I caught as I

glanced up, jumping up and

down, trying to see

a bit more...

Bob Hersey

That bend in the lane twisting behind the tree – and the second building

behind the smithy, but I can only see the start of it...

In some cases the treasure is glimpsed.

In others it is ‘foreshadowed’ –

visual and aural hints are given of its presence.

Wood River Gallery

But horizons and simple obstacles

are not the only ways for a landscape to tease.

It may clothe itself in snow or mist,

revealing glimpses here

and there, but hiding

broad swathes under

a cloak of white.

Low angle light

will do it, too –

whether at dusk

or dawn –

or the low sun

of winter in the far north.

Wood River Gallery

Shadows fall across hollows,

behind trees and hills.

Low slanting sunlight

may catch the tops

of flowering grasses

here and there,

defining new areas.

A landscape by midday

loses its intrigue, like a stripper

who comes on stage naked...

I once did an analysis of

time of day and season in some

500 American wildlife paintings. They

were predominantly autumn or winter,

and almost invariably with the sun low in the sky.