Landscape

What defines a landscape? When we think of landscape, what comes to mind? A beautiful hillside? A cultivated garden? Or a painting? A closer look at the word’s origin reveals the following:

The term landscape comes from:

     landshaft — German

     landshap — Dutch

     landskip — English

lendh2– open land, heath, prairie; skep– to cut, scrape, to hack, form, creation (<“cutting”): shape.

To form, cut, or otherwise shape the land.


Uffington White Horse
Image source: Wikipedia

If the literal translation is used, then a beautiful example is the prehistoric Iron Age Uffington White Horse in Berkshire Downs, England. Over 350 feet long, the image of a stylized horse was deeply cut into the hillside some 3,000 years ago and the incised area filled with chalk. To this day, local residents maintain the crisp imagery by refilling the original trench cuts with fresh chalk.

Open land + creation

La Strada Giu’
Plein air oil on canvas


La Strada Su
Plein air oil on canvas


Il Monumento
Plein air oil on canvas

Landscape painting is a creation by an artist’s relationship to the land, either directly or indirectly. After many years of plein air painting, I noticed a theme emerge in my choice of landscape subject matter; virtually all the imagery depicts views of the land with either roads or agricultural fields cut into it; a ubiquitous example of human’s relationship with nature.