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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than one seeks," John Muir
A Landscape is a panorama picture of nature, the scenic view from the window of a car, a cabin window or even a souvenir postcard. The picture is of skies, waters, trees, mountains, and fields (if you live in the mid-west), that form a natural background of scenery and they are beautiful but don't tell the whole story. Overlooked are the details, the small stuff, and it is that extra special that is the subject of my colored pencil artworks only revealed from a walk through nature. I call them natural still lifes.
Nature is fleeting in time, seasons, and weather making each and every discovery unique and special. Every walk with nature reveals new beauty, new wonder, and absolute amazement of the natural world. It's all there and I love the search almost as much as the finished artwork because every step of the discovery and of the creation process is mine. Kind of cool to think walking through the woods with a camera is actually work.
I used to tell my students to give me something extra in their art lessons meaning extra input of details, extra thoughts or new perceptions that let me see their understanding and insight. A typical painting lesson included background color, a subject, and lastly details defining the subject. I chose natural objects for the subject of my still life artworks keeping them in their natural setting for my background, and enhance nature's uniqueness for the details. While nature dictates the beginning, it is the artist that delivers the extraordinary, the artwork. It's the artist that recognizes the unique art potential in nature.
To define nature's something extra for extraordinary artworks, I start with the elements of art. Nature's lines are all beautifully organic giving the shapes of leaves, specifically oak and maple, a twist, a turn, and a curl with the seasons. The hourly and atmospheric values of lights and shadows bring drama and definition to the natural forms. Nature invented the rainbow so all colors can't help being rich, earthy, dramatic, lovely and inspiring. Real textures of wood, water, rocks, earth, and leaves provide a variety of visual interest and do present artistic skill challenges but are worth it. A good composition will focus on the final arrangement of natural objects with beauty, interest, and harmony that emphasizes the serenity present in nature.
Each time I walk with nature without preconceived specifics going in, I always discover new perspectives of familiar subjects in a natural setting making everything seem brand new. I have found the 'golden hour' touch of color that makes a weed worthy of a vase, the elegance of a maple leaf that wears the precious jewels of a recent rain shower, and the blazing color red rustling with the wind in the trees above. In small groupings of leaves, I have found a pool of water reflecting the skies above, a perfectly camouflaged koi fish swimming amidst fall's boldest fallen leaves, and the early morning frosty warnings of a coming season. In the rain, I found a collection of textures, rich in color along a small creek and in winter I discovered a patch of warm colors depicting the winter sun. I could go on and I plan to do just that. With every walk I take through nature, my artwork will continue to show just how extraordinary nature really is.
Thanks for reading,

Pamela Clements