Jonathan Smith West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
I am a self-taught, semi-professional painter, based on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. I work in oils and seeks to reflect my personal responses to the landscapes around me. My love of the light and the landscape are reflected in my work. One other central theme is the resolution of the view of nature as either destructive or beneficent,
I spend as much of my time as possible in the woods and on the moors that make up the Yorkshire Dales. Here I will sketch and photograph landscapes, weather effects and views that I then use in my studio to create completed versions in oil. I am heavily influenced by the ideas of John Carlson, especially in the sense of using memory to create the painting.
Once I find a motif, or view, or weather effect that interests me, I will take out sketchbook and camera to record the necessary images. But, more importantly, I take some time to just "look" at the scene and try to internalise colours, forms and effects. Added to these new memories are my own personal response to the scene - joy, concern, fear, serenity. Once back in the studio, the sketches and source material act as a framework to create the forms and space on the canvas but, once that is done, I use my own memory of the moment to create the image. In this way, I try to create a very personal response too the image I am producing, and hope to convey my feelings to the viewer.
Ultimately, I try to express my love of landscape and of light, my love of the weather and the beautiful. landscape of the county of my birth and, I strive to create art that has humanity, as an antidote the the often sterile and loveless world we have created for ourselves, including that of the arts.
Artwork
Woodland Track, Timble Forest, Oil, 2021, £700
Red Gate, Timble, Oil, 2021
Troller's Ghyll, Oil, 2021, £700
Washburn Valley, Winter, Oil, 2020
Mist Clearing, Denton Moor, Oil, 2019
Dunstanburgh Castle in the Mist, Oil, 2021, £450
Forest Pool, Timble, Oil, 2021, £520
Beech Tree by the Wharfe, Oil, 2024, £400
Projects and exhibitions
| Details | ||
|---|---|---|
D20 Summer Show08/07/2023 — 02/09/2023 Open show. My piece won Best in Show with a cash prize and a commission |
D20 Gallery, Doncaster | Details |
Landscapes of Yorkshire21/01/2023 — 18/03/2023 A solo exhibition offered by the gallery owner |
The Village Gallery, York | Details |
Artist Exhibition13/08/2022 — 03/09/2022 Rolling exhibition of local artists in the dedicated gallery space |
Ilkley Art Shop, Ilkley | Details |
Summer Show22/07/2022 — 03/09/2022 Open call for exhibition at this gallery |
Open Gallery, Halifax | Details |
Quiet Landscapes07/05/2022 — 02/08/2025 A show I organised at a local venue with a local landscape photographer |
Mackenzies, Harrogate | Details |