Friday, May 7, 2010

Harry Kent landscapes


Twilight - The Cataract Gorge, oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm  
SOLD 


While i'm working on my next nasty portrait, here are some tranquil Tasmanian landscapes i did over the last couple of years just to show my gentle pastoral side.

Twilight Cataract Gorge (above) was exhibited and sold at the Tasmanian Art Award  2010.

The preliminary charcoal sketch for this painting, as i searched for ideas, looked like this:



While i was wandering the Cataract Gorge looking for interesting rock formations, i came across this one near the First Basin.


Sentinel - The Cataract Gorge,
acrylic on paper, 60 x 140 cm
 





I came up with this fantasy work while imagining the Gorge in the grip of glacial ice (i'm not sure it ever was, but the First Basin lake is immensely deep).

The Land of Ice and Snow, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 60 cm


"And southward aye we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by"       

read the Coleridge's whole poem free from here: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ,
or buy the book:  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems


because i live 42° South,

in Tasmania,

with the Mariner's albatross






      and, of course,

... a lost penguin


14 comments:

  1. These tranquil landscapes have a solidly non-tranquil feel to me, though they are very beautiful.

    I take it you are speaking tongue in cheek with your use of the word.

    If these are tranquil, I am apprehensive at seeing your - what's the opposite of the word tranquil?- you more unsettled forms.

    Wonderful work.

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  2. you make me smile, Elizabeth, at how easily my cover is blown. (though you also make me blush at the 'beautiful').

    Don't worry, more unsettled forms coming up shortly.

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  3. Strong and powerful images. I see this coming through in your self portraits too.

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  4. thanks Carolann, and you should know because your paintings are so 'present', so immediate, such assured brush-work.

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  5. Harry,

    I love the variety that you present here - today's post and your blog in general. Thank you for sneaking an acylic in too!
    Can't wait to see the next nasty portrait. A good weekend to you!

    Brian

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  6. Thanks, Brian. You are always so positive. But i experience this variety as a painful lack of personal style. I keep waiting to 'mature' as a painter somehow. But seems unlikely, since i never managed to do that in life, lol. Or maybe my style is not to have a style, but to constantly be changing.

    The problem is get bored so easily. Soon as i do a painting i like, i kind of feel "well, got the hang of that - now what?". And i seem to be permanently like a kid in a candy store, eyes like saucers, hands grabbing at new pretty as he spots them. Still, it's interesting to read Caorlann's comment, for maybe my various bits and pieces do have something in common which i myself can't quite see.

    I suppose we all do what we do. What else can we do?

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  7. Wonderful landscapes, and you did them with a few colours. I like that. They remember me some ilustrations of ancient books from explorers. My favourite is 'The Land of the Ice and Snow'. Greetings Harry.

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  8. Thank you Lozzano. Most of my landscapes have been naturalistic watercolours so these three are experimental for me. I've now included a link to the complete words of Coleridge's evocative poem.

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  9. You speak a strong, powerful language in colour and shape. Very nice work.

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  10. Thank you Zappha. I think the same of your forceful, organic, intuitive forms. Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

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  11. Strong pictures. I love mostly the first because of the colors. Bravo.

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  12. thanks, Manel. I know you love working with blue and you do it so well.

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  13. Holy Mackerel Harry!
    Who knew? These landscapes are exceptional. Do I see a bit of Cezanne here? Your "Land of Ice and Snow" is...it's...let's just say I feel like it should be in a contemporary art museum.
    Bra-a-vo.
    Sincerely,
    Gary.

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  14. Gary, you're a real tonic. My portrait work has gone into a stall and any energy i had has disappeared into the largest landscape ive ever attempted in preparation for a special event early next year.

    It now stands in my studio for a few months drying in preparation for varnishing. And i'm feeling washed out and down-hearted about painting altogether, with a voice in my head that keeps saying 'who do you think youre kidding'.

    And then i read your encouraging comments. Thank you, friend.

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