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| Moors by Diana Davydova |
As an artist I always thought that a landscape will be the last genre that I’d I paint, just because it seemed so easy - because so many people do it and because it is almost unavoidable to hear someone say “hmm, I think I've seen something similar before..”. But recently I was requested to produce some local Devon landscapes so I gave it a go.
While working on the set of paintings I have been so surprised by positive comments regarding the appeal of trees in paintings, which got me thinking more about the popularity of landscape painting in general and what makes them appeal to so many?
Perhaps, this love is unconscious, our ancestors used to live in forests for many generations and maybe we all long for our natural habitat - especially in the UK where it is so difficult to find a virgin forest.
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| Pines of Haldon Forest near Exeter by Diana Davydova |
I don’t think beauty is the reason. Still life and flowers can be beautiful but they do not appeal to as many as, it appears, landscapes do. Landscapes can draw the viewer in and stir the imagination – evoke a longing that the viewer wasn’t aware existed. The feeling of the forest - something internal and stable in contrast to the ever-changing contemporary lifestyle is quite captivating.
There is something very personal for everybody in a landscape painting. Landscapes bring up associations with time spent in woods and parks. Perhaps it is not the painting people see but their memories...
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| Greenway by Diana Davydova |
