The Quiet Power of Small Landscape Paintings
There is something satisfying about creating a large painting. If you’re painting a wide vista, then a large landscape can be really rewarding because you get to create this big piece of art that expresses the beauty and largeness of that place and moment. However, I think small landscape paintings can be equally satisfying, and can be equally treasured for their ability to reduce the focus of the viewer to this particular point. In my Scotland series I painted a number of small paintings. More than half of the collection is comprised of paintings that are less than 10 inches in either direction, and the reason I wanted to create so many pieces in that size range was that I wanted to focus on tiny moments from that trip and be able to focus on the details of the paintings without getting overwhelmed by size. A small size allows me to be very specific in the composition as well as the color and details I chose to depict.
Boats in the Bay at Low Tide
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
8 × 8, 2024
This painting was inspired by a stop in Kyleakin Bay. You can check out an in depth blog post I wrote about this painting here. I was intrigued by the sight of the crumbling castle on the opposite side of the bay, as well as the view of the boat sitting on the bottom of the bay with the tide rolled out. I decided to put this piece on a smaller size piece of paper because I wanted to create a dynamic composition where the boat was exploding out of the left side of the piece, and the docks with other boats sitting in the water, as well as the land and the deteriorating castle were on the other side. It gave the eye somewhere to move as you explored the painting, and I think with that kind of dynamic composition a smaller painting was successful because I could put effort into the little details of each area of the piece without it getting too large and overwhelming.
The Green Pond
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
8 × 8, 2023
In this piece I wanted to focus mainly on the many shades of green in the foliage and the water, but also in the pattern of the leaves. This pond was in the Royal Garden in Edinburgh, and I was struck by its quiet simplicity in the middle of that big park. I enjoyed being able to focus on the colors and details without the pattern becoming too abstract due to a large size. This piece is 8×8 unframed, and I really enjoy the way I was able to focus on this little moment and bring it to life in this small painting.
Persicaria Bicornis Bush
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
8 × 8, 2024
Similarly to The Green Pond, this piece was also inspired by a small area of one of the gardens in the larger Royal Garden in Edinburgh. I was drawn to the pink flowers poking out of the bush, as well as the rock covered in moss behind it. By making this piece small (also 8×8) I was once again able to focus on accurately depicting the flowers and foliage in the piece, as well as doing my best to accurately represent the shades of green visible. To a viewer of this piece I think the small nature of the painting allows you to appreciate it for the small glimpse into what a visit to that garden was like.
A View From the Top
Fluid Acrylics on Paper
8 × 8, 2024
This painting was inspired by a view I saw when I stepped through an exterior door at the top of Eilean Donan in the Highlands of Scotland. I liked the view of the roof of the buliding, a little slice of the pathway down below, and the water and land surrounding. There were some clouds in the sky on that day casting shadows over the area, but the sky peeking through was bright blue, so it created a picturesque contrast of light and shadow as well as saturated and muted colors. I liked doing this piece on such a small piece of paper because I wanted to create a painting that showed a really close-up slice of that view. I wanted to focus on the patterns found in the roof and the trees in the distance, and fitting it into a small piece allowed that.
I hope that the viewer of these pieces and the other small works in my Scotland collection enjoy the little view we get of the beautiful Scotland landscape through my work.