all things as they recede

[color study: marshes and industrial landscape, North Jersey, May 2009. watercolor on paper. 4x6"]


"We have said before that all things as they recede from us into the atmosphere become (generally) lighter and cooler. This truth is very easily observed in this flat plane, and is of more importance in this plane than any other. You might find (to your satisfaction) that some distant patch of flowers or a grain field would look very warm or very red. Paint it very warm or very red, by all means; but since you are trying to paint a receding piece of ground in a landscape, rather than the still-life of the patch of flowers in the distance (or the individual field), be sure to make it stay back where it belongs, even if you have to resort to stratagem."
- John F. Carlson, Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting, Ch. IV: Ariel Perspective (1929)

I found this color study from 2009 of an area in North Jersey, possibly around Secaucus. This is one where I had some success in reducing the view before me into a coherent relationship while remaining truthful to visual facts. The painter's responsibility is to edit the overwhelming amount of visual information in front of him to reveal what would otherwise be lost amid the confusion. Some subjects make this an easier task than others. Physical distance alters perception and simplifies forms while introducing atmospheric influences. The painter simplifies these changes further in order to show them. And when things don't follow the normal rules of optics, for instance when visual distance does not immediately result in a fading and cooling of color and form, then some interesting challenges result.