Fields from above

For this impulse I’d like to think further about the structures we can find in nature: the view on fields from above. At the latest when you‘re sitting in an airplane, but also when you‘re on top of a tower, a mountain or a tall house, you get an overview of the landscape – we all know this view of the countryside, of the fields.

What do we notice there? First of all, the terrain is remarkable. Where you can find fields, most of the time it’ll be a flat area, maybe with hills or small mountains. The flat or slightly hilly landscape allows the farmers a certain structure and method to cultivate them. Here there are great differences depending on which cultural area and which geographical area you’re in.

For example, between Germany and Austria, there’s a small difference in how big the fields are. In Austria we don’t have these huge, wide and flat plains as in Germany. There are always hills or mountains in between, or the forest gets involved. This also happens sometimes in Germany, but still the structure of the fields is a bit different. When you get to more eastern countries, the fields get much smaller. In vastness of Russia on the other hand, you’ll see very huge fields. In the US, the fields are huge, too, and the structures are completely different.
The fields in Asia are again entirely different. There are very small farms because the farmers don’t own that much land and usually still cultivate the land by hand or with an ox or other draft animals that lead the plow. In the Himalayas, for example, the farmland is adapted to the terrain of the mountains. There, the slopes are very steep everywhere, and as far as it’s somehow possible, the fields are terraced.

Perhaps you’ve already observed for yourselves how the landscape is shaped when you’ve been able to take a look from above during your travels. Wherever you’ve seen a field, there’s one thing in common: the fields are mostly rectangular or square and if you want to describe it analytically, the fields are divided as in a grid. You can observe the intuitive feeling of the respective farmer in communication with his found terrain.
Water veins, roads, trails, rocky situations, or clusters of trees create a new constellation amid the order of the fields in a surprising way. The color palette also very much depends on the season. When it snows, for example, lines inscribed by paths, watercourses or the natural borders of the terrain can be seen from above. In spring, the different crops become visible in color and texture, this intensifies in summer and then even more in autumn. Or you’re lucky enough to experience the tulip bloom in Holland, where each field has a different color. So it’s worth taking a look at fields from above every now and then.

I would like to refer here to Paul Klee, who wonderfully understood to lead these observations into abstraction, which many other artists have followed in their own way.

So, today’s assignment is this: take home your observation on fields from above as a sketch or photograph and create a linear composition of these fields on your drawing sheet. Sometimes it takes narrow double lines to mark wide lines. Consider the quality of these lines. And then find signs for the structures of each field. You can fill the individual fields with these structures, more densely or less densely. Repeat the different structures in several places, so that there’s a totality in the picture. Maybe there are great color compositions to observe in your field, if so, incorporate them into your drawing.

Van Gogh, Cezanne, Caspar David Friedrich, Matisse, Picasso, Brice Marden, Marianne Lang – just to name a few, still present us with fantastic proposals in their drawings. Research the Internet, go to museums, and discover the many possibilities that come from observing fields from above. Then try out your own ideas and possibilities!

Have fun!