It is beautiful to see the world anew

Every time I used to see a painting with a birch tree as ‘main subject’ or even as part of the background, I couldn’t resist a feeling of a cliche, something largely based on preconceptions regarding ‘landscaping standards’. A daub. Maybe not as obvious as a ‘deer on the heath’ or ‘swans in the pond’, but still a daub. Not even Jerzy Kossak, with his horse and birch-themed paintings could make me feel otherwise. Not even mentioning the Russian painters, who fairly often  incorporated the tree into their theme. Of course, its’ presence may as well be required by the realistic landscape: during an open-air painting session it is difficult to pretend that birch trees are not there.

There were some landscapes, otherwise magnificent pieces, that were completely losing their value to me if there was a birch tree looming somewhere in the background. I always indetified it with sentimental crafting, of little artistic value. It seemed to be saying: ‘look at these lovely trees! If I insert a pretty-looking, fine horse everyone shall admire it’. Maybe a gold plated, plastered frame?

It is not like I am having some sort of artistic birch-phobia. It is just that seeing that tree on the painting always screamed ‘daub!’ at me. I had tried to overcome this prejudice, but sadly I  failed.

Until last week.

I have not previously taken a possibility of a miracle onto account.

It was the first time when I got a chance in the open-air to look closely at a birch tree. Not looking at it as at a part of a landscape, not even as a tree. All of a sudden I managed to erase all of the unfortunate images of birch trees from my memory. They disappeared from my mind. 

I can’t remember that for sure, but I believe it was a French painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, who spoke about humility when confronted with nature.

 As I was looking at the tree, I realized that there is no such thing as a daub in nature. People not always see the beauty of nature. We look at it from perspective of what we know. What if we set aside all the knowledge and experience we have? What if we look at what surrounds us as if we’ve just seen it for the very first time?

It is beautiful to see the world anew. Regardless of the existing concepts and standards.
 


Birch trees in nature - yes! As an art theme, well, I still can’t stand them.

So there will be no paintings illustrating this post. Instead, some photos and a short video. 

 


 

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