LEFT
Bright Spring Day
(9 1/2 x 1 2 1/2 )
BELOW
Three Winter Trees,
Joined (33x231/3)
capture this heritage before it disap-
peared completely,” he says.
Throughout this period, Brammeld
found himself trying to manage
three areas of activity: his day job in
publishing, his art and a burgeoning
career at a local college as a teacher
of life drawing and painting. This
balancing act continued until the
demand for print media decreased,
and the artist felt it was time to give
up his day job. Simultaneously, his
paintings were winning more awards
and becoming more sought after.
Artistically, Brammeld also
registered the need to moderatehis interest in the post-industrial
landscape—pottery factories built
on the side of canals, rows of ter-
raced redbrick houses left derelict
for years—with more organic vistas.
“I love walking in the countryside,”
he says, “and seeing the distinc-
tive trees with beautiful shapes and
form.” While trees may not possess
architecture as such, Brammeld
feels that they do have an inherent
structure, which forces them to find
balance in their growth—the best
way to stand. “With a building, that’s
an architect’s job,” he says. “With
the natural landscape, it’s about the
power and beauty of nature and the
elements. Of course, nature eventually
takes back the man-made structures.”
The artist’s favorite seasons
for treescapes are autumn, winter
and spring when, he says, trees are
exposing their form, devoid of their
“coats” of leaves and foliage. “There’s
something so powerful about a large
tree, the shapes of the branches, the
gestures, the tangled undergrowth,”
he says. “It’s so fascinating being lost
in all that movement and life. I try
to capture the feeling of what it is
to be in that landscape.” The same
awe can be found, he says, in urban
landscapes, and the incongruity of
portraying a derelict building with
fascinating textures and detritus
against a clear blue, cloudless sky
with the sun beating down.BIG IDEAS
The power and beauty of nature sing
out loud and clear from Brammeld’s
paintings, partly due to the colors he
uses and partly due to the atmo-
sphere he builds. There’s also the
fact that the paintings, at 2x3-feet,
are rather large. They pack a punch.
His paper of choice is A1 white
cartridge paper. He also has a roll of
heavyweight cartridge paper that’s
nearly 5x65-feet, so the potential to
go even bigger certainly exists. The
sole limitations are studio wall space,
storage, framing and transportation.
“The reason I use cartridge paperArtistsNetwork.com 33