A Watercolor Landscape by J. W. North

On the recent post about the misty landscapes of John William Tristram, you all had some great insights about methods with watercolor and gouache, in particular about painting over a ground primed with white gouache.

John William North, Spring, watercolor, Metropolitan Museum

The funny thing is that I ran across John William Tristram while searching for John William North (1842-1924), an English known for his experimental methods in watercolor. 

Here are a few quotes I discovered about him:

From Handprint:

"1895 he entered a business venture with the Hayle Mill to develop a 100% linen watercolor paper (sized with pure, sterilized gelatin) that was extraordinarily hard and resistant to lifting and scraping techniques. This "OWS Paper" produced blotchy washes (North reputedly always had trouble with his skies) but it withstood any abuse and could even be ironed from the back, like a starched shirt. On this and similar papers North experimented for many years to produce a highly detailed painting style using only transparent watercolor and no gouache. His characteristic late paintings use a peach, brown, rose and violet color scheme (with accents of dull green) to produce the effect of an autumnal and decaying light, with overgrown grasses, stagnant waters and dwarfish trees that seem to luminesce inside their dark edges — an effect at once mystical and vaguely disturbing. North built up his forms through microscopic dots and touches of pure color, anticipating by more than a decade the better known pointilliste effects of 20th century French artists; his relentless attention to detail led a few contemporaries to suggest that he painted while using a telescope. Reclusive and somewhat eccentric, and inclined to putter unproductively until seized by a poetic inspiration, North's landscapes were most influential on young painters whose work extends into the 20th century."

From Victorian Web:

A contemporary wrote of North's method:

North's interpretation of nature was that of a poet. He did not sit down, like the average landscape painter, in picturesque scenery and arrange it improvingly; but living his life full of varied interests he waited until an entrancing moment in the passage of light or some human episode happily related to its surroundings awoke in his heart the ecstasy which is the poetic state. Then no sacrifice of time or labour was too great in the searching of nature to aid his revelation.

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Online resources

John William North on Wikipedia

Victorian Web

Handprint

Books with related content:

Breaking the Rules of Watercolor by Burton Silverman

Technique of Watercolour Painting by Richmond and Littlejohn

Victorian Landscape Watercolors by Scott Wilcox (1992-11-01)

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