The Snow Man
Painting snow is hard! This man was one of the masters - Joseph Farquharson.
It’s a rainy, muggy, warm day in my corner of Georgia, with a chance for tornados this afternoon. I’d already planned to go to the local library to work on something today, so I stuck with the plan.
I have BSF - Bible Study Fellowship - every Tuesday night at 6:30. The last two weeks, I’ve coasted - too busy on the ‘day of’ to complete the reading and questions, too lazy to do it earlier in the week or everyday as designed. Today, I packed up my laptop, my BSF book and Greek Orthodox Bible as well as books to return.
Unfortunately, the two books I returned were NOT the two that were overdue. Fortunately, no one was on the wait list, so my nice librarian renewed them AGAIN - for the seventh time (so embarrassing) so I could check out two more books.
Yes, its an addiction, but a good one. And books are essential on rainy days, along with hot tea. I mean, I don’t drink hot tea in the library, I’m not a total philistine! But maybe soon, since my library has soft drink machines and a little snack bar in the New Materials room. Hmmm. Possible anonymous comment in the suggestion box next visit. The chairs are very comfy - BEQUEM STUHL in German, remember? I can’t talk to anyone but I’ll damn sure be sitting pretty - and a cup of tea would let me linger in an area other than the reading room with the long tables.
ANYWAY - here’s the book I’m reading and enjoying. The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman. It’s a modern take on a Regency book, and the two heroines are twin sisters, 44 years old and unmarried. Very well written, and quite entertaining. As I was reading along, I had a squirrel moment - the author threw in that Augusta enjoyed caraway cake with her tea. What did we do before our phones? I grabbed mine, and presto, the BBC delivered. If you are also a book reading, tea loving woman, here’s our new Elizabethan teatime treat. Caraway Cake.
The book is so good, I decided to search out her other works. They weren’t in Fiction. Instead, I finally had a good reason to go into the Young Adult section with all the teenagers. HAH! That was fun. I felt very together in my jeans, long shirt and hooded open sweatshirt. Losing 70 pounds last year meant that I could ALMOST blend - if I had my hood up over my white hair.
I scored one for the ride up to my parents’ house on Thanksgiving Day. The Dark Days Club, by Alison Goodman, set in 1812 London. The review on the front says ‘Georgette Heyer meets Buffy.” Promising! On the inside cover - The heroine is on the eve of her debut, when she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few chosen to stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons that has infiltrated all levels of society. Yowza, now that’s an entertaining holiday read for the road! Good thing my husband likes driving.
I should add, I finished all of my Bible questions before going hunting for Regency Steampunk. I’ve gone to church all my life, and thought I knew a lot, but this course is EXCELLENT. And it’s been a great way to meet other women who are still learning and loving it.
ANYWAY, #2 - The art. I saw this fabulous painting with almost perfect snow. So restful, even cute rabbits. Great sky and light on that back mountain. And that WALL! Perfection.
I pine for snow and frost in the late fall and winter of Georgia, which is no winter at all. In Germany, when it snowed, I’d put on my fur hat and drive to work over white roads and snowflakes coasting through the beams of the headlights while I played my Red Army Choir CD. Here, I’ll be lucky to need a sweater in January.
Oops, sorry. The artist is Joseph Farquharson, Scotland,(184701935). And no, I have no idea how to pronounce that last name, but I’ll bet a glass or two of Macallan would help it slip off my tongue. Here’s a short bio with a little surprise on his painting technique.
Farquharson’s father, an Edinburgh-based doctor and amateur artist, was also the 10th laird of the Finzean estate in the Dee Valley of Aberdeenshire. His precociously talented younger son first exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1861, aged fifteen. His studies at the Trustees’ Academy and the RSA Life Schools were supplemented by mentoring from the Scottish landscape painter Peter Graham, a family friend. By 1873 Farquharson had a London studio and had set his sights on the Royal Academy, eventually being elected an Associate in 1890 and Academician in 1915. From 1880 several winters were spent in the Paris studio of Carolus-Duran where Joseph formed an important friendship with Sargent, then a fellow student. Between 1885 and 1893 Farquharson made several visits to Egypt in pursuit of figure subjects for exhibition at the Academy. But his popular reputation became and has remained almost synonymous with his many evocative snow scenes of Aberdeenshire – much admired by Walter Sickert for their sheer painterliness and technical virtuosity. Joseph finally inherited Finzean in 1918.
The remarkable realism of Farquharson's work can be attributed to his desire to work en plein air. This had to be carried out in a unique way which was adapted to the harsh Scottish climate. Farquharson had constructed a painting hut on wheels, complete with a stove and large glass window for observing the landscape. Likewise to achieve as realistic a result as possible when painting the sheep which frequently appear in his snowscapes, he used a flock of "imitation" sheep which could be placed as required in the landscape of his choice. Farquharson painted so many scenes of cattle and sheep in snow he was nicknamed ‘Frozen Mutton Farquharson’.
Farquharson inherited the title of Laird in 1918 after the death of his elder brother Robert, a doctor and MP for West Aberdeenshire.
First of all, love the nickname. I can just see some boozed up, pipe smoking Lairds in a billiards room shouting “Here comes Frozen Mutton Farquharson! Hey, Farky, did you have some fun with your soft, fuzzy sheep today? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more.” (Well, Monty Python was a bit later, but it fits.)
How brilliant that he wanted to paint so badly on those raw, biting winter days in the Highlands that he figured out how to rig a plein air TRAILER so he could paint in peace! I mean, pretty amazing. I like this guy already.
Then we get to the rest of his paintings. Wow. Well, I can see why he didn’t want to stop for the cold weather. His cold weather paintings are the BEST. I’ve thrown in a few without snow at the end so you can compare.
I love those bottom three. The one in the middle is a fairy tale without words, and bookended by two where Frozen Mutton got out of his little trailer and moved the sheep around again for a better effect. Or maybe he just left them in place and changed the wall, face and coat color.
See what I mean? Nice, but I would much rather have a savage winter scene over my fireplace. Maybe that’s just me. This last one is my favorite without snow. Quite moving and atmospheric. Haunting, really, although the bird looks happy instead of lonely. I wonder how he was able to make me feel the mood of a bird?
Have a great Thanksgiving and if it’s cold where you are, please enjoy a fire for me!