Detail, Restraint and the Painted Surface

This painting draws on multiple walks through Eaves Wood near Silverdale in Lancashire — a place of considerable botanical and atmospheric richness. I worked from a combination of sketches and photographs to compose the scene, and the process of moving between those sources and the canvas became part of the painting's development.

Parts of Eaves Wood are classified as semi-ancient woodland, having existed for over 400 years. The small-leaved limes there are believed to be several centuries old, all originating from a single tree. Limes can drop a branch that then regrows from the ground into a new tree — a form of natural propagation that gives the grove its distinctive, multi-stemmed character. The diversity within Eaves Wood contributes to its uniqueness: mature yew trees create a deep, atmospheric darkness with their twisted trunks and gnarled roots, while areas of new hazel or ash coppice feel lighter and more open. In spring, the coppiced hazel areas, cut back to the ground, burst into growth with particular energy.

'Eaves Wood' A Landscape Painting by Peter Corr (Detail)

The Starting Point: Recycling a Canvas

This painting began on an unfinished canvas that had been set aside for some time. Working over an existing surface introduces a particular kind of resistance — the earlier marks and layers are present beneath the new ones, and the painting has to negotiate with what is already there. To create the feeling of being inside a forest landscape, surrounded by trees and undergrowth, I chose a panoramic format. For the first layer, I used a brayer to apply cold wax mixed with oil paint across the entire surface, establishing a tonal ground from which the subsequent layers could develop.

Tools and Application

While I do not usually rely on brushes in my work, this painting required a different approach for certain passages. The linear details — tree trunks, branches, and fine marks — were made using cold wax mixed with turpentine and linseed oil, applied with a combination of hog hair and sable brushes. Additional fine lines were drawn with a palette knife and a sharpened stick. The combination of these tools produces a range of mark qualities that would be impossible to achieve with any single instrument.

'Eaves Wood' A Landscape Painting by Peter Corr (Detail)

Knowing When to Stop

For any painter, determining the appropriate level of detail is one of the most demanding judgements the work requires. Intricate fine detail can be impressive, but it does not guarantee the success of a painting. The Photo Realist movement has produced some remarkable works, but this approach has its limitations: paintings are a means of communication, and the most effective communication is rarely the most exhaustive. There is a point at which additional detail begins to close down the painting rather than open it up — when the surface becomes too resolved, too finished, too certain of itself.

Restraint is not the same as incompleteness. A painting that knows when to stop retains a quality of openness — an invitation to the viewer to complete what the painter has left unresolved. This is, I think, one of the most important things a painting can do.

'Eaves Wood' A Landscape Painting by Peter Corr 100 x 50 x 4 cm