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Landscapes in General

From the Wikipedia article:

Here is an example of landscape painting from a Japanese master, Kanō Naganobu (Kanō Isen’in Naganobu) (1775-1828), official painter for Shōgun Tokugawa Ienari. It is number 2 from Naganobu's Album of Twelve Landscapes which depicts famous places, a popular theme in Japanese landscape painting. This one features Mt. Yoshino near Nara, covered in cherry trees in blossom, a spring theme. Note the tenkei buildings near the center. The painting, executed early in the 19th century, is ink and color on silk.

One of the features that distinguishes many Japanese (and Chinese) landscape paintings like this one from typical Western landscapes is that instead of continuous detail from the foreground through the background, detailed features are separated by negative space. These can simply be blank areas or be represented by clouds, fog, etc. Foreground objects are placed toward the bottom of the painting and are scaled larger than other features. Background objects are placed toward the top of the painting, etc.

Landscapes with a vertical orientation are much more common in Oriental art than in Western art. The subject matter helps to determine which orientation works best. The following example (1469?) is either by Sesshū Tōyō (1420 – 1506), who painted Japanese-style subject matter influenced by Song dynasty Chinese painting techniques, or by a student from Sesshū's school. It represents spring from a 4-season set of paintings.

Desert Landscapes

One reason for there being so few Japanese desert landscape paintings is that Japan has no desert areas to speak of. There is one small area on the coast of Honshu, bordering on the Sea of Japan, that is an exception. Tottori sakyū is relatively small in size, measuring 9 miles long by 1.5 miles wide. It has been there for around 100,000 years.

Because it is so unusual for Japan, Tottori sakyū draws lots of tourists as can be shown by the massive number of footprints in this next photo. (It was hard to find photos that didn't have tourists cluttering the scenery.)

Tottori sakyū has been gradually shrinking due to reforestation of nearby mountainous areas, the source of the sand. Because the area is so unique (it has been named a UNESCO Global Geopark) and because of its tourist appeal (good for the local economy), measures are being taken to preserve it. Hopefully, it will be around for a long time to come.

Lots of Rocks

Once a region becomes arid and there is no vegetation or water to hold the soil down, the wind takes over and blows away the finer particles of clay and dried organic matter, exposing underlying desert sand. However, before there is sand, there are rocks. Joshua Tree National Park has lots of rocks that haven't yet completely weathered and eroded down to sand. The Jumbo Rocks area is one of the most picturesque rocky regions of the park.

Joshua Tree National Park rocks have numerous joints (cracks) and faults. Water, such as there is in the desert, works its way into joints and eventually erodes away surrounding material, leaving the exposed jumbles seen today. What you see hasn't been piled up; it is just what is left over from eons of slow erosion. Areas like Jumbo Rocks are all over the park; especially in the Mojave Desert region of the park.

It is sometimes hard to imagine how these jumbles manage to hold together.

Pleasing landscapes usually have more to them than just one element, however, regardless of how fascinating piles of rocks may be.

Here is another example. Can you see the children?

Animals & Other Desert Elements

When creating a landscape composition, there is no need to directly copy a particular scene. There is nothing wrong with assembling elements from a variety of sources; also known as artistic license. Before leaving rocks, here is something that can be part of many desert landscapes. It might serve as a main subject, but there are many possibilities for its use as a tenkei element. This is one of several rock arches in Joshua Tree National Park.

This one is called skull rock.

Here are remains of Joshua Tree's Lost Horse mine.

Cactus Wren

These birds nest in thorny cacti like cholla and saguaro. They can sometimes be seen with their heads sticking out of holes in the sides of saguaro hat have been pecked for nests. The cactus wren is the largest species of wren in the United States.

Road Runner

These relatives of cuckoos can fly, but they are much more frequently seen on the ground; often running. They have been clocked up to 27 miles per hour.

Desert Tortoise

These reptiles spend as much as 95% of their time in burrows, sheltering from the sun. They are well adapted to both high temperatures low. They are most often active after rains

Sidewinder Rattlesnake

The peculiar side-wise movement of these snakes make ascending steep sand dunes easy where other animals struggle. Sidewinders have been clocked at up to 18 miles per hour.

Coyote

Midrange in size between foxes and wolves, coyotes are found in abundance. They are even adapting to some urban areas.

Desert Bighorn Sheep

These beautiful animals are rarely seen by humans, mostly occupying areas that people rarely visit. Some species of bighorn weigh up to 500 lbs. A pair of large horns can weigh up to 30 lbs. Both males and females have horns, but the males' horns grow to be much larger.

Artwork

Kakunen Tsuruoka (1892 – 1977)

As noted before, desert landscape paintings by Japanese artists are extremely rare. Two shown last week by Tsuruoka were painted while he was locked up in a Japanese internment camp in Arizona during WW II. Here is another he did while there.

Georgia O'Keefe (1887 – 1986)

Thought by some to be the mother of American modernism, O'keefe wasn't Japanese, but she was noted, among other subjects, for her New Mexico desert landscapes. The 1930 sand dune painting below is an example.

Painted in the same year is this landscape of the Black Mesa area.

By 1944, O'Keefe's style had softened quite a bit, as shown in Cottonwood III below near her home in Ghost Ranch.

Sky scenery is often a common element in landscape paintings. That is true for some of the photos shown above. For an example of at least one painting in which the sky is a prominent subject, this O'Keefe painting was inspired by a 1932 vacation trip to Canada's Gaspé Peninsula in 1932. It is quite a departure from the usual fluffy cloud scenery.