Figure in the Landscape

I've recently completed this painting, and have noticed that for the first time figures have started making appearances in my landscapes.

As humans, we are naturally drawn to any figures or people that appear in paintings.  I've been trying to add these figures in such a way that they are not the immediate focus of the painting, but rather fun discoveries one can make while looking more closely.

In this painting the figures are particularly small.  Click on it to see a larger image of the painting if you can't find them ...

http://timonsloane.com/artwork/gallery2/v/Hidden-Cove-900px.jpg.html

What I particularly like is that by using figures I can more explicit control the sense of scale in the painting.  In pure landscapes, it can be hard to imply the true sense of grandeur or vastness of a scene.  With a figure added, we suddenly read everything in relation to the scale of the figure.

http://timonsloane.com/artwork/gallery2/v/Making-Memories-900px.jpg.html

Timon Sloane TV Interview

I did an interview for a local TV program a few months ago.  In the interview I talk about plein air painting and the process of painting landscapes from life.  If you're interested, have an look and let me know what you think ...

Timon Sloane Video Interview

If you have any trouble viewing it, please drop me an e-mail.  This is the first time I've integrated a video into my website, and the process of converting the video format and installing a flash video viewer wasn't as trivial as one might hope/expect.  Youtube makes it look so easy :-)