The 17th Century Dutch painter Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-82) excelled in the painting of landscapes. This Dutch master took advantage of his country’s great scenic resource: sky. Ruisdael lowered the horizon line so that nearly two thirds of the picture focused on the clouds. While local life and the landscape were imbued with a sober restraint, the real drama of the paintings was the skyscape above. Those awesome patches of sky, of which Ruisdael was so skillful at portraying, captured blue in its various tones and intensities. 

In 2000, Paul Binnie returned to woodblock printing after a two year hiatus. He turned to Ruisdael’s forte: the sky. His intimate series of small, directly carved cloud studies were part of new series made from his studio in London. These clouds of the ‘floating’ worlds are explicit and bold renderings of the sky’s landscape. Paul Binnie blends this familiar Dutch subject into evocative woodblock prints, displaying his skill in combining both Japanese printing techniques with Western art forms.

To view Paul Binnie’s Cloud Studies take a look here.