Asher Durand – ‘Kindred Spirits’ (1849)

Can you see Thomas Cole the painter and William Cullen Bryant the poet admiring the view?  Well these are the men extrapolated into this scene following a commission by Jonathan Sturges as a eulogy for Cole having died in 1848.  A moving thought.

Frederic Edwin Church – ‘Twilight in the Wilderness’ (1860)

Where can I begin with this glorious painting?  It almost defies words for me to describe.  ‘Twilight in the Wilderness’ is a masterpiece by Frederic Edwin Church.  The use of textures and colours causes me to feel like my mind is humbled into a whirlwind of thoughts.  In his like brilliance with Monet and Carlos de Haes I find myself inspired to try to even dream to produce a realist painting of this superlative magnitude.

Colour matching is a skill within professional painting that takes years of practice.  Whenever I see greyish blue necked swans my happiness can be likened to the shouting sound of ‘Eureka!’.  Artists want to impress.  To master what they see.  Communicating literally and symbolically.

‘Self Portrait of My Body’ is so important to me as a work that I cannot simply dab colours here and there and hope for the best with colour matching.  Non-artists may not realise the technicalities that age and exact colour matching brings to a canvas.  Are all lines perfectly straight?  Let the imagination wonder why one might hold back from perfection.

Thomas Worthington Whittredge – ‘Birch Trees’ (c.1872)

I’ve chosen Thomas Worthington Whittredge, and in particular ‘Birch Trees’, because it strongly reminds me of artworks by a family relative.  Artwork that I will present here in this blog at an appropriate time.  My family relative passed away 9 years ago and I have Christmas cards that he sent to my Grandmother each with his artwork beautifully displayed on the cover with warm greetings inside.  Amazingly I only knew of his artworks over the past few years.

Whittredge, of course, is a landscape giant of American Art.

Samuel Colman (the American Painter) – ‘Storm King on the Hudson’ (1866)

This painting is quite apt at this present time hence my unusual blog entitlement.  Always a jostling, always a struggle to find balance.  Competition, contention, livelihoods, sentiment and commercial politics.  Samuel Colman was clearly interested in highlighting his then modern world in intellectually sensitive and stunning portrayals.  The cascading hues and focal points make for a rewarding viewing experience.

Sincerest apologies for a concise blog.  My mind is resting determinedly on other matters this past week.