sandr037

Albert Bierstadt (1830 – 1902) was an artist associated with the Hudson Valley School. He was a talented student of landscape painting who studied light and nature with a clear albeit romantic eye. He can be melodramatic (I myself have been accused of same), but there is much to admire about and learn from him. Bierstadt, like Constable, Leonardo da Vinci and others, studied the sky and clouds. His purest sky paintings involve views over a calm sea, as in his Sea and Sky, above. … or this Beach Scene . Add a ship to such an atmospheric study, and you have scale and a story that will sell… yes, he had to make a living… duh. I find this painting, Wreck of the Ancon , moving on many levels. Landscape, combines a sky study with mysterious mountains and a foreground frame to create the quintessential Bierstadt painting. Bierstadt helpfully reminds me that the sky is simply a rendering of light, which can take almost any color. Sunrise over Forest and Grove spreads the warm light over th...

Not long ago I was on a bench in Washington Square Park people watching. It is one of the better places in New York City to see the entire spectrum of humanity mingling on the urban stage. The sun was low in the west, and streamed into the square between the buildings on the west side of the park. This created a tight “spotlight”, making the area beneath the Garibaldi monument something of a stage. The effect of “spotlights” is dramatic. It takes the scruffy street musician, and makes him into an event. While an urban “spotlight” such as that shown above is created when buildings block the sun, the same effect can be created by clouds on a grander scale. The photo above of Providence Town shows a sunset spotlight highlighting the beach front. It is subtle, but charming. The unlit buildings to the left and right frame the view. Note that the edges of this “spotlight” are soft, whereas the spotlights at Washington Square were relatively sharp. This computer tablet sketch uses the same e...