Visit to Olana

I visited Olana, Frederick Church's estate in Hudson, New York, over the weekend with friends. What a fabulous home! The architecture was inspired by their trip to the middle east in the 1800's. Church had a hand in every part of the design, including the laying out and colors of the tiles, bricks, and paint. The interior furnishing are eclectic, but are mostly decorated with 10,000 pieces of items collected during the family's travels to the middle east. It is considered one of his major works of art.

Frederick Church studied under Thomas Cole, who lived in a town nearby. He is one of the famous Hudson River Painters, known for his realistic style of landscape painting during the early 19th century. Many of his best works can be found in the Wadsworth Museum in Hartford, CT. The view from the front of the home overlooks the Hudson River. Church dug out land directly in front of the house down an embankment to create a pond in the shape of the river. He also planted trees and landscaped the property.

Thomas Eakins - A Favorite of Mine

Thomas Eakins is an artist that I admire greatly for his individuality and his devotion to his art. He studied anatomy vigorously and taught his students that understanding anatomy and the movement of the body is paramount to learning how to draw and paint the human figure. His portraits were a departure from the traditional romanticized portraits of his era and before. They vibrate with emotion, the personality of the sitter is apparent immediately. His use of color and light is so striking. He was very concerned with accuracy and tried to instill this on his students. I like his realistic style, though I am more of a modern impressionist painter. Eakins also pioneered using photography with his work and studied the movement of the body using photography. What I am most impressed with, however, is his devotion to working from life. I included some examples of his work here.

Max Schmitt in Single Scull

Miss Amelia Van Buren