“Pastels, Schweitzer Marsh”

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.” John Ruskin

I love this quote by John Ruskin, the great Victorian critic of the arts. His compelling observation has resonated with me over the years as I’ve spent much time trying to see and photograph the intrinsic beauty of the landscape. It should come as no surprise that he was a great admirer of William (JMW) Turner, especially his luminous paintings of the sea and other natural settings.

Taken at sunrise in early May, this ethereal scene reminds me of Turner’s ability to see and capture nature’s sublime through his use of color. As with so many of his paintings in later years (i.e. 1835-1850), where light appears to dissolve the physical objects in the landscape, so too are the treelines and lily pads in this image subsumed into a spectrum of color.

Schweitzer Marsh,  April Sunrise

“Schweitzer Marsh, April Sunrise”

Anticipating next month’s exquisite mornings on Schweitzer Marsh, and without rehashing an earlier riff on Eliot’s “Wasteland”, I provide further evidence that April is not the cruelest month. To the contrary, in rare and exquisite beauty an April sunrise over Schweitzer marsh displays pink and lavender light. It builds slowly, lasts about ten minutes and disappears abruptly.

The seasons each produce a distinctive light of their own, a function of the sun’s position but also the air temperature and dew point. For over 50 years, as seasons change, I’ve observed this same scene in the full color spectrum of sunrises and sunsets as well as the cool midday blues of November and December. The hues are almost palpable, the emotions evoked, sublime.