“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.
