Painting that I wish I could do

Thomas Cole, The Fall of Kaaterdskill, 1826

I chose this particular painting because it seems to relate to what we have been talking about in class, Dark Romanticism. It has a dark background, on person in nature all by himself. Ruskin talks about the "difference in the impression we convey, because we cannot approach her light. All such jues are usually given by her with an intensity of sunbeams which dazzles and overpowers the eye, so that it cannot rest on the acutal colors, nor understand what they are". In this instance the rain clouds in the background lets the colors in the foreground appear more bright. In this way the observer is more apt to concentrate on the color in the foreground and the single person in the middle of the painting. If the dark clouds were not there, the color of the trees, the waterfall and the small person would be lost. "I think that nature mixes yellow with almost every one of her hues, never, or very rarely, using red without it". The yellow helps to give the red a more vivid color than with red alone. The red and yellow counter balances the dark shadows of the trees and the dark clouds. In nature, espically in the fall, one can see these same colors in person. With the darks there are reds and yellows all balancing. After looking at this peice you can close your eyes and just imaging the smell of the on coming rain storm, hear the rustling of the leaves on the trees and hear the distinct flowing of the water, the coldness of the air, one can just see the passion and power of the art.