After a night of half sleep in damp straw, I sneak out of the falling-down barn into the thick, white air. My feet are still wet and cold. My back still aches. But I barely feel these discomforts anymore. They are no more than nagging. What I can't ignore—what flashes bright and insistently at the … Continue reading Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk, The Raampoort in Amsterdam, 1809
landscape painting
Pieter Breugel the Elder, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565
Everyone told her it would be cold, but she thought perhaps the snow and ice might wait a while. At least give her a chance to settle in before greeting her. But that, of course, was not to be. Their caravan had been on the move for months now, and she felt that she had … Continue reading Pieter Breugel the Elder, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565
Agnes Martin, Flower in the Wind, 1963
What is it about the desert that makes me feel so at peace? Maybe it is its subtle, sun-faded colors. Its boundlessness. The fact that it is at once monotonous and variegated. The way the rows upon rows of sagebrush slide out into the horizon, greens and silvers fading into silvers and tans. There are … Continue reading Agnes Martin, Flower in the Wind, 1963
Jeremy Mangan’s Desert Island
Yesterday I had the delightful experience of seeing a painting for the first time and being absolutely sucked into the painting. If you don't already know him, let me introduce you to native Seattle artist Jeremy Mangan. I discovered Mangan's work at the Tacoma Art Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in the … Continue reading Jeremy Mangan’s Desert Island
The Joy of Seeing, The Joy of Creating
Last week I was really sick. I had one of those illnesses (some sort of evil virus?) that made me weep when I tried to swallow and spiked my temperature. In the morning, I went upstairs to get dressed and inadvertently took a two-hour nap. One of those. Lucky for me, my husband was home … Continue reading The Joy of Seeing, The Joy of Creating
Landscape, Memory, and Home
I have spent the last seventeen years—minus a brief stint in Minnesota—living in the East. Though my adult life has been spent among the rolling hills and forests and strip malls of the East, my heart is firmly entrenched in the open skies and yawning spaces of the Midwest. When I was a kid my … Continue reading Landscape, Memory, and Home
Ellen A. Hurst 