Gretha Lindwood
Blitzen River At The P Ranch, pastel, 9 x 12.
“Thus in art, does nature work through the will of a man filled with the beauty of her first works,” wrote the 19th-century poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. And so it does. Emerson’s simple musing captures the spirit of landscape painters, who sing nature’s praises with their brushes and palette knives. Whether inspired by views in their own backyard or miles from home, they skillfully portray mountains and valleys, seascapes and skyscapes, tree-lined horizons and fields of corn. In the following pages, explore a sampling of plein-air and studio artists who paint odes to the landscape with the gusto of Emerson.