Emotional Response to Nature

It is written that as a young man Caspar David Friedrich felt a spiritual connection to nature. However the church rejected his art as having emotional ties to a "material" world. His painting The Cross in the Mountains painted for a church altar was criticized for allowing nature to "sneak into the church." It seems ultimately fitting to me that his paintings below show a broken church enveloped by nature, even the snow catches the architecture and makes it beautiful in it's ruin.
Years after his death the Nazi's used his German landscapes to promote nationalist pride, causing his work to once again be rejected by the main stream. Only as recently as the 1970's has his art been again viewed with appreciation for own substance rather than through the distorted lenses of political or religious powers.

 Caspar David Friedrich - Monk in the Snow

"The artist should paint not only what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also refrain from painting that which he sees before him."     Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich - The Abbey in the Oakwood

Found via iGoogle's Art of the Day widget. More by this artist at Wikiemdia - Caspar David Friedrich

The Doors

Watched When Your Strange last night and loved it! The old clips and photos were great, I can never get enough old footage when I watch a music documentary. At one point, about 20 minutes into the film, they broke down just why the Doors' music sounded strange, explaining in depth the how the missing base guitar forced them to compensate with the other instruments. I love detail like that. It was also nice to hear them giving all the band members including Morrison full credit for their talents, instead of making it sound like he carried them.





Morrison in skin tight leather pants is still strutting around in my head today... ;)

Leaf by Niggle

Tolkien's pure joy in nature. His love of trees, right down to the very roots and leaves. His frustration in not being able to capture a clear "picture" of it in his writing, at least to his own satisfaction. 

JRR Tolkien - Leaf by Niggle 10 page short story online

Back in the Circle

Biked to the garden at dusk last night. It was such a gorgeous night for riding. Cool air from the river was coming over the levee, making me just want to keep going and going. At the garden, dragonflies were out in full force hunting mosquitoes and other bugs. I stood for a while just watching them flit about. It felt so good to know the garden is part of the ecosystem instead of "in spite of" it. In a way I guess that's what "organic" means to me, returning back to nature... being part of the circle again.