Friday, May 23, 2014

Thomas Cole site/ Catskill painting hike/ Olana May 23, 2014

Thomas Cole's easel, and painting palettes 

Thomas Cole's painting space in the barn

















The house that Thomas Cole lived in, was surprisingly large. I did not expect it to be a 2/3 story house but rather a cottage. It was amazing to see how much Thomas Cole’s family cared about him. The spaces his Uncle in law gave him to work on his paintings was very generous. Then again, Thomas was a famous painter. I am all for conserving historical places and belongings. I was shocked to see that the house still obtained Thomas Cole’s painting utensils such as his palette and easel shown above. As I was walking through the house and Thomas’ painting space, I was trying to imagine the scenery that would have been in place when he was alive. With the palette and painting space, I imagined Thomas painting his series of paintings to the Voyage of Life. 

Kaaterskill Falls
Site Five of Kaaterskill Falls was one of the most beautiful places I have ever saw. I was not quite sure what this hike would become of, because the trail was right off a road. I was stunned by how beautiful the waterfall was. I enjoy rocky hikes rather than grassy hikes. I was able to explore more and go passed my boundaries because I was excited to see the waterfall. Rose and I explored different areas than the rest of the group. We went down as far as we can go in order to stand directly in front of the waterfall. As I was standing in the water, I could feel the mist coming from the falls. It was both exciting and relaxing at the same time. I was nervous we would get caught in the current or get stuck in between the rock, but I allowed myself to take in the scenery. I will definitely go back to Kaaterskill Falls.

Frederic Church's House. Olana
By seeing the house of Frederic Church, I came to the conclusion that Church was more successful (money wise) than Thomas Cole. This would be the case because Church realized his talent many years before Thomas Cole had. But in more thought, I also realized that Thomas Cole died at a very young age which executed his talent. The house of Frederic Church was so beautiful. I loved everything about the interior, the architecture, and the detail. Frederic took many ideas from all around the world and put it together into this one house. It amazed me that 96% of the house is in its original state, with the original furniture. By looking at the rooms upstairs, I noticed they were relatively small compared to the other rooms downstairs. I thought to myself, why could this be? Wouldn't you want a huge bedroom? I came to realize that the rooms are probably smaller in order to gather the family together downstairs to read poetry or listen to music rather than sitting in the bedroom alone. I also questioned why the nephew of Isabel Church did not want to keep this house that he inherited. I still can’t answer this question, because the house is so beautiful and worth so much sentimentally that I do not know why anyone would put it up for sale. But, what is one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Whatever the reason is, I am glad that this is now a historical site and people can see how the Church’s lived. 

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