Edward Mitchell Bannister

The Palmer River

Oak Trees

 

Fernand H. Lungren

Golden Skies

Constant Troyon, A Clump of Trees, c.1860
George Inness, The Brook.

These works by Constant Troyon (top) and George Inness, make use of the golden light of dusk to suffuse the scenes with a sense of mystery. Warm golden hues - yellows sometimes with a touch of orange and red - are the perfect foil for dark grey-green foliage, creating a mood of soothing harmony.

The American landscape painter George Inness was so influential that he is often called "the father of American landscape painting". 

In his mature period, Inness discovered the spiritual writings of the Swedish mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg. The late paintings are poetic and mystical, with landscape views that are more intimate and personal, and a handling of shapes that is more abstract and nebulous than the earlier, more descriptive paintings.

In a published interview, Inness maintained that "The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist's own spiritual nature." His abiding interest in spiritual and emotional considerations did not preclude Inness from undertaking a scientific study of color, nor a mathematical, structural approach to composition: "The poetic quality is not obtained by eschewing any truths of fact or of Nature...Poetry is the vision of reality."

-Wikipedia

The glowing golden skies in these works would probably have been created by applying transparent glazes of a warm yellow over a white underpainting.

Geroge inness, The Monk, 1873.

Maple Screen, Hasegawa Tohaku.

It's possible that Inness was influenced by seeing the gold leaf backgrounds of Japanese folding screens (Byōbu), or it may have just been the symbolic association gold has with the Eternal.

Susan Downing White

Susan Downing White paints wonderfully poetic evocations of the Gulf Coast of the United States, in a style influenced by 17th century Dutch masters of landscape painting.

Frederick Edwin Church

Great Basin, Mt Katahdin, Maine.

Church has used complementary opposite colors (yellow/violet) for vibrancy, adding yellow to the green lower slopes, and adding subtle hints of violet in the shadows of the cliffs above.

Elihu Vedder - American

Near Perugia, 1870, oil on board,

8.5 x 13.25 inches

William Ritschel - American 1864-1949

The Inlet, 16 x 20 inches

Hudson River

Clyde Aspevig - American

Yellowstone Falls, 48 x 48 inches


Oranges, 20 x 24 inches


Prairie Awakening, 40 x 50 inches

Scott Christensen - American

Arthur Wesley Dow - American

 

Simplicity. A touch of soft pink in the sky is a magical complement to the pale greens.

Christopher Burch - American (contemporary)

Aureus, 40 x 40 inches

Bill Anton - American

Out of Canyon Shadows, 36 x 36 inches


Packing The Superstitions, 30 x 50 inches

Many would consider depictions of cowboys riding through canyons as Wild West kitsch, but this artist has excellent technical skills, design/composition, and knows how to create mood.

Len Chmiel - American

Indications of Spring, 27 x 37 inches

The eye is lead around the bend in the stream and then up the path of sunlit snow on the slope in the background.

The subtlest hints of sunlight on the shaded snow brings the scene to life.

Grant Wood - American

Young Corn

The elements of the landscape have been stylised and structured almost geometrically.

Louis La Brie - American, born 1950

The Long Way Home

A strikingly unusual composition. A evocative title can help create a particular mood.

Paul R Keysar - American

Oil on paper, 10 x 14 inches

Images are strengthened by a good tonal range, from almost black in the foliage, to white clouds.

Thomas Moran - American

The Wilds of Lake Superior

Jeff Cohen

USA