Having
grown up just on the fringes of the Adirondack Park in NY State, I couldn't
help but seeing some of my old stomping grounds in this vivid oil painting.
Painted by Tsukigata Nahiko, this particular painting is just a slight bit
unusual for the artist-potter though not so far afield as to not be instantly
recognizable as his work. The colors evoke a rich fall scene of craggy hills and
clouds moving quickly past, the brushwork appears fast and determined and overall
displays a fine, bold visage typical of his work. I think one of the real
attributes of this painting is its ability to touch on the experiences of anyone
looking at it, it could be anywhere in Japan, the Adirondacks, the Scottish
Highlands or just about at any place the
viewer has been. Though I really love Tsukigata's Fuji and other Japanese landscape
paintings and even those painted in and around Paris, I am always partial to a
painting that makes me feel the artist came to my home and thought it worth
immortalizing it in oil on canvas. Every time I think of this painting the
beauty of the great forest in my backyard will always spring to mind.
"Thousands
of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that
going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that
mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and
irrigating rivers but as fountains of life." John Muir 1898
(*Adirondack Park
Agency)
.JPG)