Perspectives: Olana

Well here it is – the latest trial (and error). I’ll admit, I was tempted to not post this one, as it’s clearly not very good. The angles are all off, as are the colors, and my attempt at creating shadow, depth, and dimension has resulted in the opposite – a shallow and one-dimensional view. There is also quite a bit of ornamental detailing that is off or altogether missing, but of this latter fault I am less critical, as I did not set out with the intention to capture every minute detail with painstaking accuracy. I will also fess up to being rather sloppy – too lazy to proactively correct pieces I could tell were off and less-than-careful with the rest once I realized that the whole enterprise could only go downhill.

But rather than a pursuit of detailed perfection, this was intended to be an exercise in building my skills while trying my hand at some new techniques. I thus attempted to sketch the facade from an angle – in this case from both below and to the side – rather than straight on, and played with mixing colors and using a brighter and more varied palette. And it was harder than I thought it would be, considering the deceptively simple-looking reference photo. After all, the decorative elements not with standing, there are relatively few lines or complex shapes to contend with (though those pesky arches in perspective were a real piece of work). So while I wouldn’t say that this was a resounding success in its execution, it was, at least, good practice.

Another reason I chose to hit publish on this one is because it gives me a chance to discuss one of my favorite places, the Olana State Historic Site. I previously mentioned Olana here, gushing then too that I couldn’t resist talking it up. And for good reason. The 19th century mansion is a surprising and splendid union of Victorian and Moorish architecture set against the backdrop of New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The irregularly shaped edifice is made up of asymmetrical towers and block masonry interspersed with arched windows and porches and adorned with Middle Eastern motifs and stenciling in materials ranging from colored brick and wood to slate and ceramic tile. The historic site belonged to Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church and houses a rich collection of paintings, sculptures, furnishings, and other fine decorative objects that the Church family obtained from their global travels.

Olana’s setting is a work of art itself, with Church having worked with architect Calvert Vaux to design Olana’s main house – situated on 250 acres of landscape that included an ornamental and working farm, woodlands and meadows, outbuildings, and five miles of carriage roads – to incorporate views of the surrounding property and the wider Hudson Valley. Windows and doors throughout the home are artfully placed to create framed vistas of distant mountains and of the Hudson River as it winds through the neighboring hills and valleys. I recently shared the below photo in a separate post on utilizing frames in photography. It’s a view looking out to the river from Church’s art-filled studio that is framed by an arched window bordered in a gorgeous amber glass – a magical marriage of architecture and landscape and a view quite befitting an artist of the Hudson River School.