Icing

An 8x10 pastel on paper of the pond at Field Farm, partly frozen.

In Landscape Into Art, Kenneth Clark writes that "... landscape painting, like all forms of art, was an act of faith..."  I hate that past tense.  As people lost faith in the systematic orders of religion, the 19th century landscape painters placed their faith in "nature" but even that now has faded away.  Clark writes, "In the last few years we have even lost faith in the stability of what we used hopefully to call 'the natural order'..."  Where does that leave us?

To me, it comes down to whether one sees the universe as ultimately benevolent, or indifferent.  Faith is still necessary.