"Mt. Ktaadn" - Frederic Edwin Church

The sky, peeking through a lumpy pink blanket of clouds, is a pale blue, the blue you might get if you washed a white t-shirt with denim. It hovers over the mountain the color of slate. The mountain looks somewhat rugged, but not rough. It is as though someone buffed the mountain with sandpaper to chip away the sharp edges. There are a group of trees to the left of the mountain, with a hint of the orange setting sun in between them. Even though the trees are far away, I can still see the details of the leaves. There is someone on the ground, leaning his back against one of the trees. He looks out onto the lake that mirrors the mountain, trees, and dimming sun around it. Also around the lake, directly across from the sitting man is a small forest with a group of cottages. There is one red cottage surrounded by less prominent brown ones. Along the lake between the man and the cottage is some wildlife (cattle?) drinking the water. To the right of the cattle is a worn path, turned into a bridge by the addition of some wooden planks. Beyond this bridge, the landscape looks less tame, with branches scattered on the ground and undeveloped trees. I can see some specks of red, blue, and dark brown. Perhaps it is people on horseback. The ground that covers the entire view is soft and overgrown. It looks like green plush velvet.

"From the Plains" - Georgia O' Keeffe

The albino cotton ball cloud hangs over the earth, but if you look carefully, you can see the blue sky. But is the sky really blue? The blue is more of a composite of blue and green and red and more blue, hanging on the sides of the cotton ball. The farther you go into the stratosphere, the darker it gets. The blues have bruised into blacks and the reds have shown its face in a string of purgatorial vivacity. This red is the blood that thickens the connection between the virgin Snow White heaven to the tainted white of the earth below, still separated though by the sharp gusts of wind. But we cannot see heaven. We do not know what the brightness is or why it's there. But from heaven we look upward and see the blue sky.

"Mt. Ktaadn" vs. "From the Plains"

"Mt. Ktaadn" has been said to "depict a scene of tranquility." I believe this holds true due to the soft edges of the painting as well as the images within the painting. The mountain is smooth, the lake is tranquil and undisturbed, even by the sipping cattle. The man is sitting in a relaxed position beside his fellow inhabitants of earth: the animals, the plants, and the landscape. The colors are neutral earth tones: pale blues and reds, leafy greens, and various shades of brown. O'Keeffe's "From the Plains" is more chaotic, with its jagged lines, round shapes, and wavy brush strokes all in one painting. The colors are deeper, darker and more noticeable than in the soft colors of "Mt. Ktaadn." O'Keefe's contrasting lines, shapes, strokes and bold colors easily describes the motion that is absent in Church's painting.