How the Frederic Church’s interior colors set came about

“I met with my friends on the staff at Olana inside the house and we toured the rooms photographing walls, ceilings, windows, doors and moldings. Then, the fabrics and the details of the painted woodwork. I took notes about the colors and when I got home I selected a few motifs or shapes that reoccurred throughout the rooms, such as the onion shape or pointed arch. In order to answer the question,” How did Frederic Church create those colors?”, I looked at the photos and went over my notes and remembering the most outstanding colors I had just seen and I asked myself, what are the characteristics of each one. Is the pink towards orange or blue? Are the greens acid or sweet? Are there underlying colors? And so on. I prepared some sketches in pastel to demonstrate the possibilities for colors and then selected a 24-piece set of pastels that I thought would be best suited to approximate the colors he used in the interior of the house. I have been making pastels since 1971 beginning for myself then gradually I made them for other artists. This seemed a good way to generate income along with teaching, painting and selling some artwork in galleries. In 1993 I began making pastels as my sole activity to generate an income. Please visit my website, www.townsendpastels.com for more information about my pastels and my history as a pastel maker!”

Diane Townsend, March 2, 2018

Made in the USA

Made exclusively for the Olana Museum Store