At the Lights Edge
Oil on panel, 30 x 30 inches
Exhibiting: Sorelle Gallery, Westport, Connecticut
$4400 framed
 
About this oil:
Light is the essence in all of my landscapes and along with color, it is what brings me into the studio. For this subject, I set out to push both and see what develops. I have plans to do a larger version of this view, but I first wanted to work out a number of ideas in the small scale here.
 
This is a very high contrast concept, placing the bright foliage against the dark background, and it makes for a brighter, almost iridescent light emerging from the trees. That was the challenge at the core of this oil and what I originally set out to do.
 
It was a purposeful effort to create that emerging light and lavish it with a number of colors, some unexpected, and each one requiring more brushstrokes. I really took my time with this to avoid overworking it and losing the beguiling light effect.
 
When it was finished at last, I felt that I had been on a tightrope and it was a relief to sign it.
 
Each painting like this draws on years of looking closely at nature and remembering how light feels at a certain hour, or how color shapes mood and depth. That memory of places and sensations is what keeps me painting. There’s a great joy in watching those experiences evolve into something tangible, something that might stir recognition or emotion in someone else who sees the work.
 
That connection is what makes the long, careful hours worthwhile.