Last Colors
Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
In the studio, $6650 framed
 
This painting came from a quick opportunity I almost walked right past. I was out of town, strolling down a street full of shops, when I glanced to my right and saw a long view down a tree-lined side street.
 
Just barely visible through the trees, at the very end of the block, was a little vignette of land and sky, blue hills and clouds with thin bands of warm color running through them.
 
I snapped a photo with my phone and made a mental note to look at it later. When I got home, I pulled the photo up again. The part that had earlier caught my eye was just a tiny part of the image, so I enlarged it, and for a second time I was drawn in by the play of light and those strips of clouds.
 
I used it as a demonstration in my most recent workshop, an example of staying observant and making the most of even the smallest possibilities in a landscape. A good start was created and I put is aside for a later painting session.
 
None of the colors in this painting match that photograph, and that was the point. Everything was pushed in a more interesting direction;  the colors, the horizontal bands, all of the edges, and especially the way the whole thing seems to glow slightly from within.
 
Surprisingly, and to make everything look brighter, I had to bring the colors down with a range of subtle grays. The cherry on top was the unexpected green sky dominating the very top, an inspired choice, and it makes every other color feel brighter than it actually is.
 
The whole painting felt like a small gift, and I’m happy to pass it along to you.