Grateful Notices: Reluctant Sunset, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Exhibited: Sorelle Gallery, Westport, Connecticut Private collection, NY state

Thank you to the collector of this oil.

About this oil:

This is a segment of a broader vista and I purposely cropped the view down to this scene. I liked the flow of it, the way the clouds and mountains move across the space in an easy way, almost in step together.

My first intention and to confess, 3 more intentions after that, was to set up the bright mountain shapes at the bottom against a bright, colorful sky. Weeks and many hours later, I began to notice that softer colors in the clouds made for a more appealing artwork when the mountain blues were allowed to take the primary role.

This was one of those oils where the painting and the artist are enjoined in a high dialogue. Since this painting was not moving toward a bright evening sky, softer tones were required and a variety of bright colors were added last but sparingly used. It took a lot of reworking to distribute the softer sunlight and to balance that large color array.

It was a real effort to usher this to completion. This was a reluctant sunset after all, only emerging after the sun had left the sky, whispering its color songs.