Radiant Landscape, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.

Radiant Landscape

Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Exhibiting: Sorelle Gallery, Westport, Connecticut

$9500 unframed

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About this oil:

This broad view challenged me to create a large painting. The piece developed slowly from a small, uninteresting photograph, one of those images that doesn't tell you much but hints at something worth pursuing. I wanted every part of the space to have a presence, every area to be worthy of attention and not just the obvious focal points.

The oil didn't start as something bright and colorful, but as more attention was given to each area, the shapes gathered complexity, the colors more intensity and shadowed areas were made darker. Everything was being pushed toward something, and it took a while to understand what that something was.

The field and sky were the biggest challenge. They are large open areas that could easily become flat and forgettable, but they were reworked a number of times, always in a way that kept the final look loose and spontaneous, a balance harder than it sounds.

What started as an unpromising photograph became a painting full of life.