Seeing Light

"On High", 24 x 30
Available at Huff Harrington Fine Art

I recently posted on Impressionism and its emphasis on painting light, in a piece called "What's in the Tube". After posting, I thought about a couple of my own paintings that were illustrations of this approach--capturing the fleeting effects of light.

The top painting is a large one, done in my studio from a plein air study. The warm colors, the hint of sunset in the sky, and the sandy, rocky ground tell you about a moment in time, and a place in time. It is just before sunset, above a perched village in the Luberon (in the south of France).

In contrast, the painting below shows the same subject, and was painted the same day as the first painting, but the light had changed completely. The sun had disappeared behind the clouds and everything was gray. One viewer said "Just because it's cloudy doesn't mean it has to look like the Addams Family lives there!". Point taken. But--I was painting what I saw. (Sorry for the odd angle of this photo).

"On High, Cloudy"

Just to complete the cycle, here is a final painting of the same subject, painted in the middle of the afternoon with the sun out. As you can see, with this Impressionist approach the same scene can be an infinite number of paintings, depending on the time of day, the time of year, and the weather. Stay tuned for more examples!

"On High, Sunny Afternoon"
5.5 x 10.5, Oil on Canvas