My thanks to the couple that purchased this work and to Bill and Suzanna at the gallery.
 
Oil On canvas, 48 x 48 inches, framed
 
Exhibited: Bill Hester Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 
About this oil:
Sunsets present numerous opportunities for artists. Having spent most of my life in the art business, I have seen hundreds of sunset paintings and for whatever reason, I have mostly avoided the ‘standard’ scene with the sunset / landscape and I admire the artists that do the same.
 
How can one do a sunset and take it further artistically? After completing Yellow to Orange Sunset with a minimal bit of landscape, I decided on another version for this one with almost half of the landscape as a reflective lake. Now two-thirds of the painting can be given over to color and the high bar is set.
 
The lower landscape is purposely minimal but powerful against the atmospheric sky. The cloud forms went through a lot of changes, compositionally and chromatically and I really enjoyed the process. It was amazing to see how subtle changes would take those cloud forms to new places. All the while, I was aware of the potential power of this piece and kept adding to it.
 
I have no idea how many shifts were made to create this final look – the painting seemed to be finished a number of times, but each time it went forward, the oil gained more strength and interest. Everything is set up to accentuate the glowing colors. The trees are purposely dark to add a strong contrast and the water reflections are muted.
 
Then it was done… oh, not quite. There was a lighter, dead-yellow spot at the upper right that just didn’t work and something was needed to make it better. That’s when the aqua blue went in and it created a counterpoint to all of those warmer colors, adding a touch of magic as well.