Oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches
Exhibited: Breckenridge Gallery, CO
Private collection
 
Thank you to the collector that purchased this piece.
 
About this oil:
There are a lot of sunsets to see here in Colorado. I live south of Denver where there is more open sky and the opportunity to view more varieties.
 
This view is attractive and a bit unusual with the combination of the cloud ribbons and the “waterfall” of clouds at the top. But invariably, what attracts me to sunsets the most is how they glow.
 
For this oil, I set out to catch the spirit of that idea. The small hill in the foreground is the anchor for this sky scene, an observation point in shadow. Beyond that, all of the other elements in the painting are reacting to the light in different ways.
 
In creating this oil, there are a lot of moves happening under the surfaces and at the borders of all of these shapes to make the glowing effects more apparent. Once that is in place, then the magic can begin. It’s about how the light seems to jump off the brush when the right colors are applied over the top of another.
 
As I said before, there are many sunsets, but this one had a singular feature that lured me in – it was the light, blue/pink glow of the central clouds. I saved that part for last, painting in that luminous effect as if it were a dessert.