Sunset 360º

Sunsets have become a greater interest for me since leaving the acreage of our friends one winter evening.  As we left the yard turning towards the east the entire sky was pink!  It seemed like the sun was setting in the east!  I quickly looked towards the west to check out the sky there and it was pink as well and indeed the sun was setting there.  Amazing and beautiful.

Sunsets and sunrises have been remarkably 'pink' recently and the reflections from both seem to fill, to varying degrees, the entire sky.  I have mulled over trying to paint a few sunsets for some time and since recently beginning to use oils I decided it was time to give them a go - so here are a few.

The first two paintings are of the sunset as we left our friends driveway.

Quiet

Quiet           

[Frederick Buechner, from Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary]

An empty room is silent.  A room where people are not speaking or moving is quiet.  Silence is a given, quiet a gift.  Silence is the absence of sound and quiet the stilling of sound.  Silence can’t be anything but silent.  Quiet chooses to be silent.  It holds its breath to listen.  It waits and is still.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved,” says God through the prophet Isaiah, “in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” [Isaiah 30:15].  They are all parts of each other.  We return to our deep strength and to the confidence that lies beneath all our misgiving.  The quiet there, the rest, is beyond the reach of the world to disturb.  It is how being saved sounds.

A few recent oil paintings from my remarkably "quiet" studio.

"artist of our days..."

“Each of us is an artist of our days; the greater our integrity & awareness, the more original and creative our time will become.”  John O'donohue

In the busyness of our days it is usually difficult to see any connection between the awareness of who I am and the creative use of my time... I seem to float blithely through the days oblivious to my deep feelings and with little awareness of how I might better use my time and energy.  

It would be nice to be more attentive, to have developed this attitude of attentiveness towards myself, others and the world in which I live.  Being an artist, being creative, takes a good deal of time and attention to the subject, the medium, the colour palate, the size and manner one will paint with, etc.  In other words there is a lot involved!  I wish my "days" would reflect more of the careful awareness and creativity painting demands. On the other hand, my days are good and when a bit of creativity shines through it is a delight. 

A few small paintings I completed this month...... Naming paintings is one of the most difficult things for me in the entire process!! So...no names on these..... yet!