“Sunflowers and Sunshine” 30″ x 40″ oil and metal leaf on canvas
Like most Oregonians, I have often complained about too much rain, but after the extreme and destructive weather conditions that hit several states this past year I’ve come to think of our milder rainy climate as abundance.
It certainly has helped produce an abundance of inspiration for me in the way of flowers, trees and grapevines and I’ve now found a way to add my own sunshine whenever the days get too gray.
After painting the eclipse, I realized that a sun circle adds a graphic element to the composition which makes an interesting contrast to the flowers and leaves of an image. My backgrounds with metal leaf have begun to be more abstract and I’ve tried to use a different way of portraying the sun and sunshine in each painting.
Although I consider myself to be a graphic impressionist, I have always tried to keep a more realistic approach to light sources in each painting, no matter what the technique. Even though I work with resource photos I’ve taken for the images, and often work with photos with different light sources for the same painting, I keep the lights and shadows consistent with a single source of light.
Now with the sun portrayed as the source, I’ve had a new challenge to be even more creative in illustrating the light on the leaves, petals and grapes. It has also given me a more dramatic dimensional aspect for the image.
It is raining here right now, but my studio is glowing with sunshine and will continue throughout the year as I create my paintings. The painting above is for my upcoming show at the Elsinore Gallery in Salem, Oregon.
