Struggling Against the Chill (Sunset, Monday, 3 October 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, STRUGGLING AGAINST THE CHILL (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Heavy Metals (Sunset, Sunday, 2 October 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, HEAVY METALS (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Rainstorm in a Cat’s-Eye (Sunset, Saturday, 1 October 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, RAINSTORM IN A CAT’S-EYE (Sunset from Route 15, Oatlands, Loudoun County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

One of those moments when it’s raining but it looks like skies will soon clear. (They didn’t!) I was on my way back from the Michael Douglas Jones exhibit UNION: The Courier Journals, 1861-1865, at the Delaplaine Center, Frederick, Md. The room is deceptively small; in terms of its imagination, depth, artistry, and implications for our nation’s history, the show is immense. A signal achievement.

Seasonally Adjusted (Sunset, Friday, 30 September 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Fire and Ash (Sunset, Thursday, 29 September 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, FIRE AND ASH (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

A Whole Wide Bunch (Sunset, Wednesday, 28 September 2011)

William Theodore Van Doren, A WHOLE WIDE BUNCH (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

When my sister, as a little kid, thought she had a lot of something, she called it “a whole wide bunch.” Here I was interested in getting a whole wide bunch of sky.