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Sunset, Sunday, 22 August 2010
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William Van Doren, Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.
Painting the sunset presents special challenges to an artist who doesn’t particularly believe in painting ‘what he sees’ – inasmuch as these paintings originate totally in what I’ve just seen! There are many choices, whether to go with what was pretty, what was odd, and at what stage – and then there’s the choice to go with what was there but unseen. This painting stays close to the visual script.
I hope eventually this series, including the writings, may be seen as a progression of explorations of what can be seen and understood at a particular moment. I sometimes think that the slightly uncomfortable paintings, the ones that seemed awkward at the time, like, to some extent, tonight’s and last night’s sunsets, may someday be seen as among the more interesting images in the series.
Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 09:12PM | by BVD | in Commentary, Sunset Paintings, Sunsetology | tagged Blue Ridge, painting process | Share Article | 2 Comments 
Reader Comments (2)
there's another layer here (of many, no doubt) -- that "what you see" is de facto more than what I or another sunset-amateur might see, that you are condensing your sunset-pro view onto canvas for us to have a better opportunity to see what we would otherwise miss
Yes, I was also aware that “painting what you see” probably doesn’t mean much, except as a convenient talking point, since even many explicitly or consciously “representational” painters know that they aren’t just painting what they see. I think the whole relationship between subject and artist is more of a full-spectrum sensing, and something like an exchange.