Sunset, Saturday, 24 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Sunset, Wednesday, 21 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Tonight, a little essay on Indian Summer.

Sunset, Tuesday, 20 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

This time of year, because of the location of the woods, the position of the sun and the slope of the fields, it takes about 20 minutes of wandering as far as a mile, up and down the dirt road and through the fields, just to see the sunset. But in that short space, because of what I can see, it’s as if I’ve flown a vast distance in every direction, beyond the mountains, back toward the coast through the beautiful complementary eastern skies I don’t have time to paint, into the bright gold south, and the pale rose north, past contrails, above cirrus, looking for the place where color changes.

Sunset, Monday, 19 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Today we had a general light frost – our first. When the sun came up, it fused with sparkling fields in one cold light. As the sun climbed, its rays revolved and wheeled the frost up into the sky, leaving us with a mild day. 

With the frost, we’re now eligible for Indian Summer. 

Maybe a Virginian of Pamunkey, Mattaponi or Monacan lineage could tell me whether ‘Indian Summer’ means anything to a Native American.

It’s a strange feeling sometimes to realize that the vantage point of all these sunsets once belonged to the Monacan people. 

Sunset, Sunday, 18 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Sunset, Saturday, 17 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

.... visiting uniform gray, rain barrel gray, Union or Confederate Zouave red-and-gray, and I guess we also have today gray, yesterday gray, and day-before-yesterday gray. But tonight I commemorate some of the most colorful of all grays (hello, Pittsburgh ... and Washington) – the legendary Homestead Grays.