Peri-Potomac – Sunset, Sunday, 18 January 2015

William Van Doren, PERI-POTOMAC. Sunset from Loudoun County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

As seen from Route 15 between Frederick, Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia.

Sun of Loudoun County – Sunset, Tuesday, 17 June 2014

William Van Doren, SUN OF LOUDOUN COUNTY. Sunset from Route 15, Loudoun County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

My brother Mike and I watched and talked about this very hot, hazy sunset for quite a while as we rode (he was driving) from Leesburg toward Haymarket, Virginia. We talked about the colors, including a strange mix of metallic gray and lavender. In the end it’s all about what happens when the brush gets in your hand, and I’m afraid not all of our colors made the cut! Also, I usually try to avoid “cute” titles, but I'm a native of Leesburg and this was all I came up with.

Sunset, Sunday, 7 March 2010

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Brightwood, Culpeper County, Va. Oil on linen, 16 x 20.

This was the third version of Sunday’s sunset that I sketched and more or less completely ‘got’ while we were on the road home from Westminster, Maryland, via Frederick and Leesburg. Ultimately I felt I had to get the “pink ray” that shot up on the left.