Painted Out by Haze (Sunset, Thursday, 23 September 2010)

William Van Doren, PAINTED OUT BY HAZE (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

It was a very quiet sunset, sunken in haze after a very hot first day of autumn (at least 95° at the airport nearby), so it seemed like a good time to experiment. This painting was done in an entirely different way than any of the other sunsets. Not what I had in mind, but I suppose that’s what happens in experiments.

I’ll be traveling tomorrow into Sunday, and may not be able to post the sunset paintings until Sunday or Monday.

Slash & Burn (Sunset, Tuesday, 21 September 2010)

William Van Doren, SLASH & BURN (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

I figured a little deliberate vandalism might not hurt. I know the dark blue marks in my paintings in some way are meant to indicate “the other side,” but I’m not sure why I’m driven to make that flying shape, which has been showing up in some form or other for me for at least 25 years.

Burner (Sunset, Thursday, 2 September 2010)

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

One of the funnest parts was finding/mixing the dirty gray – largely sepia. And looking for a way to convey the sun.

The Sky’s Not the Limit (1) (Sunset, Monday, 30 August 2010)

William Van Doren, The Sky’s Not the Limit (1) (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

I added the numeral in parentheses because I have a feeling I’ll be using the title again. It’s related, in a way, to the dark areas people often call borders – and maybe that’s what they are – ultimately they’ll be whatever people say they are. To me they’ve always represented something beyond, or beneath – a substrate of what we call reality – a place from which our experience emerges at every moment. Of course, it’s also a border.

Feature(Fear)less (Sunset, Sunday, 29 August 2010)

William Van Doren, Feature(Fear)less (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Skies that many people might say have “nothing” in them or that are “featureless” – all gray, all clear, or, like tonight’s, hazy but cloudless – seem to me like provocations. A time to paint.

Cloud in Front (Sunset, Wednesday, 25 August 2010)

William Van Doren, Cloud in Front (Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

When the painting started, it was going to be about dark “shadow rays” fanning up from the horizon – shadows of clouds – paradoxically giving the impression of light rays between them. But they got increasingly brushed back as the painting developed, and it somehow became for me more or less about the cloud in front.