Imitation of Light – Sunset, Saturday, 5 July 2014

William Van Doren, IMITATION OF LIGHT. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

Diaspora – Sunset, Friday, 4 July 2014

William Van Doren, DIASPORA. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

Shine Out – Sunset, Thursday, 3 July 2014

William Van Doren, SHINE OUT. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

Heavy storms had just come through ... the vantage point here is a little bit north of my usual spot, with our local Piney Mountain in front.

Tutti Frutti – Sunset, Wednesday, 2 July 2014

William Van Doren, TUTTI FRUTTI. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

We had a very unusual and amazing combination of a full blazing sunset surrounded by lightning and thunderstorms. Here’s an iPhone snapshot, below, for comparison. iPhone, like many cameras, exaggerates or oversimplifies the contrasts in sky photos, but this gives some idea of what I was looking at.

Improvised Solar Color Wheel – Sunset, Tuesday, 1 July 2014

William Van Doren, IMPROVISED SOLAR COLOR WHEEL. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

My sketch of this sunset included some improbable color notes for the area around the sun: “flat hot yellow gray (lilac) extends way out” and then “could be sepia + violet + (warm) white + yellow with optical bands of green.” (Meaning, I saw green every time I blinked.) And as the sun went down behind the mountains, there was deeper gold and violet.

Radiation Vibe – Sunset, Monday, 30 June 2014

William Van Doren, RADIATION VIBE. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

I was amazed to find I’d never used this title. Thank you, Fountains of Wayne.