Sunset, Saturday, 6 February 2010

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

The sun broke through for a couple of moments before sunset, and the snow ended. We had sleet all last evening and so did not quite get the full Middle Atlantic Snow Event – a mere 16 inches here.

Clouds came back for sunset but the ceiling had lifted enough to show a little bit o’ Blue Ridge.

Often in painting snow sunsets like Tuesday’s and these last three nights, it’s a question of looking at what seems to be a gray-white sky and waiting for the undertone or after-image color to suggest itself. Or I’ll begin the painting on a seemingly perverse impulse – as on Thursday, lay down a thin mix of cadmium red, rose madder, azo orange and cadmium yellow, with the thought, “Let’s see how we get out of this one ...”

Sunset, Friday, 5 February 2010

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

With Ethel Cole’s “snowpocalypse” getting under way here about daybreak – there's now a Twitter feed with the snowpocalypse tag – and the Washington Post has come up with Snowmageddon – Laura and I took Flint on a run of around three miles. Here are a few shots (photos by Laura Owen Sutherland) ...

Sunset, Thursday, 4 February 2010

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

Thanks to Ethel Cole for the word of the day (at least).

“So,” Ethel says to me, “are you ready for the snowpocalypse?” 

If you saw how revved-up folks in this area get over a predicted big storm – if you spent five minutes in a grocery store on a day like today – you’d know how truly perfect Ethel’s word is. 

Of course, this one may really be snowpocalyptic. And yes, Ethel, I believe this time we are ready. I hope this time I won’t be telling sad tales of having to walk four miles up a major highway for supplies.

The sun was a whitish moon-like blur in a gradually lowering sky, approaching sunset. 

Meanwhile, and speaking of wintry sunsets, NPR reported the following today on Morning Edition. I don’t quite understand where the webcam was located, from this story, but here’s the whole thing:

A man lost on the ice of Germany’s North Sea was saved by two cameras and a keen-eyed woman hundreds of miles away. The man had trekked onto pack ice to take photos of [the] sunset. He became disoriented and couldn’t find the shore, so he signaled for help by flashing his camera. The woman who spotted him was taking in that same sunset on a webcam from the comfort of her home. She alerted police near where he was and they guided him to safety.

Evidently, we sunset watchers also watch out for each other.