Stillness . 20x20 inches . 2009

1. natural light (near a window)

2. artificial interior lights
3. interior and UV lighting combined
4. UV lighting (blacklight)
5. no light (glowing in darkness)

This is a heavy painting. It took me a very long time to build up that much texture. It's comprised of acrylic and lots of beach sand.

I've been thinking about the moon a lot lately, in part because at certain times of year we have a perfect view of it through our high windows. The night has seemed very quiet to me. Maybe that's a factor of it being Winter, I'm not sure. And I'm not saying this painting is of the moon, our Moon, but it's definitely one of the closest representations of Our Moon that I've done so far. I didn't mean it to be. It just sort of happened that way.

[and now for some technical, artsy blathering:]

It's funny how my idea of each painting changes as I'm working on it. At this moment, I can't remember what color this piece started out as, though I know it was different from how it ultimately ended up. Various aspects contribute to this change, be it other art I'm working on simultaneously, or something more like a change of heart. Often I realize that the color I had imagined in my mind before I began was wrong. Even so, it was that initial "wrong" idea that inevitably brought me to how it ended.

I love the way different UV colors react in different lighting conditions. The mixed lighting (in the middle image) really brings out all the warm undertones, while still appearing almost white in color. As you can see between the last two images, the red pigment shows up strongly when the blacklight is on, but fades quickly in total darkness, so that the painting changes into a totally different color scheme one last time.

Many of these aspects happen by accident as I'm painting. :o) One of the major ways I create is to allow chaos to change what I'm doing. Embracing or taming the chaos is part of the fun.

Look at this neat, shadowy picture showing all the texture that I caught when the sun was pouring through the windows one late afternoon:


Stillness is available in my Etsy shop.