Speaking of Art Blog

Grand Finale, pastel, 12x16"

This is my latest pastel, another summer sunset over magical Lake Michigan.  Since I live within 2.5 miles of the lake, I’ve painted tons of sunsets.  But because every single sunset is unique, I hadn’t yet painted this one.  But here’s the really interesting thing about this painting – I shot my reference photo 14 years ago!

Why did it take me so long to tackle this particular painting?  It was actually because of the apparent sameness of those clouds in the sky.  I wasn’t sure that I could successfully pull it off.  You see, the more humidity in the air, the more all the clouds look alike as the sun sets, and that can make the whole scene appear downright boring, especially when the clouds are backlit.  And if I had changed those clouds and made more interesting definition inside each cloud bank, I’d have changed the whole look and feel of the scene.  It's because of the humidity and the sameness of the clouds that the sun and the yellow edges of the center clouds appear so bright.  I had to be true to my subject to successfully pull this one off.

Years ago already, I remember thinking about attempting to paint this scene.  But I didn’t feel like I was ready.  What knowledge did I need?  I wasn’t sure.  Then it suddenly dawned on me last week about what I had needed and I now possess.  It was better knowledge of my subject, clouds, in all kinds of weather conditions – humid, hot, windy, calm, cold, totally overcast, or with just a few whispers of clouds in the sky.  My knowledge base about clouds has grown since the last time I contemplated painting this scene, and that made all the difference.  It wasn’t the technical complexities of applying pastel to paper, although there are always struggles that erupt from time to time with that.  No, it was - do I know enough about my subject now?

I used to paint pretty pictures.  Nowadays I paint particular subjects.  Big difference.  And what if I don’t know enough about my subject?  Then I study that subject in real life and by looking at tons of images on the internet until I feel more confident in rendering it.  With clouds, I’m quite sure it’s because over the past 12 years I’ve sat and stared with amazement at sunset after sunset over Lake Michigan in all kinds of weather, but mostly at the end of a hot, humid day in the summer.  I’ve become much more familiar with how edges of clouds merge and blend together and color differences fade on a humid day until the sky is filled with a beautiful Maxfield Parrish blue set against a stunning yellow-orange sky, and the sun is a super white little ball just above the blue haze on the horizon line which somehow creates this gorgeous light show right before my eyes that is both subtle and mind blowing at the same time.  It is anything but boring, but knowing how the clouds react to the humidity and the fading light is key.  If I were to change those cloud characteristics, I’d lose the sky show's jaw dropping mystique.

Simply put, I need to know my subject on a deeper level in order to paint its truth.  I do not care for hot humid days, BUT a silver lining to that kind of day is to witness a magical sunset at the day’s close and then to paint it.  That is the sweet grand finale.