When Last Seen – Sunset, Sunday, 5 May 2013

William Van Doren, WHEN LAST SEEN. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

I was hoping we might have yet another semi-bright sunset, after three in a row now, because I’ve been feeling the need to do something different with them. Sure enough, we had one more ... but I’m still looking for that something. Rain on the way.

One Painter’s Perspective

It’s natural, but funny, that we say the light changes. The light never changes.

Live Oak

William Van Doren, pencil, 9 x 12, 2013.

A dead tree too awkwardly placed to cut down for firewood. A tall oak leaning, dead these two years, which on falling would have its choice of electric lines to take down. Might be enough wood for a month. But a dead tree that will just have to go on living.

A Lion Sitting on My Porch

I have a lion sitting on my porch — actual size, I believe (the lion). It was given to my uncle Del. Perhaps because he was a loyal member of the Lions Club. Perhaps because he was a Leo. Or maybe just because, in the world of individuality, he was a king. Anyway, I did love my uncle Del. It didn’t take much in the way of meditation to discover Del with me today, in the lion.

Made for This Moment – Sunset, Monday, 21 January 2013

William Van Doren, MADE FOR THIS MOMENT. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

The Twelfth of Never – Sunset, Wednesday, 12 December 2012

William Van Doren, THE TWELFTH OF NEVER. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Immediately after watching the sunset, and before painting, I posted this on The Very Rich Hours Facebook page:

Just a note in passing, in case I'm never heard from again after tonight: As people who live around here may attest, I just witnessed the most strangely beautiful, or beautifully strange, sunset I can remember. And, of course, I have seen a few. Wish me luck, because it was the kind of sky that could make a painter consider turning in their badge. I'm not sure a painting can come near it, but we'll see, soon enough.

The number of people who commented on this, and the fact that many of them had seen the same sunset and were waiting for the painting, points up something I’ve never mentioned, which is the nature of this series as a performance. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it falls somewhere between. And I probably can’t make those judgments.