Heart-Shaped Box – Sunset, Tuesday, 9 June 2015

William Van Doren, HEART-SHAPED BOX. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

The haze in this rather strange (for me) painting is from life — it really was this hazy, and the clouds blue and diffuse — but also informed by a violet undertone in a painting I saw long ago but can never forget, “Late Afternoon, Winter, New York,” by Childe Hassam. I think most painters have a few things they saw when they were young that always inspire them, even if what they do looks nothing like the inspiration. My color is nothing like his but it was on my mind. As for the Nirvana song, I want to mention a recent cover by Father John Misty.

Light and Dark Gray – Sunset, Monday, 8 June 2015

William Van Doren, LIGHT AND DARK GRAY. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

At Sixes and Sevens – Sunset, Sunday, 7 June 2015

William Van Doren, AT SIXES AND SEVENS. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

Twilight Treatise – Sunset, Saturday, 6 June 2015

William Van Doren, TWILIGHT TREATISE. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

Take the Fifth – Sunset, Friday, 5 June 2015

William Van Doren, TAKE THE FIFTH. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

Overcast and gray.

In Rain – Sunset, Thursday, 4 June 2015

William Van Doren, IN RAIN. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

In rain silver, in rain gray, in rain green ground, in rain the river, lost in rain, found, fallen once and twice and twice and twice again from leaf to leaf and down, rain is rain and right to rain and drop a drop and drop and drop around the world round world a world clear round.