That Ironic Old Sun (Sunset, Thursday, 6 January 2011)

William Van Doren, THAT IRONIC OLD SUN (Sunset from Shelby, Madison County, Va.) Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

I saw this sunset on my way back to Baker Gallery to finish the job of installing my show of the 365 sunsets of 2010. Installation took 14 hours, so no painting yesterday (Thursday). As I continued to witness this sky, from my car, I was approaching the community of Radiant, Virginia.

More on the show, including some photos, on Monday after a weekend trip. There was a segment on the exhibition tonight, including a little piece of interview, on Charlottesville CBS 19’s “Charlottesville Tonight.”

“Epic” Exhibition – “Moment & Horizon: The 365 Sunsets of 2010”

Above and below are the front and back of the announcement card for the current exhibition at the Baker Gallery, Walker Fine Arts Center, Woodberry Forest School, near Orange, Virginia. This show has turned out to be much bigger than I ever imagined it could be. 

It features every sunset of the year just past massed chronologically edge to edge in one very large gallery space – like a transparent calendar or, as one visitor put it, one big sky stretching all the way around the room. Early reactions to the show, mostly from various Woodberry faculty, include “astounding” – “epic” – and my favorite so far, “shocking.”

As some of you know, from the beginning I’ve held off from offering any paintings for sale from any of the consecutive sunset series. But as this show began to take shape, I realized it was the right focal point to let these works go to those who might want to have one. So every one of the paintings in the show is available (update: except for 16 or so that have been purchased so far).

Online inquiries are being handled by my associate Wendy Passerell (wendy.passerell@wednesdayevenings.com). If there’s any painting you might like to own, just let Wendy know, and she’ll send details. Probably the easiest way to review the paintings is the entry index at http://www.momentandhorizon.com/post-index/ or the monthly slideshows at http://www.momentandhorizon.com/calendar-archive/.

Meanwhile, consider making the trip to see the exhibit. It’s well worth it for the overall experience, regardless of whether you might be interested in a particular painting. If you can only make it before or after regular gallery hours, just let me know and it should be no problem. The all-important directions to the show can be found here.

With thanks,
Bill
434-806-7227

Sunset, Saturday, 1 May 2010

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Madison Mills, Madison County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Sketched at Woodberry Forest School just before we went in to see the Brent Cirves and Michael Johnson musical adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”