From the Art By Cedar Archives: Fireflies

“Fireflies” from 2005.

This is a painting of a soft purple night. A warm, insect-buzzing, summer night out in the country.

The original sold long ago, this poor-quality photograph is the only image I have of it. But still I can feel the mood.

It’s a painting about a feeling more than about a specific location. The fireflies rise up out of the grassy field and twinkle in the trees, while the stars twinkle in the sky above.

At the time I painted it, I remember loving that light blue glow at the horizon, the very last hint of light from the already-set sun, and the negative spaces in the sweet little fence in the distance. I could feel the warmth rising quickly in waves off of the earth, cooling rapidly in the absence of the sun, with the little white moon rising up into the cold sky.