Welcome the Sun

I was thinking a lot about the upcoming Winter Solstice while creating this painting.

It’s one of my favorite times of the year, aside from the obvious pleasures of hot tea, simmering stews, cookies in the oven, Christmas lights, cozy socks, and time spent with family by the fireplace. The solstice is the time when we start moving back away from long winter nights, when we officially can start looking forward to the long evenings we’ll spend outdoors in the following spring and summer. This is when we start the steady unfolding process of coming out of hibernation! Even in this relatively mild climate, where we don’t experience the bone-deep cold of winter, we are still deeply affected by the darkness.

I’ve always felt grateful for our sun, warming our planet and allowing life to flourish here. Giant sequoias are the most grandiose of all plant life on earth, powered by sunlight! I titled this painting “Welcome the Sun.” This circle of trees all reach upwards into a central focal point of brilliant warm light. I am in love with the resulting fishbowl effect.

This painting is also a metaphor for the choice we can make as humans to reach towards the light parts of ourselves and of humanity, choosing to amplify the good. I often find myself beaten down by the darkness. News of injustice, the harshness of the world, the hatred and violence humanity inflicts upon itself, can leave me feeling hopeless. For me, that’s the time to remember how much love and goodness we are also capable of–this is the light of kindness, responsibility, knowledge, hope and progress.

The colors and textures of this painting are decadent! With each new painting, I am still playing with and developing my newest technique. I start by applying a very thick layer of cold wax medium mixed with oil paint, slapped on with palette knives and manipulated to create peaks, valleys, ridges and various scratched and scraped-0n textures. I work explosively fast in this fun and playful stage.

When that layer dries, I then come back with brushes to refine the image and add detail with several layers of glazing. I intentionally leave some parts rougher and more abstract.

The final result is a luscious painterly effect, with the underlying texture creating the roughness of the tree bark and movement in the foliage and sky!