Sunset, Saturday, 6 February 2010

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

The sun broke through for a couple of moments before sunset, and the snow ended. We had sleet all last evening and so did not quite get the full Middle Atlantic Snow Event – a mere 16 inches here.

Clouds came back for sunset but the ceiling had lifted enough to show a little bit o’ Blue Ridge.

Often in painting snow sunsets like Tuesday’s and these last three nights, it’s a question of looking at what seems to be a gray-white sky and waiting for the undertone or after-image color to suggest itself. Or I’ll begin the painting on a seemingly perverse impulse – as on Thursday, lay down a thin mix of cadmium red, rose madder, azo orange and cadmium yellow, with the thought, “Let’s see how we get out of this one ...”