Sketchytown – Sunset, Friday, 1 April 2016

William Van Doren, SKETCHYTOWN. Sunset from Water Street Parking Garage, Charlottesville, Va. Oil on Arches watercolor block, 17 x 23.

Under the paint there was (and is) a pencil sketch of part of downtown Charlottesville as seen from the top of the Water Street parking garage, with the sun setting behind Observatory Hill (???). But, well, then came the paint. And a bit of the sketch revived in paint.

Twilight Road – Sunset/Twilight, Thursday, 8 January 2015

William Van Doren, TITLE. Sunset from Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

I saw this sunset from a dead end unfinished street on a high hill near Charlottesville airport, about five miles from my usual vantage point.

18th in 18 Pieces – Sunset, Thursday, 18 December 2014

William Van Doren, 18th IN 18 PIECES. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on canvas, 24 x 30.

Reflects in part the many times I looked in various mirrors and out the car windows while driving a three-hour circuit of errands south to Charlottesville, east through town, north to Orange, northwest to Culpeper, and south back home.

Like a Patient Etherized Upon a Table – Sunset, Wednesday, 8 October 2014

William Van Doren, LIKE A PATIENT ETHERIZED UPON A TABLE. Sunset from University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va. Oil on canvas, 18 x 24.

University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville. I wasn’t able to go outside, so I’ve worked from photos by Laura Sutherland.

In a Fragonard Neighborhood – Sunset, Friday, 27 June 2014

William Van Doren, IN A FRAGONARD NEIGHBORHOOD. Sunset from Hilltop Road, Charlottesville, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

I was in an old Charlottesville area near the junction of Blue Ridge Road and Hilltop, and while the French court painter Fragonard might have found the homes not quite grand by Versailles standards, and the architecture just a bit Anglo, the places are plenty nice, and with the great trees and big sky I was reminded of his work, or of the world suggested by it. I love all that romantic Fragonard and Boucher stuff and I don’t care who knows it. Anyone who paints the clouds and trees of high summer — not to mention beautiful women on a swing — is alright by me.

Lots of Free Parking – Sunset, Friday, 1 November 2013

William Van Doren, LOTS OF FREE PARKING. Sunset from Charlottesville, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

From the top of the Water Street parking garage in Charlottesville. I should note that the free parking was in the air, not on the ground.