Sunset, Thursday, 18 June 2009

Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

Concerning this painting, its soundtrack was a deer snorting about 20 times as it walked a half-circle in the field from the right into the center of this view. We tried to entertain Flint the foxhound by alerting him to the sound (he was inside ... reclining), but the same dog I’d seen yesterday chase a deer for a mile, weaving in and out of a wide swath of power line toward the Rivanna River, merely almost imperceptibly raised one brow as he tried to appraise whether what we were saying had anything to do with food.

Looking at the Sunset (Part 3)

From Baltimore harbor, Wednesday, 27 May 2009.

Baltimore. Pigment liner pen in Moleskine notebook.My sketches for sunset paintings are often in a sort of code based on years of painting the sky. This was about 30 minutes before sunset. The word ‘streak’ appears crossed out but is actually the word written over the lines, to remind me that there was a streak of light there.

Baltimore. Pencil on landscape notebook.There would be a third sketch five minutes later just concentrating on changes that took place with the sunset. Here I was working from a different place on the dock and getting more of what would be the actual sunset sky. When I do the oil painting at home on the 31st (see the post from yesterday), the result will depend as much on an overall impression and feeling as on all my notes, and may or may not pay attention to the city skyline.

Yours truly.

Update on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 09:58AM by BVD

Overheard last night on the street [one dog owner to the other]:

”Oh, she’s a mix of rotweiler and Baltimore alley hound.”