Ballet the Blue Sky – Sunset, Monday, 30 January 2012

William Van Doren, BALLET THE BLUE SKY. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Sunset, Saturday, 10 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

I’m happy to report that the October 1st sunset, as seen from the field at Scott Stadium at the University of Virginia shortly before MUSE took the stage to open for U2, has finally been posted.

Complex man-made structures, if I don’t have an opportunity to paint them live on the spot, can be tricky for me to deal with. When I’m painting directly from the scene, there’s little danger that I will plan or overthink – everything just happens. But if I carry away a detailed sketch and then try to reconstruct that scene, art can lose itself in an earnest attempt to RECONSTRUCT THAT SCENE. I painted that (October 1st) sky only when I was ready to treat the stadium the way I would anything else, leave out anything I cared to leave out, make it personal, simply deal with it naturally. Had I painted on the spot, I know I would have put in something for the tall narrow light standards, but working from a sketch this would have been architectural and deadly.

I did the sketch on the back of the top of a mini pizza box I ‘borrowed’ from a neighbor down in the General Admission standing area. (She’d finished her dinner.) Those little box lids make nice sketch surfaces – the flared sides create almost a shadowbox effect – mini pizza cartons, suitable for hanging.

Update on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 08:13PM by BVD

Here’s the sketch for the 1st. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I’d left my sketchbook in the car ...

Flip It Over, It’s Domino’s! Inside dimensions approx. 7.5 x 7.25.

Sunset, Friday, 2 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

Last night in the din and tumult as Bono was changing a few lyrics here and there to suit the occasion and the place, was I ever happy when, in the middle of “It’s a Beautiful Day,” instead of:

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you

I distinctly heard Bono sing:

See the world in green and blue
See the Blue Ridge right behind you

Wow! For me that was better than the many mentions of our over-referenced and -reverenced ‘Mr.’ Jefferson.

Or would have been. I guess some of us hear what we want to hear. What he sang was:

See the world in green and blue
See Larry Mullen, Jr. right behind you

Larry was behind Bono. But, anyway, ‘Blue Ridge’, ‘Larry Mullen, Jr.’ – they sound pretty similar, right?

Sunset, Thursday, 1 October 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Scott Stadium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Oil on paper, 16 x 20. 

From the U2 360° Tour, presented by BlackBerry [“BlackBerry Loves U2”], at the [naming rights] Carl Smith Center and the [naming rights] David A. Harrison III Field at [old-fashioned name, may not have involved a monetary transaction] Scott Stadium, here’s the William Theodore Van Doren sunset, brought to you by ... brought to you by ... hey, I got nothin’ ...

Sunset, Wednesday, 30 September 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

I decided to let the sky go a little farther before painting – this was twilight.

I’ve been listening all day to No Line On The Horizon, while preparing to paint it (the horizon, not the album).

I guess if we could see past the mountains our horizon might be a faint blue blur in ... Hello, West Virginia!

Sunset, Monday, 24 August 2009

William Theodore Van Doren. Stony Point, Albemarle County. Oil on paper, 16 x 20.

’Scuse me while I kiss the sky.

Jimi Hendrix
“Purple Haze”

I had to laugh when I heard this again yesterday. Hadn’t ever thought of it in connection with the paintings.

People sometimes ask if there’s a meditative or prayer component to painting each day’s sunset. I could answer with a further lyric.

If you want to kiss the sky
Better learn how to kneel.

U2
“Mysterious Ways”