Dawn in the West, ©John O’Grady
10.25″ x 18″ x .75″, oil on canvas, ready to hang.
NFS (Not for Sale)
It’s the start of a fresh day in the West of Ireland.
The lemon/white light cuts across the land to announce the new day. It sculpts shapes and forms as it hits the ground.
The distant mountains blue-violet shadows vibrate against the light.
A gentle breeze travels through the grasses that seem to play hide-and-seek with the first sun-rays.
This painting explores the dynamic set of light and shadows I remember seeing in the mountains. Rounded at the top, they appear smooth from a distance. But, as the sun moves across the sky, shadows give these mountains contour and depth, as if the hand of a skilled sculptor was modelling it.
I chose a palette that’s descriptive of the place and time of day but more importantly, I sought to imbue the painting with a hushed feel to suggest the land is waiting to be stirred to life.
I’d love to hear what you think.
I love the sense of time and place in this painting John and it captures so well the emergesnce of a new day.The colour of the sky conveys a fresh vitality and I really admire the way you have created light effects on the top of the mountains. As ever, I just love your softtly textured, sighing bog grasses. Perfect.
Thank you Christine, for your remarks on the mountains, I spent a fair bit of time on those, it’s great that they worked for you.
I sense the waiting for the sun….the hush before dawn, but I also sense the fire of land, maybe because you have a passion for Ireland John
Thank you very much Julie. That’s great that it shows through