Lights Across the Bay, ©John O’Grady
10″ x 20″ x 0.75″, Oil on canvas, ready to hang.
SOLD
Twilight, the special time of day when our world is on the cusp of day and night.
At that time, the sky is often ablaze with rich colours to end the day in a final flourish.
Yet, each day offers a different spectacle.
In this painting, daylight is leaving in a whisper.
Subdued dark blues and grey purples are back lit by the golden white light of the setting sun.
The painting is bisected by the horizon line mirroring the movement of the clouds from right to left.
This quiet atmosphere is also about scale.
It’s about seeing the lights across the bay one by one coming on, each one possibly the light of a home, and above the massive clouds dwarfing humanity below.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Another gorgeous reflection and beautiful play of light. These recent pieces feel pensive, like a turning inward that is reflected in your view of the world.
The limited, rather cool palette is fitting for end of day, an easing into quiet and repose. But there is a poignancy in this, too — a kind of yearning (or is it just me?). The trees are smudged hints in the gloaming. Lights flickering on at dusk are the visible sign of our trying to keep safe in the dark.
The setting may be still, but in this painting (like the last), I sense movement, though in this case it may be nothing more than the passage of time made evident somehow to the eye.
Thank you, John, for this stunning painting to reflect upon, with autumn and evening closing in.
Hello Jo
Thank you very much for the comment. I do find working on these reflection pieces deeply satisfying, the world split in two. the real and the unreal. As you mention in your comment, this piece does I agree, have a ‘pensive’ feel to it, perhaps the time of year or the ‘view of the world’ that you mention of a turning inward. Perhaps the lights in the distance calling us home?
Lovely painting!