On Looking West, ©John O’Grady
19.8″ x 19.8″ x 1.75″, oil on deep edge canvas, ready to hang.
SOLD
This landscape painting shows a winter sunset I saw in Clansayes, a small village in Drôme Provençale.
The sky started to fill with burning gold and deep purple.
The gold looked like paint applied diagonally with a broad sweep across the violet clouds. The distant powder blue hills played off against the gold to create a gentle pulse.
Colour rose in a crescendo and gradually faded.
This painting seeks to convey the magic of that fleeting moment.
For fans of sunsets and Emily Dickinson, here is a wonderful poem:
The Sea of Sunset
This is the land the sunset washes,
These are the banks of the Yellow Sea;
Where it rose, or whither it rushes,
These are the western mystery!
Night after night her purple traffic
Strews the landing with opal bales;
Merchantmen poise upon horizons,
Dip, and vanish with fairy sails.
Have you ever stopped in your tracks to take in a sublime sunset?
Please let me know what you think about the painting.
It is a real pleasure to receive your paintings in my inbox John and your blog studio notes always make me think or call to mind a memory. This one captures that fleeting moment that can indeed stop us in our tracks – when we absolutely must take the time to ‘stop and stare’. In the past I have seen colour which appears to have been painted across the sky with strokes and brushlike texture. Here, what strikes me is the contrast of the warm radiant gold and the vibrancy of the purple hues which adds magnificence and the diagonals which add drama and movement to a moment of great poignancy as the sun sets and another day draws to a close. Many congratulations on a work of true quality!
Hello Chris
Thank you for your comment.
How true, we must take time to stop and stare. There is a big difference between seeing and really looking i think. it’s good to hear that the painting connected with you