I've been thoroughly enjoying my studio time as of late. I enjoy teaching weekly classes and see some real growth in all my students. Last fall I started an apprentice/ mentoring program and my four students enrolled in this are making great strides. We've been working a lot with color and values, working with complimentary color palettes and different triad palettes. Now we are working on capturing specific types of lighting conditions. Any time a painter begins a painting, he or she is painting the effect of light. It's important to understand how each effect has its own set of value ranges. Sunlight has it's own range of values and side light differs from back light which differs from a front lit situation etc.
Sometimes it is fun to try to capture the idea of moonlight. My students were asking me about it and so we spent some time looking at Frederick Remington and a Philadelphia painter, George Stotter.
Honestly, I have attempted these types of paintings on location and I have learned from it, but I think the best paintings of night come from memory or a combination of memory and good old inventiveness. This painting is an interpretation of the harbor in Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard at night. It's of a place seen and remembered and then imagined.
