Do you love the twilight - the gloaming - part of the day? Where the sun has gone down but it's not yet dark? That in-between where everything becomes a lavender haze and edges take on a soft focus? It's one of my favorite parts of the day, especially in the summer when the light seems to ever so slowly fade.
The gloaming comes as a benediction to the day and overture to the night. The brief spell when the heavens begin to draw their curtains and give to the night its first star.
Twilight time is one of delight with its momentary changes and revelations. We are face to face with the mellow hours of the day. It's the time of lounging around with friends, faces tinged with a blue-violet glow. We take a collective breath to relax even further - to let go. Smiles come easier. Tongues are loosened. We may speak softer or louder with sweet truth. Our laughs become deeper causing our bellies and cheeks to ache. The serious action of the day is over. Plans of tomorrow are brewed in the light of achievement of today. Life is reviewed anew.
Nature feels closer, more intimate, more connected - we feel more interconnected. The fragrance of the earth wafts by more intensely. The fireflies twinkle in the evening light. The insects begin their chorus. The bats swoop by to earn their supper. The deer step out of the dark woods to frolic and play. The gloaming is seasoned by nature.
I invite you to step into the gloaming, to wander in the twilight hours of landscapes created from memory. Places to get lost, to explore the depths of the evening light. Let your mind be open to all the possibilities, the emotions, the feelings, the experience of being "In The Gloaming."
I was inspired by the gloaming, the twilight hours, to create a series of 15 mixed-media paintings on archival Canson Canva-Paper mounted on 2.5-inch thick white cradled birch wood.
I started with a color palette I wanted to use and a general mood/feeling that I wanted to capture in the paintings. Using predominantly intuitive painting, I adopted a spontaneous, bold, and fearless approach to the canvas. It was a process of discovery as ech painting "tells me" what to do next. It's a back and forth conversation.
Rather than making a loose sketch of what is to be created, I simply begin by making marks on the canvas. Once the first marks are there, I then respond “intuitively” to figure out how to react next. Whatever colors, shapes or mediums that call to me most strongly in that particular moment, are what I will use for the next steps.
Once finished, I adhered them to white birch panels with an archival PVA glue. The 2.5-inch thick white sides of the panels acts as a supporting frame for the paintings as well as a contemporary look.
You can view the series by clicking the link below. I hope you enjoy them!