GLANCING LIGHT
24X20
OIL PASTEL
$800

We forget as we snap our digital images, that the human eye receives information and processes an image to record something other than reality. This is a study in contrasts … light vs. dark, and memory vs. reality.

The work started from a favorite photograph taken during one of my trips. I have always loved the image. I think it was my first experience poking about in a Mediterranean hill town, and I was drunk with an overload of visual images. I have always treasured the memory of that wonderful day filled with light and happiness.

However, when I began work on the piece, I realized that the photograph was less than inspiring. It was nice enough, but banal, and conveyed none of the joy that I associate with that day. So, instead I worked from memory, overdrawing the original and recreating the experience from an inner eye. In doing so I realized that light was the quintessential element I wanted to explore. That day the sun was a glorious benediction, bringing warmth to the stony surfaces of the winding streets. Sunlight meandered up and down the streets leading the eye … from roof to window and window to door … around corners and up random stairways … from dark passages to open courtyards. It dappled rooftops and created shade in exotic and interesting colors. And because it was never at rest, and made every moment different from the last, a photograph became meaningless, like a crumb from a delicious pastry leaving a trace on the tongue but giving no flavor to the experience.