PaintingsDIRECT.com - Exhibition

We may think that the sun setting at end of day is just an ordinary, everyday event, unless obscured by clouds. Consider this: no two sunsets are alike; the full spectrum of colors is experienced at some time and place when viewing sunsets; the setting sun takes minutes, not hours, to view and paint; the colors of the setting sun foretell the nature of the coming day. Magical... isn't it?

This exhibition includes artists who paint the sun setting. It includes works by Jack Dolan, Lynne Friedman, Doug Jamieson, Maureen Keough, Ilya Lerner, Jan Velayas and Jessica Daryl Winer.

Location, Location, Location

While beautiful sunsets may be experienced in so many places, our artists have their favorites, particularly with an eye on composition. Doug Jamieson tells us "My favorite spots are in parts of Maine and where I live in the Western Catskills. I was initially attracted to painting sunsets on Monhegan Island because of the extraordinarily vast, wrap around, multihued quality of the setting sun as it drops from view behind Mannana Island just off Monhegan." Many miles to the south, Jan Velayas lives and works "... in the Hill Country of Texas and light reflecting across the hills is beautiful. Driving across the flat land of Texas to the west gives you another opportunity to see a very big open sky without mountains which is also interesting." Jessica Daryl Winer shares her two very different favorite locations - the city and the beach. "Beach sunsets are beautiful and interesting because there are big sweeps and abstract compositions in the sky. It takes a relatively long time for the sun to set, and as it sinks, the water and surrounding environment changes color. In the city, sunsets are broken up compositions, intermixed with buildings and water towers. The golden, red colors are refracted in glass windows, so you may be seeing the sun set, or just its reflections. Sunsets in the city occur quickly-whether the sun is actually sinking, or being obscured by a building."

Island Sunset
(1997)
Douglas Jamieson

Lubbock Evening
(1998)
Jan Velayas

East River, Manhattan Sunset 2
(1997)
Jessica Daryl Winer

Challenges

For the plein air artist, time is of the essence when painting a sunset. As Lynne Friedman tells us, "The element of time is a primary challenge. You have to work quickly and at the end it is difficult to see your colors exactly because of diminishing light." Ilya Lerner echoes this sentiment and adds "A sunset lasts for a very short time and two sunsets are never the same, so I cannot come back tomorrow and have a second session." Doug Jamieson believes "Something as beautiful as a sunset is easily rendered trite. The challenge is to paint an honest response without employing tired conventions. The main challenge for me in the actual painting of a sunset is keeping colors fresh." Jack Dolan has an additional challenge. "Since I paint entirely with a palette knife, subtle blending of colors can be very difficult. It is important for me to maintain my technique, but produce a finished product that is believable. Some of the sunsets here in Arizona are so striking and brilliant, that they are better reproduced through photography, or watercolors, than in an impasto oil painting. Some of the technical difficulties can be overcome by working on a larger canvas."

Evening In Santa Marinella
(1991)
Ilya Lerner

Tossa de Mar
(1996)
Jack Dolan

In the Moment

While much of the natural world attracts the painter's eye and interest, there appears to be a spiritual uniqueness to the attraction to a sunset. Maureen Keough says "Over water, sunsets seem to be very dramatic especially if storm clouds are moving in. It makes me feel humble and an eerie feeling comes over me." Lynne Friedman adds "The best part is you are in the moment, you are all eyes, and there is no time to think about past or future. It is meditation and you are in the now." Jan Velayas shares a most personal spiritual connection to sunsets. "Shortly before my mother passed away a few years ago, she stopped speaking for some reason. Right before she passed she talked to me on the phone just as she always had earlier in her life. She talked about how beautiful the sunset was that evening and thought of me because I painted the sunset. My home faces the west and I think of that moment everyday."

Bermuda Sunset
(2005)
Maureen Keough

Summer's Twilight II
(2006)
Lynne Friedman