Capturing Evening's Mysteries:Celebrating the Darkness

Silence of Stars: oil on canvas ©Artbygordon 2017

My first love is nature. My two defining subjects for my art are the depths and intricacies of water and the mysteries of the night sky.

I love how darkness has so many hues, much like white light is the spectrum of all colors, so is darkness multiple shades of one side of the spectrum. I enjoy the way light vibrates and dances in darkness.

The Bus Stop: oil on canvas ©Artbygordon 2017

My intention has always been to capture nature with as much realism as possible and than after I've achieved the skills I would tweak reality. I want the viewer to feel the darkness and at times not feel quite safe or even comfortable.

I wish for my paintings to allow the viewer to get lost in the darkness with peace and a bit of mystery.

Moon Flower: oil on canvas ©Artbygordon 2017

There is a certain awe of the evening sky, the way colors glisten in darkness. I love flowers that bloom only at night haunting the air with that intangible fragrance of some unknown nectar. 

I used to walk in the snow at night and enjoy that feeling of being separate from everything. 

Even sound is amplified in that moment of quiet. 

I experimented with complementary colors and weaving colors that make light jump out of the canvas. The first image where I tried this technique is a painting of the red light towers in Cedar Hill, Texas. I imagined if you surrounded the reds in the darkest greens they would light up and vibrate....it worked perfectly.

I later discovered how impressionists would weave complementary colors in the shadows that would evoke that vibration of color in their works. I was hooked.

Community Park at Night: Pastel on paper  ©Artbygordon 2017

There is nothing static in nature, everything vibrates with an energy. Nothing is constant, even while the beautiful leaves of spring are rich and vibrant green they are slowly changing to another color and will vibrate with that color by autumn. This is how I approach painting, everything changes and is in the state of change, colors vibrate and darkness and light are constantly fighting against each other. 

This is what I struggle to capture in every work.

Halloween: Pastel on paper, ©Artbygordon 2017

Halloween is a particular season I like to paint. I have painted several images of Halloween. It's that intangible feeling of a painting that is on its surface harmless but beneath the paint there is something not quite comfortable.

I love when a viewer says they feel cold or uncomfortable but they're not sure why. That is when paint and color transcend their boundaries of a canvas and touch a feeling that the viewer can only understand. Even if they can't understand or explain the feeling the painting evokes-that's the magic of successfully capturing a feeling and not just a scene.

Evening Fence:Pastel on paper, ©Artbygordon 2017

As a viewer, what does the night sky do for you? What do you celebrate about darkness and what wonderful memory does darkness bring to you? If you paint, what you seek to capture?