Golden Hill

“Color is vibration like music; everything is vibration.” -Marc Chagall


Golden Hill
Golden Hill
encaustic
30×24 inches

I have always thought of myself as a sponge- soaking in what is in my environment whether it’s visual or emotional content. Probably for this reason it is really important for me to live somewhere that is beautiful, or at least harmonious. Also why I like to spend time alone and being somewhere where there are too many voices and emotions shouting over each other is my idea of personal torture. One of the reasons why my family and I have a tradition of going out hiking on Black Friday every year. I’d rather be on a trail far, far away from any store, I don’t care how much money I’ll save!

I have mentioned before that the colors of my environment tend to seep into my paintings without my knowing. In Seattle, my paintings had a lot of blues and misty greys. In Chicago, ochre, rust and concrete grey crept in. And now here in Maryland, I am noticing more green……and gold, depending on the season. We live in a wooded area and in the fall we are surrounded by leaves that glow in the sunlight. I finished this painting in early November at the height of the fall colors around these parts. This hill is a field nearby and I saw it one fall afternoon, completely ablaze in the late golden light. I knew I had to capture it somehow.

I have to admit that it’s a bit uncomfortable to have such bright glowing colors in a painting because my usual is earthy, but toned down, usually whites on white. But at the same time, I love it! I love letting my color show. We always are exposing ourselves when showing our work, but showing all this color makes me feel a bit exposed. I have really been having such a great time in the studio working with color and exploring landscape in this way. There’s something in that.

“Who told you that one paints with colors? One makes use of colors, but paints with emotions.” -Jean Siméon Chardin

7 Comments

  1. LOVE THAT GOLDEN HILL! Love that the colors are there for you! Love your always perfect quotes! (Admire how widely read you are!) Thank you for a lovely experience all around!

    1. Thanks MaryJo. I do have a journal where I collect quotes that I read or overhear, but I also have good sources online to find great quotes!

  2. your color is as powerfully emotional as your more neutral paintings. The. Emotion shows through in all your work! Thank you for sharing!

  3. I love it, too! I can see the influence of the fall colours. (If you want to be inspired to paint in white again, come on up to my part of the world. We’ve got snow on the ground, and it’ll be around for several more months!)

    1. Thank you- i wish I could come visit your area- love, love your photos on IG. So beautiful. And yes, white!

  4. We have a place in Colorado. I took a photo in October, and a part of the mountain had a shaft of sunlight on it. The color on the Aspen was a solarized glaring white. This painting, while an abstract interpretation, is also very literal! Just found your site. This is going to be FUN! Laura aka hastypearl 🙂

    1. Thanks Laura for visiting! I can picture the scene you described- did you paint it? Sounds amazing.

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