"Oh"

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 13 October 2025, oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm

Sometimes one paints something that gets right by them, and only later do they take a double take and think to themselves; "Oh.... did I do that?" 

It's a funny but nice feeling, and one to cherish for sure, but of course it was painted back in October so it's easy to forget about. But it surprises me especially because it looks like a painting that was done while facing the Western sky with the sun just hidden behind the horizontal cloud. But it was actually painted, like all of these pictures, facing the East with the sunset behind me. If I were a viewer and didn't know this fact, I might easily assume that it was painted of the setting sun in the West. Maybe this is too trivial a detail for anyone to get excited about, but for me, it reveals something about these paintings of which I might take for granted.  It has to do with the light, because I always seem to anchor into a light source no matter how much luminosity is actually present in the sky. Am I improvising it? It's possible, because each of these pictures are improvised. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, a light source in the motif is found and I exploit it for all I'm worth. But in any event, I am surprised by this picture from last October and I'm happy that I was able to paint it because it looks above my pay grade somehow. This is why I can say: "Oh"... did I do that?".

In this image I also really like the black sea even though I don't use black paint. It was made from Prussian Blue, a deep red, and a bit of yellow. And like a chef preparing soup, there's a dash of witchcraft. But I also love nothing more than a variety of pinks smooching up against a discreet black. It's my Art-Deco fetish.

I'm always amazed when I come across older pictures which I had forgotten. If there are really good like this one, they remind me when I awaken each morning that I'm worth more than how I feel in those first ten minutes of my day.