Let the painting lead the way

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Speaking of titles, here is another painting I did in Capitola. When I first saw this scene, it looked quite black and white. It was late in the day, the sun was setting in the west (towards the horizon in this view), and was backlighting everything. I took a photo that was much more in silhouette than what my eyes could see - I could, of course, discern all the details in the shadows, which the camera doesn't pick up. Between what I could see, and what the photo showed me, I had a jumble of information in my head. I started with a small sketch in color, and it was pleasant, but something was missing. I did another one in different colors. Something, again, was amiss. Then I did a larger painting and started it in color. Midway, I abandoned it - the color seemed too garish. Then, the lover of value studies that I am, I decided to do this in grays. As I painted, it felt right. The painting was telling me: remember? I was backlit, and you liked me in silhouette? Paint me that way. Focus on what's important.

What is important? The shapes, of course, before the content. What drew me to this scene (and I've read in countless books to remember what drew you in in the first place) was the sun's glare reflecting off the Pacific seemingly breaking the wharf in two by fading it out in the middle. That is why I was painting this, but didn't know it.

I was very pleased with the black and white painting. When it came to naming it, my husband suggested "Sunset from Depot Hill" - it was almost sunset, and this view is from Depot Hill in Capitola. When I was finalizing the titles, I realized that the word sunset carries color in its meaning. We imagine glorious color and explosions of color. There is no color in this painting! I didn't want the title to be misleading (nor state the obvious, as I realized later per my previous post in this blog). This painting was about the glow, that strong light, that was breaking up the wharf! It wasn't about anything else. Everything else was its context. So, it is called "Pacific Glow."

This painting sold 3 minutes after the doors opened at the exhibition and sale in Capitola's Plein Air 2021 event. The red dot went up in its title, and the buyer paid for it and promised to come back at the end of the show to collect it. So many people, so many people, remarked that it was a very unique painting, the only one in the 300 or so paintings in that room that was black and white, lamented that it was already sold, remarked that it was unusual and eye-catching, and one person asked if I would do a larger version for her. I could see people passing by my panel of 10 paintings, and then their heads would whip back when this caught their eye, and they would come up close, and bend down to look at it closely. Several people asked me what compelled me to paint it in black and white, and I told them the story that I write of here. The painting was telling me what to do, and reminding me of what it was about.

Pacific Glow

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