Golden Memory #1

Gold leaf, acrylic on wood cradle panel.

30x24x2"

I've walked the Tidal Basin at peak bloom more times than I can count, but there's one particular evening light that has stayed in my memory. That's what started this painting.

The whole surface is built on red - I painted it dark first, then laid gold leaf over everything. The leaf is so thin it doesn't fully cover everything, so the red finds its way through, and that tension between the two colors is where the warmth comes from. Then came layers of painting and sanding and repainting, coaxing the water into something luminous, and the sky into that soft glow just before the sun goes down.

This photograph of the painting doesn't do it justice - the gold shifts with the light, and the depth in the water disappears in a camera. You really have to see it in person.