9" x 12" - oil/panel

Private Collection

From the Oil Painter's Journal: Heat in the Firehouse Like many artists, I'm a sucker for strong light effects (endless artist statements proclaim "light and shadow" as a motivating force.) In this case sunlight streams through windows of the old firehouse in Woods Hole, raking across an old wooden garage door and onto the brushed concrete floor. This would be a painting about nothing (a possible Seinfeld episode) if light didn't take the central role. The glowing hot light from the window panes on the floor and the door mat are contrasted with the cool blue sheen of reflected daylight. This was painted a few years ago but I still remember following the light as it moved across the floor. One of the pleasures of painting from life is seeing effects happen. When I first set up, the blue shine on the floor was covered by the light and, as the unexpected often happens, it became visible as the session wore on and the light swung towards and up the large door. I've always been intrigued by the idea of painting both indoors and outdoors at the same time. Photographs can capture one or the other but because of limitations in value range aren't able to portray what the eye can see. Pigments have similar limitations but the artist must use optical tricks to simulate the illusion. It is very difficult to pull off and it is hard to see it in this small reproduction but there is a suggestion of the drawbridge gate, stoplight and stairs out the window. One of my favorite details in this painting probably goes unnoticed: the bright outdoor light makes slightly transparent the colored flyers in the garage door windows but the heavy masking tape on one remains opaque. The trick was in getting the color of the flyers just right (after all they are just squares of color) and then the translucent effect rang true.