PARHELION; Thoughts behind the work.
This week one of my favorite paintings found a new home.
par·he·li·on
/pärˈhēlēən/
noun
a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun, formed by refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the earth's atmosphere.
Parhelion began from a series of sketches that explored tones from the sky above my little studio. You wouldn’t think of Michigan as a great place for sunsets/sunrises, but I regularly find myself looking up in awe at the colors above.
It sat, unnamed, water-soluble pastel on canvas in the form of a color study as I debated what to add to be able to call it complete. It was one of those pieces that I really enjoyed in the state that it was in, so I didn’t feel a huge rush to “finish” it.
Several months later, while in the car - watching a sundog (and having just started adding acrylic over top water soluble pastel paintings) I had my answer.
A few layers of titan buff later and a title - and Parhelion came to be.
