The sour and the sweet, the highs and the lows, the light and the darkness:  Life's dichotomies.  Sir Francis Bacon said, "In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."

These past few weeks were a lot like that for me.
Like most of the people of the Southeast,   my mind was on hurricane Irma. Our daughter just started graduate school in southern Florida and now had to evacuate. Although she is a careful person and responsible driver, it was quite nerve-wracking for me until she could get to our home in Charlotte. As that was happening, I was participating in a workshop with Australian impressionist painter, Colley Whisson, in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I had lived through hurricane Hugo in 1989, so even though our daughter was home, I was on long-distance high-alert, imploring her to pro-actively fill a bathtub with usable water in case Irma ruined our water supply (and I swear, I'm not as neurotic as that sentence now sounds.)  She laughingly refused.
Even with impending storms, I was able to relish the workshop. It was a thrill for me to finally meet Colley Whisson in person and hear about his approach to capturing light and shadows in his landscapes and still lifes. I had been following his work for some time now and had taken a quick webinar with him earlier this year.  His technique exaggerates the lights and shadows (something I sort of personally relate to) and it's those high-contrast areas which make his paintings "pop". You can take a look at his work at https://www.colleywhisson.com
Spending those days there, listening to his quiet, composed demeanor as he demonstrated putting in his darkest shadows and the bright Australian sun on boats and rolling fields, reminded me that we MUST have the darkness, the shadows, the stormy times to appreciate the brightness. If everything were to be the same bright value in our paintings and otherwise, would life be nearly as interesting? Of course, no one wants a hurricane, but the occasional stormy day does make me admire a Carolina blue sky even more!

Before we left, I asked Colley for a quote that sums up his approach to his work. He told me, "To be a great painter of light, we must be even a greater painter of shadows." I am keeping that in mind as I go forward with my own work, and you can see it in my daily 30-paintings-in-30-days challenge postings on Instagram (Instagram.com/maryckamererart). I'm trying out going darker with my shadows and lighter values in my sun-lit areas. Outside of the studio, I also am very conscious of how lucky we were in that our daughter was safe, but not everyone experienced good fortune in the storm.  My thoughts are with them.  Those dark days are certainly more than necessary to appreciate the days of clear skies.

Until next time!

Mary

PS. An extra-sunny moment for me was that my two submissions to the Matthews Alive Art Festival were given Honorable Mentions! ("Waiting for the Morning Rush" and "Sea Terns"). That was a nice surprise for sure! You can see the exhibit until the end of September. Check out my website for info on location details.