"Afternoon Flight" egg tempera on panel, 2023, 24"x32 1/2"
"Afternoon Flight" (detail)
The
surface of an egg tempera is alive! It changes almost
hourly in the natural light of a north window. It looks different in
the morning than evening, cloudy days bring out warmth, and so on. That
is one reason I never offer my egg tempera paintings to museums, where
they become trapped in hard, cold, low voltage light. The raven appeared
one
afternoon, I almost heard a quiet rustle of feathers. I rarely put animals in my
paintings, because they tend to look "stuck in", unless they are
actually in the composition or nearby. I resisted, but after blocking
in the raven shape, I immediately heard a chorus of ravens outside, and took that
as a good omen. I try to let God, or something bigger than me come
through me. I am finding that somehow the less I "consciously" have to do
with my painting, the
better it is! This valley was my childhood paradise. I feel particularly good about
the nine month
artistic journey, and I hope it ends up in the home of an American patriot. This painting needs an
environment that loves freedom. We also have signed
reproductions available.