Santa Fe, Trombones, and Afternoon Light

If you've been on my list for any length of time, you probably remember the newsletter about PACE18 in Santa Fe. I included quite a few pictures and shared about my experiences. I brought back a few sketches that I had started on site and I've been slowly finishing them at home. The first one, Ghost Ranch Sonata no. 1, has been finished for quite some time now, and already has a new home. I sold this to a subscriber who loves the Ghost Ranch as well as admires Georgia O'Keefe and her tenacity. This painting is a reminder of being at the Ghost Ranch and symbolizes her many memories of Santa Fe over the years to her. 

I started another painting while at Santa Fe. This one was of downtown Santa Fe. It was beautiful that afternoon with the afternoon light lighting up the adobe buildings casting long shadows. I loved the simple, rounded, bold shapes of light and dark of which I captured only vaguely in the sketch on site back in April. I wanted to complete this painting because of the beauty in the simplicity. 

Afternoon Light, Downtown Santa Fe

Afternoon Light and Shadows

You may have noticed a theme in my paintings, light and shadow. I love light and I really love shadows. Shadows are the key to making your lights sing. Well, one of the keys. You have to have solid shadows to support the highlights. To really explain this, let me discuss this in terms of music.

Trombone Shadows

In high school I played the trombone. While I loved the instrument and the deep, rich sounds I could make with it, I often got bored with playing the same notes and same boring background music only for the silly flute to get to play the melody. Rarely did the trombone play the melody. It was mostly other instruments. For a long time I was frustrated by this and felt cheated by this. At some point, it may have been my senior year, I realized that the entire band sounded good. The entirety of the sound made by the marching or concert band sounded best when everyone played their part well. I realized, almost too late, that my trombone sound was vital to the overall richness and depth of sound. The trombone added a deep richness that other instruments could not. The Tuba just provided the bass sound, but lacked the round, richness of the trombone. The French horn came closest, but it's sound, while being round and rich, was often too high or light. The trombone provided the rich bass notes that rounded out the overall basses and overall supported the sound. It provided part of the structure and support for which the flutist could lightly lay their melody. My focus on playing my part to the fullest and richest potential, provided the best background and support for the flutes, clarinets, trumpets and even saxophones to sing with the melody. When I think of painting shadows now, I think of the rich, round, deep tones of the trombone and try to imagine how I could paint the shadows as a trombone might play them. 

The shadows in Santa Fe looked like a symphony of trombones were playing on the walls of the adobe all afternoon. It was beautiful to see the richness of the shadows play against the lights. The afternoon light in Santa Fe was so bright and clear and, well light. Let me try to explain how light can be light. 

Flute-like Lights

Sometimes, light appears to be heavy. Here in Arkansas on hot summer days, as the sun is setting behind tree tops, the light appears to be heavy. It seems to be more weighted than the light gentle touches of early morning light. It's like the day starts out as a flute playing a light airy solo and ends with a trio of tuba, trombone, and french horn. Or the day starts out as light as a feather and ends as heavy as New Orleans in August. [A side note, Netflix search engine voice recognition program recognizes New Orleans pronounced as Nawlins]. 

Santa Fe Light

Santa Fe provided a colorful and feather-light afternoon light. It was exhilarating and challenging to paint this gorgeous, clear luminosity being reflected off the adobe buildings.  I'm not sure if I caught all the subtleties of New Mexico light in the afternoon, perhaps the next time I'm in Santa Fe I will capture its elusive beauty. 

What I did capture in this piece, "Afternoon Light" was memories of a beautiful city full of rich history and culture; beautiful, simple shapes of dark and light; and a simplistic elegant design. I hope you enjoy this piece. It was one of the paintings featured in my recent art show at Recovery Room in November 2018. This piece is still available. Please message contact me for more information about acquiring this or another piece. 

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Originally published on www.coridyson.com 2018.