study – WESTERN LIGHT © Sharon L Hicks, 2013

Prismacolour pencils, 5 x 7

When I look out my kitchen window on a late fall afternoon, or when I'm sitting out on my back deck, there is a time of day when the trees in the western portion of my view seem to 'come alive' with light from the sinking sun, when they sometimes appear to glow with a last-ditch effort to hold onto the light for just a little longer. It's a short-lived transition period when it does happen, and it might only take another moment or two until they revert to a 'flatter' tone as the light begins to fade.

I have tried to capture that moment in this study, which is a slight departure from the usual 'total sky focus'. I started out with all good intentions of diminishing the treeline in favour of the sky, but somewhere between 'planning' and 'doing', this happened.

I think one reason for this variance might be the simple fact that I've become much quicker with these studies as they progressed, and I had more time to work on tree details once the sky was completed to my satisfaction. So in that sense I guess it was just a matter of time until this occurred. You could say it was a 'mutation waiting to happen'.

The focus in this one is on the light, which is a result of the sky, so it's still a 'sky study' in that respect. It still 'fits' with the others.

                My photo                       after 5 minutes                          after 1 hour

It's all about making choices as I work, I've come to realize. Yesterday I spoke of how art and life are both a series of choices. Each choice we make is rooted in previous choices we've made, or failed to make.

Once a choice is made it doesn't have to be written in stone. In life I've learned to 'roll with the flow', to adapt and adjust to whatever comes next. Sometimes it means re-thinking a decision I've made (ie: a 'choice' I've made), sometimes it means following up with the next logical decision (ie: choice) in order to continue in a forward direction.

In art the same principle applies ... choices can be flexible, they can adapt to whatever we discover 'next', they can be adapted to cope with the new circumstances of the moment, whatever that may be. As humans we have evolved to adapt, to change our direction based on what life throws our way, whatever that may be. And that is also how we are able to grow and progress as artists.

Two more days remain in this month, so join me tomorrow for the 'second-last' study in this series.

Cheers

Sharon