Janet Driver

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Golden Sunset (oil on canvas. c. janetdriver) Yesterday (Sunday evening), at WIvenhoe St Mary's Holy Ground meditative service, we were asked to share our experiences of a memorable sunset...this painting is of the one I tried to describe... I felt words alone were not enough for the beauty of this sunset...or at least, not my words...and so I have found this painting to share with you, hoping I have been able to convey something of the joy this amazing sunset gave me...the wall of this house glowed golden with reflected light, and the leaves on all the trees were bathed in golden light as well... IF, like me, you enjoy sunsets and love to see how their colours are portrayed inj paintings, then do search the internet for MOnet's houses of parliament sunsets... or the dramatic sunsets by Turner, whose vast glowing canvases are in the Tate gallery. I am wary of putting my own dramatic red sunsets on this blog, as some people might find them disturbing... I was once warned by the father of a friend of mine, when I was only just beginning to try painting in oils and he saw one I was secretly quite pleased with: a dramatic sunset seen across the sea while on holiday in cornwall... "Oh Janet, do be careful about painting sunsets like this... they will remind too many people of explosions during the war, you know..." I realise I am very fortunate that sunsets for me are signs of joy, and not at all fearful images... and I tend now to make sure I paint the more joyful golden glow that sometimes fulls the whole sky just before the red ball of the sun sinks low... I have seen this golden light shining miraculously through mist and fog turning them from dull grey into glowing light... someone asked me "Why paint fog this colour instead of grey... I mean, fog is always dull, grey and depressing, isnt it ?" Well, one obvious answer is another question: "does anyone want a dull grey, depressing painting to look at "? but, seriously, have you never noticed how the sun can shine right into fog & mist, especially when the light is at a lower angle during autumn or springtime, making it glow with golden light just after dawn or near sunset ? D o watch out for it, as it really makes such a transformation ! This nextpainting is of the early morning sun shining through the sea-mist as we watched from the ferry to the Isle of Wight crossing the Solent with the Needles on the horizon...