Thirty in Thirty, 2014: Winter Light

Winter Light:2014:michaela harlow-michaelaharlow.comWinter Light, 2014 – Michaela Harlow – 24″ x 24″ – oil & oil bar on panel

Today’s piece was built upon a panel I started in summer; just a beginning really, with warm washes and tiny dots of color. The palette worked with what I was trying to achieve today; helping me to create a layered piece while allowing an essentially alla prima painting. The pale pink under layer played nicely with the blush hints on the vertical white lines.

Some days, the hillside here can look bright pink. Other times everything is blue, or gold or white. Today white birch saplings blushed, while the forest beyond lit up gold against a brilliant sky. It was so bright out there, I could barely see when I stepped back inside. I started painting quite early today, in hopes of tidying up the studio a bit. Nine, straight days of work creates quite a mess.

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2 Comments

  1. Jen January 9, 2014 at 6:08 pm #

    This reminds me of the photos you take on rainy days through your studio windows. I know the vertical lines are intended to be trees, but my eyes saw them first as raindrops streaked down a window, catching the sunrise light. For me it created a feeling of melancholy, nostalgia even (for what, I don’t know) but then warmth because of the blush and golden colors. I’m not an early-bird like you, but today I had to be up and driving north on 91. The light this morning was gorgeous. The sunrise was magnificent and the golden light at the end of the day, equally so.

  2. Michaela January 10, 2014 at 9:29 am #

    This interpretation is fantastic. The vertical lines of trees in my work are more about the lines than the trees, of course. And I see exactly what you mean. My studio windows are square, and given the cold & bright, I was mostly looking at the sunrise through the very cold and condensation streaked window. So, you are pretty spot-on. In person, it actually appears even more like a condensation-streaked, frosty window. The underpainting color is far more present than this quickie photo would indicate. And of course, I love that you see the similarity between my photographs and paintings. It’s something I am working on. I think that as I gain more control of the camera, that the similarity grows. xx
    p.s. I hope you had a great time at the IPM conference/uber-bug-geek-summit. 🙂