A R T W O R K | susandansereau

Sunset on the Rooftops

Oil on Canvas
20"x16"
2016-03

"All the tintings of winter woods are extremely delicate and elusive…When the brief afternoon wanes and the sun just touches the tops of the hills, there seems to be all over the woods an abundance, not of colour, but of the spirit of colour. There is really nothing but pure white after all, but one has the impression of …blendings of rose and violet, opal and heliotrope on the slopes--in the dingles and along the curves of the forest-land. You feel sure the tint is there, but when you look at it directly it is gone. From the corner of your eye you are aware that it is lurking over yonder in a spot where there was nothing but pale purity a moment ago. Only just when the sun is setting is there a fleeting moment of real colour. Then the redness streams out over the snow and incarnadines the hills and rivers and smites the crest of the pines with flame. Just a few minutes of transfiguration and revelation--and it is gone." ~ L. M. Montgomery

This quote by L. M. Montgomery always felt so palpable to me. In Sunset on the Rooftops I tried to evoke some of this moment she captures.
I use white as the vehicle for color and shape. Working in this limited pallet is an investigation of color nuance. I explore shapes; how the bleached sky is fragmented into puzzle pieces by the intersection of tree branches, how a refinement in shape allows your eye to register the shift from branches to shadow on the rooftop snow, then shadow transforms into the horizontal rhythm of cladding.