Photographers refer to the last hour of light for the day as ‘the golden hour’. If you’ve experienced sunset colours reflecting off tree bark, water or hillsides, you’ll know why.

When I took up nature photography in 2012, I often walked through bushland at the end of the day. The golden light features in many of my photographs. When I started painting abstract landscapes, I found this light crept into the work. Standing back, asking the painting what it needed, the answer would come ‘it needs orange’.

At first, I was unaware of the connection between the golden hour and my abstract landscapes. During one of the open studio days, a visitor stood for a long time, looking from a photograph to a painting, and back. “You paint the same way you photograph” he observed. Sure enough, the works mirrored each other with orange bracken and tree trunks. Sometimes the feedback from others is a revelation.

What I Notice

Intuition, when it comes to my paintings, is rooted in my observations, loves, and repeated experiences. When I look closely, I can see the environment around my home in almost every work. The shape of a tree trunk, the specific way light reflects off our dam, the way light filters through trees, and more. When I’m painting, this is never a conscious thought, never a plan. Surprised, often I ask myself ‘where did that come from?’ because it seems so mysterious.

Orange

Orange is not my favourite colour. In other areas of my life, it barely features, apart from a favourite scarf. Yet in my art, it is a constant. There’s something in that golden hour that draws me to it time and time again.

The image below shows sections of my artworks featuring orange. They include works in watercolour, ink and acrylic paint, and two fabric patterns, digitally created.

Visit my nature blog ‘Fifteen Acres’ to view ‘Momentarily Glorious’ here including the accompanying poem.

This post is Day 2 of my 100 Days of Art project. To view all of the posts in one location, click here.