On these dark, gray days of deep Michigan winter, the wind howls and the snow cascades down in its lake-effect bounty. The brown grasses are hidden under a heavy quilt of snow crystals, each flake a unique wonder of its own design.
The cardinals brighten our gray, snowy woods every winter.
Under a slate sky, my studio is perched, its inner warmth beckoning. Inside, you will find me huddled by my space heater standing at my easel. I am in search of light in this winter desolation and when I find it, it brightens up the dark days ever so slightly.
This winter, as a look upon the first dozen paintings of 2023, a pattern has emerged: light. The way light is reflected on a large roll of paper laid out on an office floor. The diffusion of sunlight as it rises above the forest on a crisp morning. The radiant light emanating from a set of windows above the doors to a gym where a lone basketball player practices his jump shot into a peach basket. My mind is drawn to the play of light in my paintings, my body tilting toward it like a sunflower in a field.
Subtle light illuminating The Cager & The Draftsmen.
Having spent the past five winters in Michigan and feeling the lack of sunlight that they most often bring, I find myself CRAVING the sun. Not only its warmth but its radiance, the way it peeks out from the clouds and illuminates the snowy yard so brilliantly that you’re forced to squint. The way the vapor coming off of my boiling pot of maple sap dances in the light as it’s tossed by the breeze. There are so many beautiful little miraculous illuminations that I don’t fully appreciate until I spend weeks under gray ashen skies.
The sweet smell of maple sap boiling.
The changing of the seasons has always felt right to me, being a child raised in the Midwest. There is a longing and deliverance, ebb and flow, growth and death. It is best to appreciate the moment, the bloom, the blanket of snow, because the next day will surely bring sights anew.
I’ve been pining for the light this winter and it has made me chase it in my paintings. How fitting that I will take this new batch of work to the Sunshine State of Florida this coming month for our first run of shows. I know that only from the cold can we truly appreciate basking in the sun.
As always, the new paintings will be released to our Patrons on Patreon early next week for first dibs.
I hope you’ve found your light this winter and I hope to see you in sunnier climes in the coming months.