Piece of the Week: “Moon Light Cast”

This week’s feature piece, “Moon Light Cast,” is unique from the rest of David Sites’ collection, “The Nature of Suggestion.” Although all of David’s landscapes use a simple color palette, “Moon Light Cast” takes minimalism to a new level with its palette of blues and black violets. The more discerning eye will pick out hints of green throughout. While it is counter-intuitive, the lack of color does not make for a lack of interest. In fact, the simplicity of the dark blue and violet scene is what makes it so interesting.

By casting this piece in the light of the moon, David has reinterpreted the traditional day lit landscape. The lighter blue foreground looks like the landward side of a sand dune or maybe a barren bluff. The glow of the moon reflects just enough of the sun’s light to give outline to the shrubs dotting its hills, but leaves the imagination plenty of room to fill in the details. Depending on your interpretation, the dark blue-grey swath just above the shrubs could be an ocean, or perhaps a desert valley below.

As with all of the pieces in this collection, the particulars are not as important as the overall effect created. In this case, David’s decision to paint a landscape in the cover of night creates an obscurity and mysteriousness that makes “Moon Light Cast” undeniably alluring.