Piece of the Week: Fading Light

Our feature piece this week, “Fading Light,” is tied for the honor of smallest piece in David’s “Nature of Suggestion” collection. In spite of its size, however, its color palette and pleasantly balanced composition make a lasting impression.

The upper half of the canvas is comprised primarily of clouds painted in an evening shade of blue lavender. The clouds are washed whiter where they only partially obscure the sun’s brilliance. The bottom half on the other hand is made up of two horizontal swaths of color that split the remaining space evenly. The lower of the two swaths is dead-grass tan illuminated brightly with the imposing light of rays undeterred by cloudy skies. Where the piece gets its name is most evident in the way the light glows in the grass. The setting sun lingers in its tips – burning blades yellow, orange, red – magic in every photon.

Moving upward, the piece transitions quickly from the bright grass to the dark black-brown of the landscape that separates the foreground from the sky. The darkness of the landscape could be rocks or trees or anything really. In his customary way, David has left plenty of room for the imagination to fill in the details. With “Fading Light,”  David has once again, as has come to be expected, managed to achieve much – with little.