To celebrate Monday I am posting two new paintings this week on RVJart.com. The images are of the moon rising and setting. The name for Monday is derived from Moonday in many languages around the world. Lunes in Spanish is from luna (lunar) giving the same idea celebrating our closest natural satellite.

Moonrise 91 (above) and Moonset 5 (below) are oil paintings recently completed. The image above is the harvest moon rising over interstate 91 in Putney Vermont at the height of fall foliage color. In Moonset 5  I have  heard of  this sliver of moon setting called a “Cheshire cat moon” derived from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland‘s Cheshire cat smile. This moon is setting over Route 5 near Brattleboro, Vermont with the river mist rising from the Connecticut River and tinting the atmosphere.

In these paintings I am experimenting with low light levels at late twilight. The fading color at twilight is a function of our eyes not seeing the light rays reflecting off of the objects. The color is there, we just can’t see it. I am exaggerating the hue saturation to create a dream-like quality. The moon provides a cool light, hence the slightly cooler palette than I normally use. This series of works are heavily textured with layers of paint and tool marks evident on the surface.