Andrew's Window

Andrew's Window

While traveling and out of the studio for various reasons lately, I have enjoyed reading a book that is new to me, Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson. It was on my (theoretically real) books to be read list, and then my Beloved Daughter read it and highly recommended it to my son and me, so I got a copy to read on my Kindle. I am going to have to buy a real live copy, though, because there is so much to mark and look up! 

36" x 12"

Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.75” deep gallery wrapped canvas

Edges painted 

Click here to view  on my website.

Peterson is a singer/song writer, and also an author. I haven't read any of his work before, but love some of his songs! He speaks in this book of honoring your audience, and of honoring your craft, among many other things. The thing that struck me with this painting, though, was the simplicity of his writing style, both in the book and in his music. 

Close-up of texture

"I want you to see the trees in the sunset sky. I want you to be surprised at the shape of the window and the brilliance of the edges. I want the color and detail to surprise you up close and I hope you want to go to that glowing, mysterious place," I wrote in my nearby notebook. The painting has become much more representational than I had intended, but it was inspired by seeing a slice of trees against a sunset. I found it so beautiful that it was painting pictures in my head long before I had prepped the canvas. 

Living or working in a room with no windows would be such a trial for me! You should see our house. We have so many windows, and no curtains. I just cannot stand to have even a little bit of the beauty outside covered by curtains. (I do have shades that we can pull for privacy, in case you were concerned! Ha ha!) When my eye catches this painting across the room, it sometimes looks like a window to me. Do you see it?

I also hope you can see this painting as a vertical work. It almost suggests shadows on the snow to me. Of course, when I started working on it, I really wanted it to be more abstract, and therefore I tried to paint it in such a way that a vertical display would work as well as the horizontal does.