Painting in Twilight
I have
been fascinated with painting at dawn and dusk since 1987. In 1996, after nearly
ten years of painting twilight, I decided to create a series of
paintings for an exhibit entitled Twilight Opalescence.
Below is the largest lantern painting I have created to date. It
is around 4 x 5 feet, oil on linen. Painted in the late summer it
depicts my garden full of dahlias and strung with paper lanterns.
This piece is in a private collection in St Louis.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT TWILIGHT
OPALESCENCE,
September 1996
TWILIGHT OPALESCENCE is the
realization
of a vision I have had for seven years. About that long ago, I
brought
a fresh oil painting in from the field and leaned it up against the
wall
in our living room.  That night, as we were turning out the lights
at
bed time, I made a startling discovery. The painting
which had been painted in twilight, (and appeared wildly abstracted and
shockingly chromatic in full light) was transformed into a serene and
naturalistic vision
of nature when viewed in the blue street light glowing through the
windows.
Since that realization I have wanted to have an exhibit exclusively of
twilight
paintings, and to display them in
twilight.
Since 1987, I have been absorbed
with
painting the Missouri River Valley, at various times of the day and
during
different atmospheric conditions. Many of these pieces feature
the
river bottoms in their most otherworldly state -- early in the morning,
or
at dusk when the river breathes opalescent mist to swath the fields,
and
rob them of a sense of gravity. Seeking new challenges, I have
also
begun painting my garden as the light drains from the sky.
Illuminated
by the flickering light of paper lanterns, the garden becomes a
transcendent
place of contemplation and refuge. The evening breeze is perfumed
with
nocturnal flowers, laden with humidity and buzzing with the songs of
myriad
insects, even the air itself hung with phosphorescent jewels that are
fireflies. These paintings capture the wonder and enigmatic
beauty of those moments. Those quintessential moments when hidden
in twilight, we quietly observe as
nature calls to us deep within our being.
Even though the gallery light is
different
than the blue light of twilight
(or that street lamp) as the lights
are
lowered on these paintings, the brush marks and fractured colors merge
and
the images appear with intriguing clarity. These paintings are
hung
in spaces used for evening entertainment, or dining, where they can be
enjoyed in a darkened room with their own light source. Ideally
these images will reside in rooms where they can daily glow in the
pearly light of dawn or dusk. There they resonate with the
twilight opalescence in which they were created. These paintings
were born on the breast of nature, created exclusively outdoors from
direct observation in the pein air tradition of the
Impressionists. They are truthful aesthetic records from the soul
of an artist enraptured with the beauty of creation and the solace it
brings.
Brian Mahieu
September 1996
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"These
twilight
paintings are painted directly from nature, outside, with no reworking
in
the studio,
and no
artificial light source. Therefore, they need to be seen at
similar light levels to be fully appreciated.
The landscapes
in this series evoke the river bottoms near our home in their most
otherworldly states at dawn and dusk. The garden scenes capture
the effect of paper
lanterns glowing with candle light just at nightfall--around 9:30 p.m.
at
this time of July. These paintings are extremely difficult to
create,
as the effect lasts only minutes each night."
Oil
paints,
also, have some intrinsic limitations that add to the challenge of
reproducing the fleeting effects of
twilight,
flickering paper lanterns and fireflies. An artist can only paint
the
color of light --not its intensity. For
instance;
at noonday, the sun may appear pale yellow, yet the same color of pale
yellow paint is not so
bright
that it will literally burn one’s eyes! To create the illusion of
glowing lanterns and twilight, I have
fused
Impressionist techniques and color theory with classical chiaroscuro
effects
as I race the rapidly fading light. When viewed in
twilight,
notice how the paintings seem to glow from within.
As an
admirer
remarked: “I can almost hear the crickets!”
Brian
Mahieu
3 September 96
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More twilight
paintings
here
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Artist's Statements
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