A Bold Deceiver – Sunset, Tuesday, 3 June 2014

William Van Doren, A BOLD DECEIVER. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

I took a photograph of this sunset while I was sketching it, and the colors in the photo were spectacular, with brilliant gold, yellow and red spreading everywhere. However, perhaps because it was a crude shot, the high contrast blotted out details in what I was seeing — for example, what I noted as a “wonderful sick greenish gray” in the clouds. I saw something less spectacular but interesting in its own right. Of course, in the end it may be hard to pinpoint the real deceiver — the photographer, the painter, or the world itself.

While I Almost Wasn’t Looking – Sunset, Saturday, 6 July 2013

William Van Doren, WHILE I ALMOST WASN’T LOOKING. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

I compare notes with a local photographer. Also feel compelled to mention that while “Waves” by Blondfire has been the soundtrack for most of my paintings lately, I don’t know that I could have turned the corner on this one without the energy of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons.

Almost Past Twilight – Sunset/Twilight, Tuesday, 11 December 2012

William Van Doren, ALMOST PAST TWILIGHT. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 13 x 19.

Yellow splotches courtesy of camera. Something about light hitting brushstrokes at a certain angle.

Del’s Lion

Ceramic lion, three feet tall, sitting majestically on my front porch. Old, chipped, scarred, something my uncle had in a barn. This lion lets intruders know: Beware of the Housecat.

The Lion in Winter. Photo by Laura Owen Sutherland.

Del Ankers, Photographer, Part 3

Today’s the birthday of my uncle Del Ankers, born 1916, died May 2008. You can find previous posts on Del via the tag index, or start with this date last year, and check out Part 1, the predawn view of the Iwo Jima Memorial, and Part 2.

During this past year I was lucky enough to have in my possession for a while Del’s amazing travel bag, or kit bag I guess you could call it, before it goes off, along with most of his prints, films, negatives and notes, to the University of Maryland Library archives.

Laura Owen SutherlandThe baggage tags tied to the top of the bag are just the start – the bag itself is filled with many more. Many carry notations like this one:

Laura Owen SutherlandAs noted elsewhere, Del was the first film maker and photographer to work with Jim Henson, and here he was off for a shoot starring the Muppet character Rowlf.

There is so much crazy variety, with so many suggestions of history and stories, in Del’s bag, like Del himself they seem almost impossible to sum up and properly describe. However, we did find one tag that almost does the job all by itself.

Laura Owen SutherlandDel went directly from photographing the launch of Apollo 11 to a job involving something summarized as “Atlanta Chicken.” It’s certain that he handled both assignments with the same creative professionalism – and the same wide-open joy in living. Happy Birthday, Del.

Sunset, Friday, 23 April 2010

William Theodore Van Doren. Sunset from Stony Point, Albemarle County, Va. Oil on watercolor block, 16 x 20.

Sunset was sighted through a vine of climbing flowers. The vine was open to the sun, the sun was climbing through the hours.

Laura Owen Sutherland