I am a plein air colorist in the representational tradition of Monet. I studied with Henry Hensche, master American impressionist and assistant to Charles Hawthorne at the Cape School of Art. Unlike a lot of other contemporary plein air artists, I focus on capturing the light key of nature.
By light key, I mean the specific quality of light on a subject. Essentially, what we are painting, then, is not the object or subject in front of us, but the effect of light falling on that subject. When we refer to light key, we are referring to not only the light, but the collection of variables that modify the light falling on the subject, such as the time and type of day, the prevailing atmospheric conditions, nearby reflecting surfaces, etc.—whether…
