"Night Hill"

36" x 24"
acrylic on canvas



This was the first painting I completed for my new set of work for my solo exhibition. Stemming partly from a need to explore a night palette, as well as to represent the mood and mystery personally associated with night itself, Night Hill speaks of those still moments where our subconscious takes over. I have sat on the shores of Lake Huron many times at night, listening to its crashing waves, feeling the breeze and seeing the stars. Each time, I couldn't help but realize how small I felt alongside the universe as it stretched up and on into dark oblivion. We make up such a small part of it, despite our immense impact; mere fireflies which circle about, lighting the way before flickering out.

I came across this very stagecoach at an antique shop on the side of the road on U.S. 23 one day. It was strangely intriguing to me, and I thought, why not put it up on the hill? It encompassed an ethereal almost spiritual quality, like an artifact of the supernatural realm, where all things legendary and ghostly dwell. Fire holds several meanings for me, and I often find my thoughts unintentionally centering around the concept of duality as I paint, coming to realize its steady presence at the core of my pictures. The real and unreal, history and the present, opposing emotions, endings and beginnings, nature's seasons and cycles, all of it is present there. I wanted this painting to capture night's magical quality, when the unreal feels realer than anything.