Twilight Comes to a Western Town by Joseph McGurl

"Twilight Comes to a Western Town was painted on location during a painting trip to Ouray, Colorado.  At the close of each day, I set up my gear above the town and painted the sunset. As a luminist, I was interested in painting the transition between natural and man-made light. For my artmaking, it is important to spend a significant amount of time painting from nature because a critical component of my artwork is to interpret light, form, space, and color on a two-dimensional surface with paint. It is important for me to paint it in such a way as to replicate the real world, multi-dimensional experience.  This transformation is one of the 'magical' attractions of representational art. Painting from nature forces me to dissect the landscape and reconstruct it on the canvas. The knowledge gained can be utilized in my imaginary studio paintings to give their philosophical meaning a truthful foundation." – JOSEPH MCGURL