Shades of Gray

A couple of years ago I painted a large 4′ x 5′ painting of white horses running in the surf. I saw a video of this and thought it would make a great painting. It turned out very well. A year later I decided to try to do a smaller 16″ x 20″. After working on it awhile I laid it aside. It just was not coming out like I wanted. Later I went back to it again and again laid it aside. Finally this year I thought I would give it one last try and this fall started working on it again. What I discovered is you cannot paint something just white. There has to be shadows and shades of gray and purple to make it show the contrast needed so the white can be highlighted.

This past week I finally got it done to my satisfaction. When I put it on my facebook page, one of my friends said she wanted to buy it! So today it got packed up and shipped to South Carolina. I am very happy she liked it as much as I did.

Black and White looks stark

Accents and highlights don’t show

without shades of gray

Much like the rest of us

Trying once again to blend

*****

Today is World Kindness Day celebrated in many countries.

Perhaps the US should consider adding it to our list of celebrations.

Paintings: Dwight L. Roth