When everyone is tucked into to bed, warm and cozy, on a clear cold winter night nothing quite beats wandering out into the evening, finding a quiet spot above a small mountain town, and taking in the starry sky twinkling over the mountains.
Kootenay Lights combines all my favorite elements in a painting: a bold starry sky, epic snowy mountains, the warm lights of town, and a foreground that invites you to put yourself into the scene and let your imagination soar.
The three panel triptych adds an element of movement and time to the piece. It allows your eye to take in the whole painting at once, as well as, slows the story down. It creates the extra time to take in and explore all the layers of the night sky and landscape.
The sharp contrast between the colors, layers, and texture of starry sky and landscape creates the spaces of in between, and that is where the magic happens.