Marcia Burtt: Painting Silvery Light

I set myself the challenge of covering a large canvas in a single winter afternoon on the beach.

My goal was to work so furiously that my sensual impressions would race through my eyes and out my hand to the brush on canvas with no critical thought.

I vowed not to step back and evaluate the painting until the canvas was completely covered.

A small canvas can be seen all at once from a couple of feet away, so I needed to work big.

The idea of trying this came to me from reading books on how successful authors write a novel. First they have to learn to let the words flow out, only later editing the manuscript.

Trying to critique the words during the creative process stifles the flow.

So I found myself on the beach early on a January afternoon.

As the sun moved farther into the west, I became entranced by the light dancing over the water—a part of the scene that hadn’t been there when I began.

I covered the canvas in less than three hours, then refined and revised it in the studio.
--Marcia Burtt