I read that one of the most difficult scenes to paint is a landscape through an intervening screen of foliage, and I have always liked that challenge. This nocturne was painted over a series of four nights, as the light effect was so fleeting. There is a soft-focus quality to the brushwork as shapes soften and blur in near darkness. The painting also conveys a quality of the passage of time—like a time-lapse anesthetic record of this landscape at this time in this atmospheric envelope. I like the contrast of the dark, tangled foreground, with the grid-like silhouettes of the trees, giving way to a deep soaring space (with a view of Canada) and the warm light glowing on the horizon like hope and clarity in the darkness.
“Brian Mahieu’s landscapes are stunning and haunting, and they capture the ethereal effects of atmosphere and changing light at twilight. . . his work speaks to the human condition and universal experiences that viewers from diverse backgrounds can comprehend.”
—Alisa M. Carlson, Ph.D., Curator of European and American Art, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri
Close-ups Showing Detail and Texture
