TM8670 Song in a Pale Key 36×36 oil on panel

So much of the sensory experience of being by the ocean is based on what we hear – fog horns, gulls, and the ever-changing music of the waves. Song in a Pale Key is about the subtleties, when the moist air absorbs and expands the sounds. The gentle movements of water can seem to energize the space between droplets of moisture, generating a background chord behind the  higher pitched liquid melody of waves overturning. It isn’t a dark sound. Instead, it seems light and evanescent, maybe because evaporation is its conclusion. I chose to keep the tonal and value key of the painting high, to emphasize the lightness of the music and its transient nature. The foggy, atmospheric distance speaks to the presence of droplets of moisture, which equates with notes in this artist’s imagination. Enjoy.