Saturday, August 23, 2014

Solar Tower

I'm working on a piece I can't show yet.  Later, hopefully.  Mostly, today, I'm working on a large project for my day job.  That will consume most of the evening and into the night.


I took a break to think back over some pieces I did not consider successful at the time.  I ended up looking at this one (above), which was inspired by a conversation with my Dad about a type of solar energy tower that has parabolic reflectors below aiming concentrated beams of sunlight at a large oil filled reservoir at the top.  The heat is then used to generate electricity - I don't recall how.  I should look it up.  But the idea of this hot tower and the concentrated sunlight resulted in this piece, years ago.

I recall when I finished that I did not like the composition, the color scheme, or the quality of my painting.  None of them are great, but they are nowhere near as bad as I remember.

I wrote about this painting back in 2007 when I finished it.  It made me think of my Dad to reread it.  I've missed him more than usual these last few weeks, and he's been in my dreams several times.

2 comments:

susan said...

Whether or not we like pieces of our own work seems to have little to do with their essential quality. It's an interesting and lively painting and the subject is still most relevant. That you can look at it now and be reminded of your Dad is an extra blessing.

Steve Emery said...

Susan - thanks for commenting. I think you are right that our own likes and dislikes matter a lot less than we think. I'm trying to let go of that more lately.