It’s a busy First Friday in Southtown, with people milling around, visiting galleries and restaurants. On this particular night I have come to see the new paintings by Lyn Belisle shown at La Vida Gallery, a colorful little place on the northern edge of the artsy district. Collectively titled 30 Shades of Twilight, her 30 small paintings are arrayed on the back wall, each a nearly abstract rendition of the late afternoon sky, bursting with luscious colors that hide a hint of turmoil.
The specific inspiration for the Twilight series came from the artist’s observation of the sky as she was driving home one evening on Loop 410. “Every time I looked, there was a different view of sky and bridge or sky and power lines and all these colors,” she explains a few days later when we meet in her small studio to talk. “Twilight is a good metaphor for the richness of the day and has all the colors of the day — blue sky, grey sky, pink clouds, the gold of the sun and the orange of the sunset.”
But for Belisle it also became a metaphor for change and endings, not only in terms of a single day but in a broader sense. She was feeling a little blue about her first grandson leaving for college and the realization that time is indeed running out. “At my age, you realize you have at best a couple of decades left. All these things were going through my mind,” she says.
Read the full article at SAWoman.com (http://sawoman.com/artist-and-teacher)
Photography: Janet Rogers
