Have you ever noticed how the patterns of light and shadow change throughout your house during the day? Nancy Herman has, and has made it her goal to capture these delicate transformations in her lovely oil paintings.
Nancy has a varied art background, including a bachelor of arts from the University of Pennsylvania. She has painted on and off for about 60 years, while at the same time dabbling in other art forms.
One of her special interests is something she calls visual music. Nancy’s system of translating music to paint is described in her book, If C is Red, which should give you just a hint of how thoughtful Nancy is in terms of visual expression.
As I looked through Nancy’s paintings, I found myself thoroughly enjoying her obsession with light. In every composition she waits for the perfect moment, until the light is full of golden color.
By using simple brushstrokes and focusing primarily on color rather than depth, Nancy is able to keep the viewer focused on how the sun rays illuminate the objects around her house. Her subjects glow like the sun, and many times create mesmerizing shadows that are even more fascinating than the objects themselves.
This playful dance of light and shadow does more than just make a visual impact. . . it also results in a strong emotional connection with the viewer.
Nancy’s paintings may seem extra familiar because we’ve all experienced the same type of scene in our own homes. They’re like warm memories that we just can’t place—a visual medley of moments in life that we took for granted, and then somehow allowed to slip away.
I highly encourage you to visit Nancy Herman’s blog and browse through more of her beautifully expressive studies of light.