Canyonlands                                                                 click to enlarge

Chiaroscuro in the canyons. Chiaroscuro is one of those words artists like to throw around to show how much they know about art and you don’t, and like French cooking, Vichyssoise is still a soup made from leeks, onions, potatoes, chicken stock, and cream despite how you pronounce it. As soon as you know the definition the mystery goes away, snotty waiter or not. Chiaroscuro in its simplest definition just means light/dark, in Italian anyway. And when it comes to art, who you gonna believe, the guy down the street or an Italian like Caravaggio. I’m betting on Caravaggio.

This Chiaroscuro is an effect that drew me at an early age to appreciate art. I didn’t know why but I knew I liked the look of those dark spaces with the central light-filled areas glowing with colors of gold and silver and Ivory reflecting from helmets and swords or fancy chandeliers. And other colors such as the deep, deep reds of velvet and the glow of porcelain colored skin were a fascination that has held up through the years and affects my work on a constant basis.

The southwest seems to have been created with the definition of Chiaroscuro in mind. The spring and fall when the light is changing, especially during the morning and evening hours, is spectacular at worst and overwhelmingly, breathtakingly beautiful at best. Can you imagine the type of paintings we would have if Rembrandt had been able to visit the southwest. How about “The Night Watch” only using warriors from the Chiricahua Apaches in their full war regalia against the deep rich colors of the canyon walls. It makes me want to paint.

My eye is drawn to the interplay of light and dark constantly as it was when I was just a child figuring out what I liked about this art stuff and the canyons provide me with endless subject matter. Only now I can create my own Chiaroscuro images in the click of a shutter and I do.