Solstices and Equinoxes: Spring Equinox

Solstices/Equinoxes follows color and light changes from sunrise to sunset at the same location in Watershed 2, a tributary of Lookout Creek in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, on the Solstices and Equinoxes. Beginning at sunrise, I took a photograph of the creek with my white rock in the center of the image in ten minute intervals, ending at sunset. The white rock acts as a neutral constant to allow me see the turbidity of the water compared to the water color as it was affected by the creek bed and reflections. The colors of the white rock are depicted in the four white bands that run the length of the paintings.
Forty colors were sampled from the same locations on each of the photographs. Those colors create the rhythm of color and light changes experienced throughout the day, and they also create the composition of the painting. The resulting patterns show something of an “absolute value” of light and color change during the day, rather than what we would experience in person as our eyes and brains constantly adjust our sensory perception.
Each season’s paintings consists of three panels. The first and third panels show the colors samples for the first and last three hours of the day, respectively. The middle panel changes in width to accommodate the remaining time in the middle of the day.