Day to dusk

Original oil painting

20x30"

by Susan Roux

I did this painting a long time ago.

So long in fact, that I can't even find a record of it's title. It was probably called Wooded Cove or something similar. Even the quality of the photograph suffers from lack of detail and range of colors. I remember some rich yellows in the distant trees. I'm posting it anyway because of the funny story behind it.

As I recall, I had completed several paintings and was preparing them for my gallery. The ritual of signing them, spraying them, photographing them and finally framing them was my chore that day. (not that its a terrible chore, it just isn't painting...) This process required several trips in and out of the house. Since I spray in the backyard and only carry two canvases at a time, I was getting a bit of exercise.

Shifting art from one place to another. Busily...

I would carry them from the spraying spot, back around to the front of the house, to where they would be photographed. I placed them along the front of the garage to dry. Again parading into the house to get more...

Shuffling art around is the closest thing to a marathon that I will ever get.

On one of these trips I spotted this painting, from a bit of a distance, at the garage. It stopped me in my tracks. You see I had placed it upside-down in my haste. Oddly it became another painting all together! It went from a sunny daytime scene to a moody dusk one. It was quite funny how it could be flipped and still hold its own. I wish the image was better so you could see how wonderfully it did this.

I showed my gallery owner. She laughed and thought it was magnificent! She even wanted me to sign it in both directions and run two wires behind it so it could be flipped at anytime.

The painting sold very quickly. As soon as someone approached it, she quickly took the opportunity to flip it for them. It made the sale.