You know sunlight really is a pretty fascinating thing, and actually I haven't known that much about it for most of my life despite being a professional artist for about 12 years now.

Lately, I find myself googling things like ‘why is the sky blue?’ (The answer is actually quite complicated and really interesting.) I'm finding that as I learn more and more about the natural world around me the more I want to paint it.

There are wonderful terms and names for various times of day and particular visual phenomena around us. For instance someone recently introduced me to the term ’The Belt of Venus’ which refers to the pinkish glow we observe along the horizon opposite the sunrise or sunset. Because of Venus' position relative to Earth, it always sits a little above that pinkish gradient, thus its name: ’Belt of Venus.’

So, like I already said, the more I've learned how to differentiate and name the world around me, the more compelled I am to paint it, and I can choose to make a phenomena like the Belt of Venus the subject or driving idea of a painting. And hopefully this attention to that pinkish band just below Venus will enrich someone's life.