Shayla Maddox

1. normal lighting
2. normal and uv lighting combined
3. uv lighting only
4. no light (glow)

Ingredients: acrylic paint, beach sand, water & light

I think I have sort of a love affair with this concept. There are maybe 2 designs I've done in the last few years that I feel I could explore over and over again, forever. This is one of them.

There's something about the color of the light in that time after the sun sets, when a smattering of stars begin to light up the sky. It's just beautiful. The transition of time, I guess. Watching new stars appear is magical, like being suddenly surrounded by distant fireflies, twinkling at you from a few heavens away. During the day, our vision tends to be very earth based, with all things on the ground and ocean lit up by the brightness of the sun. At night, our perspectives naturally lean towards the heavens. The time in between is profound. To me, this is the color of Evening.

While creating it, I purposefully allowed myself to love it. I wanted to love the colors, love the paint, love the evening. The best part about exploring concepts I've painted before is that I am free to be passionate about what I'm doing. Often when I get too wrapped up in a new design or technique, I lose that deep, internal need to express the emotion I feel. I have to remind myself what inspired me to create it in the first place.

I have been using beach sand in my paint occasionally. I like the idea of using a material so intrinsically earth-based as an element for creating paintings that are usually ethereal in concept. Maybe that's just the artist in me talking, but I'm telling you, I find it truly exciting.

I enjoyed every moment of this. This painting is my favorite color.