“WELCOMING THE DAY” by David Mueller

I trained at the american academy of art in chicago where it was required to study live figure, drawing five days a week, three hours a day, unlike other art schools which may only offer the opportunity a couple of days each week. I had a very inspirational life drawing instructor in my second year named Bill Barks, who whispered in my ear to go buy a ninety color set of rembrandt pastels, with which he taught me to see warm and cool color temperatures on the figure, the study of the temperature of light. I.e. cool light juxtaposed to warm shadows as in a north light studio. Conversely, warm light (like sunlight or incandecent electric light) juxtaposed to cool bluer shadows. This painting is a lot about color temperature.But it is also about hard and soft edges. I'm not sure why.But in nature and in art, some of the most beautiful impressions upon our sensibilities are the juxtapositions of very hard edges near to very soft ones. I love to find these in nature or create them in studio setup with a model and fabrics and light, then, try to depict the effect. With as much representation of that beauty as I possibly can.