Reflected Light (section)

Look closely at this sunset and you can almost feel the thick swipes of paint. Erin Hanson built this scene with bold, blocky brushstrokes, letting each dab of color sit side by side without much blending. The sun glows soft and white at the center, surrounded by warm orange clouds, while the sky above breaks into patches of lilac, peach, and pale yellow. Down below, the water catches all that light and scatters it into a shimmering path of orange that runs right toward you.

Hanson calls her style "Open Impressionism," a modern take on the classic Impressionist approach. She is known for painting landscapes of the American West with this mosaic-like technique, using clean colors and no fussy detail. What makes this piece fun is how she handles the reflection. The water is not painted as smooth glass but as hundreds of little tiles of color, blues and pinks broken up by that burning streak of sun. It is a simple subject, a sunset over water, but the energy of the brushwork gives it a lively, almost patchwork feel.