Light, Sea, Earth, and Sky by Joseph McGurl

"Light, Sea, Earth, and Sky was loosely based on a Plein Air sketch of Cuttyhunk Island off the Massachusetts coast. The sketch was painted on a sunny day in the morning with full sun. I used it as a general guide for the topography; the lighting and particulars were from my imagination and observations of the natural world. There is no foreground as I envisioned the viewer to be hovering in an indefinable position above the earth.  While maintaining a fidelity to nature, the colors and values are exaggerated or understated as needed to create the impression of the painting possessing actual sunlight. If I were to label my art, I would call it luminism. This is not because my paintings look similar to the 19^th century luminist paintings—my art takes significant stylistic departures from the genre. It is because I share a similar philosophy. The luminists and I believe that there is a spirituality to our existence, and indications of that can be seen in the natural world and in particular the phenomenon of light." – JOSEPH MCGURL