Sunrise, Claude Monet, 1873

It’s a funny thing, but the light in a painting effects my eyes the same way the light outside does – when it’s too bright, I have to look away sometimes. It’s blinding.

But I have to keep looking for it. That’s what every artist wants to find, the light. Monet is very subtle about the light – he finds it in sunrises and sunsets, when there isn’t much, which makes what there is very important. That must be why he painted them over and over, always trying to capture the tiniest bit of light.

It’s the light that reveals. Painting, all the arts really, are about revealing by covering.  I scrape and sand and take away the paint only to be able to put it back again so that there is more light. All of nature lives on light.

When I look at this Monet, which I love, I wonder how many times he took away paint and put it back to let the light in.

My painting of Elle is all about the light too.