Pink Sunset (2026)Acrylic painting by Steve White

Rembrandt instructed 'Choose only one master - nature,' but Chagall thought that 'Great art picks up where nature ends.' And then again Rodin suggested 'To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature,' but Seneca the Younger opined 'All art is imitation of nature.' So it's a bit confusing. Is it possible for an artist to improve nature, or is nature unimprovable? I have to go with the former. I worked on this painting from a photograph I took in my local park. It's a simple scene but the colours seemed harmonious. But there is one section - I won't say which - which just didn't seem right. A photograph never lies, of course, but this part just looked ugly and out of place. So I changed it. I made it look 'better'. I have done this on other paintings where God was having an off day in the desgin department. I am a cheat! A forger! Maybe, but I choose to follow the musing of Paul Gaugin: '...don't copy nature too closely. Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature extrapolate art from it, and concentrateon what you will create as a result.'

Materials used:

Acrylics

Details:

• Acrylic painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 60 x 40 x 4cm (unframed) / 60 x 40cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Impressionistic
• Subject: Landscapes, sea and sky

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