Let There Be Light

For some time now I have been in the process of discarding many of my less than successful early figurative oils. While multiple factors relegate these paintings to the scrap heap, a common problem is a lack of inner light. Backlit on a computer screen many of these images, like the one below, appear passable. When viewed under normal lighting conditions, they reflect only deadness.

Oil paintings need proper illumination to work, but no amount of external light can save a picture that doesn't contain an ample amount of its own.

Reclining Figure, oil on canvas, 8" X 10", 2009