Good Morning, Santa

A night spent riding the sky, dodging stars, and keeping eight reindeer heading in the same direction behind Rudolph's red glow, calls for leaving a cup of something warm at the bottom of the chimney.

Cheers.

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $310    Art in the Morning Special

Blue & Sparkle

I love the harmony of these colors - the way they evoke seascape, nightscape, landscape. Calm. 

I love the glints of scintillating light. They make the depths deeper.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood block   $230

Twilight, Starry Night

A new way to play with the joy that is color.

A surprise that brings starlight down to earth.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood block   $230

Glow & Sparkle

November 29, 2023

A fun-house mirror.

A crystal ball.

An altered world in saturated color.

The magic of paint.

4" x 4" oil on wood block  $230   sold  

Golden Trail

Where's my horse?!

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel oil  $680   Art in the Morning Special

Quaking Gold

November 15, 2023

Nature creates its own radiance.

And it comes with its own soundtrack.

 ...Hear the leaves quaking?

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330   Art in the Morning Special

Flamenco Sketches VI

November 8, 2023

The subject is luminosity - color relationships that create radiant light.

The soundtrack is the masterpiece, Flamenco Sketches, from the Miles Davis Sextet: Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly on saxaphones, Bil Evans on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums.

Their subject also appears to be luminosity, and, to my ear, love.

How better to greet the day... in music, love, and light.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $570   Art in the Morning special

Sky Dreams II

Wielding my brush to create open spaces of luminous blue and veils of thin clouds is the closest I will get to being a pilot of the sky.

Then I gain altitude and head into the big voluminous shapes of peaks and valleys, light and shadow, and the bounce of reflected light.

I just love cruising up there.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $1780   sold      

Blush

The sun rides lower

Leaves turn scarlet-orange on the wind

Blush comes to the pear

8" x 8"   oil on panel  $430  sold  

Sunshine in a Flower

When driving by a field of sun flowers, I always notice they turn their heads toward the sun. An entire field of flowers looking the same direction. It changes how I see them.

It calls to mind the grace and stillness of movement and energy of so many people in parks across the world. Be it Qi gong or Tai chi... a kind of calligraphy of movement to greet the day.

No wonder it's called sunflower.

8" x 8"   oil on panel  $430  sold 

Sky Dreams

 Painting a sky of clouds can feel a bit like scuba diving. Spatial. Sensorial. Floating.

Turns of unexpected light create luminous hot edges in the depths.

It's an adventure of discovery.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $1780     Art in the Morning Special

Dance of the Tulips

 Belles of hot red, rimmed with golden yellow, bob and dance on stiletto legs in shades of green.

Occasionally they break out in angular, fast-footed jazz moves.

It's a ballet called Dance of the Tulips. Probably composed by Terence Blanchard.

Why not? It could be. I can't wait.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330   sold  

Dreaming Clouds II

A window into space, time, and radiant light.

Easy travel to other planets. Ahhh...

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas     Not  for sale       

Golden Creekside

 I love that art can take you where you aren't.

36" x 48" x 1.5"   oil on canvas  $4840  sold    

Rain in China

 Paintings can evoke what cannot be explained.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $570   Art in the Morning special

Golden Reflections

 Shining a light on a common object can really change how we see the familiar.

Suddenly, it is full of presence!

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430  sold

The Bill Evans Trio

 In the early 2000s I dove into paint and jazz as a form of life vest from incivility.

 I shifted from huge white canvas to small black wood, from seeking deep space to riffing on abstraction.

 I wrote letters of thanks to creators who had shaped their field and how the rest of us see and hear.

Jazz pianist Marion McPartland was generous in her response, expressing a particular attraction to this suite of paintings based on Miles Davis and Bill Evans - her old friends.

9" x 9"  oil on wood      $570         Art in the Morning special

Chasing Moonlight

 The night sky always transports me. It transforms my state of mind.

When I awake in the night to full-moon light pouring in the window, I feel a sense of comfort and wonder.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on canvas  $1380  sold  

Bourbon Street

 Part of my Citrus Jazz series:

Drawing on how jazz musicians use space and color in their  melody and sound, I was seeking to do the same.

Thinking of New Orleans' rich history of music and musicians, and its humid atmosphere, I painted a watery reflective setting to evoke the place.

9" x 9"  oil on wood      $570         Art in the Morning special

Dreaming Clouds

 Poetry in motion.

A ready place for meditation.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas        Not yet for sale

Sunlight

 Just as sunlight moves through the day, touching this edge, glinting on that glass, kissing a lip, splashing upon the table, so too my gaze travels through this painting.

I love the surprise.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on linen   $1380 sold  

Sierra Verte

 I find a roaming peace in this place of green.

It encourages one to walk - to see what shimmers along the rocky pebbles of the sandbar, to learn what rests in the depths of the turn in the river.

What grows upon the shoulder of the downslope?

What view will the top of the ridge lay open?

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel  $680  sold    

Duet in Rose

 Sweet song of summer

Notes like petals on a breeze

Ride toward the magic of a waxing crescent  moon

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330  sold 

Pear de Deux

 'Tis an intricate dance, beautifully balanced.

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430   sold  

Spring Rush

 A winter of record snowfall makes for spring excitement.

The rivers rush to their next elevation. Rapids rush to their next pool to gather in the quiet.

I rush to the bank of the river to gather my own pool of quiet.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel  $540  sold  

Exuberant Tulip

I'm taking dancing lessons.

From a tulip.

Shall we?

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel    $430 sold

High-water Spring

High-water spring

Sunlit clouds

Atmospheric moisture

The trees and streams are alive with birdsong.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel  $540  sold  

Morning Cup

Houston, prepare for cognition.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   nfs

Majestic West

Clean is the sky

Green is the grass

Open are the clouds

Wide is the land

Let's soar.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel    $620  sold

Sunset Glow

My paintings of glass feel like a landscape to me. An ocean scape. A light scape. They invite your eye to explore.

A window opens. A breeze comes in. A bell rings in the distance.

Listening to the music of Estonian composer, Arvo Part, provides the perfect sounding board for each brushstroke.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on linen  $1380   sold

Tulips at Sunrise

Painted by the morning sun, dancing on a breeze, we greet the day.

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430 sold  

Swimming in Blue

Diving in...

Painting glass always finds me swimming in its depths, its abstract space and light.

Passages open, waterways carry me. There is freedom to explore and improvise.

Recommended soundtrack: 'Green In Blue,' from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue recordings.

Dive into the cool.

5" x 7"  oil on panel  $270  sold 

In My Element

May 10, 2023

Movement over water

Time under sky

Winged origami of a Great Blue Heron

We turn our heads.

Watching.

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel    $680  sold

Tulips Set Sail

I've always thought of myself as more of a tool painter.

So I was surprised to discover that 59 feet of snow, with no view or light from any window, turned my gaze toward flowers. Their juicy color, their ever-changing composition, their delicacy and boldness... it really jazzed up my palette.

And my brain chemistry.

I took to calling it "Tulip Therapy."

... Works for me.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330 sold  

Marine Layer

The atmosphere that results from the interaction between different layers of color temperatures and densities of paint.

Don't you love alchemy.

5" x 7"  oil on panel   $270   sold

Call Me Irrepressible

When it comes to getting a color fix, flowers are right up there with color crayons.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330  sold  

Sunlight

Ahhh... sunlight. The cusp of spring.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $340  sold  

Golden Winter

It's invigorating to entertain two seemingly mutually exclusive ideas. It opens up a lot of 'what if' scenarios.

A cul de sac becomes a boat launch. The honks and grinds of the city become a symphony. Or beatboxing.

 A cold winter day in the depths of a record-snowfall winter becomes a warm enticement.

I'm looking for my canoe. 

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel    $620    sold 

Winter's Grace

Yes, I know... Fifty-plus feet of a beautiful thing is an awful lot. Life, and light, as you know it is comprehensively changed. Scale has changed. Your home is not to be found.

But it remains a silent, velvety place of utter beauty. And, how lucky are we in that.

 I find getting out to smell its fresh moisture, see the life that inhabits it, find the quiet places on the river, to be a magical thing.

If you stand still, just now, you will hear the soft ripples of the river. Feel the sun on your left shoulder. Hear the hawk's high call overhead.

Speaking for myself, sometimes a padded cell is just what I need.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $450

Sunlight Comes to the River

Just like in travel, or in writing a novel, on your way to a really good idea, sometimes it's good to follow the surprise.

My good idea was to paint the silvery tones of the quiet winter before me.

The surprise was the unexpected warmth that came from my underpainting sketch.

Shazam! Suddenly I had scintillating sunlight skipping into the day.

Oh, yeah.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    nfs

Prelude to a Painting

I sketch my paintings with a thin stain of color.

In this case, I did something I never do... a quick undersketch first in charcoal.

 I wanted to see how the charcoal would inform the color-temperature of the scene before me.

As sometimes happens, I love the image as it is, watery and transparent - visceral and underdescribed.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    nfs

A Breeze of Tulips

In painting we often make use of complementary colors.

 In snow storms one can make use of complementary experiences. 

The call & response of rich warm reds found in the language of "tulip" provides both.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $340   Art in the Morning Special

Older But Wiser

March 1, 2023

It takes time to develop class.

With grit, comes wisdom.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $450  sold 

Pop

Charisma.

It's hard to quantify.

But I know it when I see it.

Kissed by aTulip

Now you are, too.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    sold  

Calm is the Morning

February 8, 2023

The howling winds of nightfall took down trees and freed the smokestack from its mooring.

Next came swipes of lightening across the night sky, followed by the crash and rumble of thunder. Seriously?

A hurricane, it wasn't. Winter doing its version of, "Stella!," it was.

After climbing over trees to get out, I followed the morning sun to the river.

Silence and sunlight lay upon the land.

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel   $680    sold 

Italian Truck - "Tomato"

There's something about Italian design.

Even their trucks have style.

... now I want some pasta al pomodoro.

Si.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    sold

Gee's Bend, Too

With complete admiration and respect for the artistic genius of the master quilters of Gee's Bend, I title this painting after them.

While not claiming any of their brilliance, the pieces of color, and abstraction of fractured light, remind me of their work.

It gladly gives me another chance to mention the Gee's Bend Quilters so that you might take a moment to look them up.

Working in isolation in the bend of a river in Alabama, this small African-American community began creating a stunning new artform before the 19th century.

Inventive and filled with music, to my eye, they bathe the brain and the spirit.

 I hope they receive a MacArthur Genius award.

5" x 7"  oil on panel   $265 sold

French Curve: Sketch

The dance of the sketch is something to savor.

So is a cup of tea. Ahhh...

Waiting for the power to return, the heat, the internet, the telephone...

Beauty is everywhere!

6" x 6"  oil on panel  this became a full painting on August 24

Glowing Firelight

January 11, 2023

A color massage. An excitement of space and abstraction. The familiar made fresh and new.

I love painting glass.

30" x 36" x 1.5"   oil on canvas   sold   

Mystery Tour

Wishing all a new year of surprise, adventure, and magical beauty.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $330   Art in the Morning Special

Golden Hour

December 28, 2022

It's nice to spend time in the luminosity of shadows.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $450  sold    

Previous - Art in the Morning 2021

Please Enjoy My PBS Interview!

"A Conversation with Kit Night..." Painting on location at Sand Harbor, while I talk with Brent Boynton of PBS

The Book!

"Art in the Morning" is my way to greet the day. What began as an attempt to make the world a kinder place through art, has turned into eleven years, and running, of weekly paintings accompanied by my musings on nature, painting, life, and jazz. 

Once a week I send out an email with a painting, hot off my easel, for you to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee/ tea/ chocolate before you dive in to your work day. It's just a moment to relax. 

It's my attempt to make art a part of our every day lives. All of the arts should get out of the cloisters and into the moment. Any moment.

Share it with a friend. If they want to receive it regularly, they can just send me an email with "Please Add" in the subject line. I never share your address.

Email me: Kit@KitNight.com  (this is not a link)

Night has no "K".

Thanks and enjoy!

- Kit

Thanks for all of the great sales of my Art in the Morning book. After many printings it is now sold out.

Birthday, Anniversary, Wedding, just -  life!... Paintings make a great celebration. (You give two gifts at once.) Thank you for supporting the arts!... Especially now, when we need even more beauty in our lives.

Easy. Just send me an email. 

Thank you for adding art to your life!