More Beautiful Than Direct Sunlight

I learned early in my career as a painter that limited or filtered light is inherently more interesting and beautiful than direct sunlight.

I learned that people are irresistibly drawn to depictions of dappled sun on a wooded path, morning light sifted through mist or clouds, lamplight piercing the gloom of dusk.

Filtered light is soft and gentle. It feels safe and comforting rather than harsh or glaring. And it still does its job of brightening and illuminating the world.

— Thomas Kinkade

Painting: Llewelyn Lloyd (1879 - 1949)

The Art of Reading

I believed, and still do believe, that truth, is frequently of its own essence, superficial, and that, in many cases, the depth lies more in the abysses where we seek her, than in the actual situations wherein she may be found. Nature herself seemed to afford me corroboration of these ideas. In the contemplation of the heavenly bodies it struck me forcibly that I could not distinguish a star with nearly as much precision, when I gazed on it with earnest, direct and undeviating attention, as when I suffered my eye only to glance in its vicinity alone. I was not, of course, at that time aware that this apparent paradox was occasioned by the center of the visual area being less susceptible of feeble impressions of light than the exterior portions of the retina.

Edgar Allan Poe, The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaal

Painting: Friedrich von Amerling (1803 - 1887), Austrian, Academic painter.

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