RSA Scottish Art

Sun Burst

Small web image of Sun BurstArtist: Duncan Shanks
Title: Sun Burst
Year: 1990
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions:
Suggested topic:
Source: RSA Diploma Collection
View full screen image of this work
Open print version of this work
© the artist 
Description: Duncan Shanks is primarily a landscape painter and the countryside of the Clyde Valley provides the source for much of his work. Although Sun Burst is not named as representing a specific location it still evokes a strong sense of place. In fact it is based on a view from the artist's garden at Crossford, looking across the Clyde Valley. Elements such as clouds, fields, birds and vegetation are fused together in dense layers of detail. This is a vivid depiction of the transient effects of weather, such as the weighty, shifting clouds or the band of sunlight shining across the fields. The painting seems to bring together several views and moments in time. It looks as though the lower panel is a very close-up view of flowers, while the central panel shows a flock of birds flying together past the setting sun. The painting has been executed with great exuberance and vitality. Very broad, free brush strokes are executed in all directions. The palette is extremely broad and varied, with a wide tonal contrast from bright luscious yellows to heavy, forbidding black. Rather than always mixing a smooth consistent colour on his palette, Shanks has often left the colours unmixed so that sweeping brush strokes leave trails of parallel colours. Splashes of mottled texture contrast with scribbly lines, dots and dashes.The mood here is one of energy and life. It is a very direct celebration of nature and the powerful and beautiful forces which we live amongst. There is a feeling of cheerfulness and joy, and it looks like it was almost as much fun to paint this picture as it was to view the original scene. The scene could be viewed as a direct representation or a completely abstract celebration of colour and freedom.