Color Isn't Everything

I've been lightening my colors and experimenting with a wider range of them. I don't think that I will ever completely lose the desire to harmonize my color in an ordered way, but I do feel a need to search for more color. It seems that since 1960 or 61 I have felt a need to get away from bright color and work more towards developing a more painterly quality in my work. So I let vivid color slip by in a sense. One day a friend of mine, who doesn't know much at all about art or painting in an educated sense, commented upon his views on art and his reaction to my then-obsession with color. He said, simply, 'Y'know, Sprague, color isn't everything.' HOW RIGHT HE WAS. One only has to look at Rembrandt's paintings or view Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling to realize that much can be said without a great emphasis on color. It is not so much the variety or quantity of color rather than the quality of the color used and the handling of it."

 Al Sprague, Artist's Journal, September 13, 1963

-------

Chesapeake Harbor, 1963

My mother and father met in art school at American University in Washington, D.C. where Dad would spend a lot of his time painting in Georgetown, along the Chesapeake, and in Rock Creek Park. He enjoyed painting in a variety of weather conditions, especially during rain because of the dramatic effects captured when the rain moved into the area and when it left glistening streets behind.

Chesapeake Harbor captures the drama of the incoming rain storm. This is a scene that we have seen him capture multiple times throughout his career. I remember once he was telling me a story about a conversation he had with a dealer who told him not to add any of the clouds and storms in the background of his work. He just laughed and did it anyways! 

Dad was known for his ability to capture the water, the clouds, and the storms in his work. I think he enjoyed adding that extra drama in the sky and adding that color to express the moment of change in the skies. 

I don't recall how I ended up with the painting Chesapeake Harbor. I think it came from my Grandma Sprague's collection. Regardless, I have always enjoyed this piece. It is an example of Dad's early work from his college years when he was eager to experiment with style, color, and subject matter. With this experimentation he found his own style that carried on throughout his career to the very end.