Doorway Light

This 8x10-inch oil study of an Irish hearth was painted on two consecutive mornings in a cottage in County Kerry, Ireland. The cool light from the open doorway and an adjacent window casts soft warm shadows to the right of the black stovepipe, the china dogs, and the plastic bucket of turf.

You can tell the light comes from side-by-side light sources because of the twin highlights on the teakettle, water pot, and stovepipe. The light was brightest on the left of the scene, at the place where the owner apparently replaced a broken black tile with a white tile.