In a Patch of Godlight

I've spent years walking the trails and wooded paths of the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. There is always a time in the early morning when the sunlight filters through the leaves and highlights the textures of the forest floor in a way that I find quite magical, similar to the way sunlight streaming through a colored stained glass window creates an ethereal experience in a cathedral. C.S. Lewis is famously quoted as saying,“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.” For this painting, I asked my daughter to model in a semi-transparent gown in this setting at just the right time of morning. I felt the transparency of the fabric would also communicate the power of light to transform our senses, adding to the sense of mystery "behind the veil," so to speak.