Title: Communion by Steven DaLuz, 2018
Medium: oil, metal leaf on panel
Size: 40″ x 60″
What I love about this painting:
Where do I begin? This simple scene speaks to me on a spiritual level. The calmness and serenity, the intensely rich colors, and the way the sky and water are depicted make this one my favorite contemporary paintings. There is power here, but it is quiet and doesn’t need to go out of its way to impress the viewer.
I am impressed just by being in its presence. Power lies in the intimacy, the unity and companionship of the two main subjects, split rock spires who lean toward each other. Power also lies in the way light and shadow cloak the surrounding scene and reveal the spires.
DaLuz breathes life into the stone, showing us the living mountains. The use of metal leaf and oil paints to create the light and shadow is a wonderful technique.
About Luminism, via Wikipedia:
Luminism is an American landscape painting style of the 1850s to 1870s, characterized by effects of light in landscape, through the use of aerial perspective and the concealment of visible brushstrokes. Luminist landscapes emphasize tranquility, and often depict calm, reflective water and a soft, hazy sky.
Ingredients of luminism – such as majestic skies, calm waters, rarefied light, and other representations of magnificence – have been also appreciated in contemporary American painting.
About the artist, via Wikipedia:
Steven DaLuz (born 1953) is a contemporary American Neoluminist artist known for using chemically induced patinas on metal leaf and mixed media to produce figurative works and imagined landscapes often reflecting upon the sublime as a pictorial theme.
DaLuz was born in Hanford, California. His works have been published in art periodicals, such as American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur,, The Artist, Professional Artist, The Huffington Post and Poets and Artists magazine, where he received the cover for the Nov 2009 Issue. Considered “ethereal and transcendent,” his artwork has been said to combine “a spectacular dissertation on light and shadow with a brilliant collection of colors.” DaLuz holds degrees in Social Psychology (BA, Park University 1979), Management ((MA, Central Michigan University, 1981)), Graphic Design (AAS, San Antonio College, 2001), and Fine Arts (BFA, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003).
He donates works of art and part of the proceeds from the sale of his work in favor of many charitable actions.
Credits and Attributions:
Communion; oil, metal leaf on panel; 40″ x 60″; 2018; by Steven DaLuz
Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Communion 40 x 60.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Communion_40_x_60.jpg&oldid=508468900 (accessed November 12, 2020).
Wikipedia contributors, “Luminism (American art style),” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Luminism_(American_art_style)&oldid=983664068 (accessed November 12, 2020).
Sdaluz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
Looks magic.
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