Two Lights 40x60” Oil $7000
For Daniel Corey, painting is not just about capturing a scene. It’s about revealing something deeper, something we feel more than see: light. His work is grounded in the real light we encounter each day, not an idealized version. Whether it’s a brilliant afternoon on the coast or the softened haze of early morning, Corey brings the quality of light to the forefront of every canvas.
“One of my main interests in painting is conveying light, real light, not romanticized light, but actual light that we have experienced,” Corey explains. “When I experience nature posing in this way, I do whatever I can to try to capture it.”
Last Light Oil on Canvas 18 x 36 $3,500.00
Radiant 36x48” Oil $6500
This pursuit is evident in works like Two Lights, painted in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The title cleverly references both the location and the visual composition—the glowing sun and its reflection playing off each other in harmony. “I love this area,” he says. “It feels like I have reached the end of the continent.” The same attention to light defines Last Light, where the landscape seems to shimmer under the intensity of the sun. “The sunlight melts the edges of any form it touches,” Corey notes, “while also filling shadows with intense color.”
In Radiant, the viewer experiences that precise moment when the sun hits the landscape just right. “Everything becomes illuminated, even the shadows,” Corey says. It is that kind of illumination that elevates the ordinary into something transcendent. The painting Up Tall plays with opposing directions of light, guiding the viewer’s eye through both the crisp shadows and the near-blinding brightness.
Hazy Shade of Summer 30x30” $3700
Up Tall 18x36” $3500.
Hazy Shade of Summer 30x30” $3700
Even on days when the sun is hiding, Corey finds a way to observe light’s character. In Hazy Shade of Summer, he captures the moment when fog rolls in unexpectedly on a beach day. “A Maine summer isn’t complete until you’ve experienced a bank of fog rolling in,” he says. “One of my favorite parts of this phenomenon is when the kids pretend they are in a mystical land, or better yet, the clouds.”
Daniel Corey’s paintings are more than landscape studies. They are meditations on what it feels like to stand in a moment of pure light, to see the world not only with clarity, but with wonder.
The exhibition Coastal Light will be on view from August 9 through 27 at Maine Art Hill, located at 5 Chase Hill Rd in Kennebunk, Maine. The gallery is open daily at 10 AM. For more information, visit maine-art.com, email info@maine-art.com, or call 207-967-2803.