I’ve been collecting small pastel sketches of sunrises in The Little River Valley for quite some time now.
My goal is to expand these into large canvas paintings.
My hands are itching to work with luscious oil pigments again.
Color is descriptive, but it’s also highly emotive.
Pastel sketches of the sunrises in The Little River Valley © 2026 by Emily Boller
I’m not interested in rendering realism in landscapes but instead, capturing the essence of them.
I want the viewer to feel what I feel when I see the sun peek through the horizon.
I consider myself to be an expressionist painter; I focus on capturing how a particular moment in time makes me feel.
The transition from twilight to full sun breaking through offers some of the most vibrant and exhilarating colors the eyes can experience.
Sunrises are daily resets of beauty in the midst of an ugly and chaotic world; they draw me away to leave the terrestrial and enter the sacred space of the celestial.
Perhaps that’s why I chase them.
Emily Boller, wife, mother, artist, and author is on a mission to create expressive works of art in her lifetime; and to bring awareness to the potentially harmful traps of diet-wellness culture. In her free time, she loves to chase sunrises, grow flowers and vegetables, and can homemade soups.