“Les Dunes de Sable d’Orleans (Dauphin Island)" (2025)

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WiL Vélez, Les dunes de sable d’Orleans (Dauphin Island), 2025.

acrylic on cradled wood panel 

diptych: 16H x 24W x 1.5 in (40.62 x 60.96 x 3.81 cm); each panel: 16H x 12W x 1.5 in (40.62 x 30.48 x 3.81 cm).

Les dunes de sable d’Orléans (Dauphin Island) (2025) is the first painting I created entirely outdoors.

Completed over two days for the Dauphin Island Plein Air Paint-Out 2025 competition, this diptych captures the unique beauty of the island’s pine-forested sand dunes and the unusual cloud formations that day.

The landscape is abstracted to evoke a dreamy, ethereal quality that blurs the line between memory and place. 

When I first encountered the scene, I knew instantly it would be my subject for the competition.

It wasn’t until I titled the piece that I realized the location was on Orleans Drive—a detail that felt serendipitous. 

As a New Orleans-based artist, the name made me feel connected to the place, as if a piece of home had followed me there.

This is a unique, original artwork. Its image, like all images on this website, is the copyright of ©️WiL Vélez. All rights reserved.