Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A Full Moon Cycle = Another Nocturne!

"Timeless" 12x16 oil on linen panel
      I love nocturnes! I think I will be producing a number of them this year. This one was inspired by our current full moon cycle but rather than paint last night's sky as seen over and through the trees I combined what I saw with what I know. I transported myself to the beach in front of our house on the Outer Banks of NC and painted this scene that I have experienced many times. It is breathtaking to be surrounded with such a sky combined with the sound and scent of the ocean.
     I talked about the many variations of color in the night sky in the post about my Kennedy Center nocturne and in this painting I grayed the sky more and let some of the mauve underpainting show through.  The atmosphere is different at the beach than in a city. I intend to explore all of it

      Today I was supposed to meet friends at 9:00 AM to paint at a local rose garden but I wasn't feeling well so I had to cancel. I am glad I felt well enough to work in the studio and paint this nocturne and then the little still life study below. There are some similarities in painting cloudy nocturnes and painting silver. It was fun and used up the paint remaining on my palette.
"Silver and White" 8x8 oil on linen panel

      ON EXHIBIT:     This Saturday "Images of Washington" opens at American Painting Fine Art  in DC. This is a Washington Society of Landscape Painters exhibit and runs from June 14th to September 27th. I will have four paintings in this show and all have been posted here. You can scroll back over the last couple of months to see them in progress. The paintings are "Cafe du Parc", "Lunch in Lafayette Square", "Cafe La Ruche" and "Kennedy Center  Nocturne"
        Thanks for dropping in!