Something new!!

 "Derelict"

(11x17", Oils on Linen, Framed)  Price: $ 900.00  SOLD

This painting was something of a spur of the moment idea of a HUGE lost, ancient derelict floating dead in space and and a much smaller rocket doing flybys to take stock of it and report. I doodled the idea roughly in my new tiny 3x3" bound sketchbook, then drew up a more detailed final idea that I used as the basis to paint from. I liked the idea of a more monochromatic, restricted palette that represented the deepness of space, and also the stark white and shadows that local space light threw against the damaged white 'sail/fin' of the derelict alien ship. The final idea that it looked like it had been rotting there, open to asteroid hits, both microscopic and large, was paramount, against the freshness and clean lines of the quintessential 'pointy rocket ship'. Unfortunately, this photo of the finished painting does not do the subtleties of the original justice. The giant sail/fin was painted mostly with a palette knife and I was happy with so many of the sharp edges and happy accidents as a result. The extreme diagonals that make up the composition were deliberate because even the sharpest straight lines created by intelligence, human or alien, will corrupt and fade with time and abuse of nature. And, also, up or down, or sideways, or the thought of 'right side up' are purely subjective in outer space due to a lack of gravity. 

 Below is the initial design idea. Note the size of the moon/planet in the curve of the fin. I wanted to create a less claustrophobic composition, and changed it in the final design.

Below, is the final design drawing for 'Derelict'. It is only about 3x1.5", yet I enlarged it to the correct painting size of 11x17" without losing any detail. I was a bit concerned about the moon/planet crowding the sail/fin, even if it was supposed to be in the background, so I moved it about half an inch to the left in the actual painting.

This is a studio shot using my iPad. It's not the greatest, but shows the work in progress and the giant enlargement of the thumbnail design drawing I used to trace the idea down onto the linen board. Note the different placement of the moon/planet.

Something fun. Here is the painting drying in my study. The studio was very cold throughout winter, so ended up bringing my drying paintings into the warmer atmosphere of my study to dry better than they had been doing. Sitting atop 'Derelict' is the tiny rocket doodle, 'Indigo Station' which was created with the left over paint I used in painting the bigger rocket doodle below it.

Anyway, this is the second of the bigger space epics I painted for Boskone in February. I'm rather proud of how it turned out, and hope to create something truly like this again sometime. Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by, and come back soon. There are more rocket doodles and other oddities to come.
Cheers,

Marianne