Moonlight Flight

Moonlight Flight

(8x10", Oil) Price: $145.00 SOLD

I had this idea at the gym when I was thinking about the pointy rocket ships I wanted to paint in the two previous posts. I bravely looked up some viking boat references and with the distant memory of the airship from the movie "The Mummy Returns" set to drawing one up. The ship is empty while it sails the moon paths, ready to carry the viewers dreams and hopes aloft with it. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice: a lot of soft detail was lost in the cloud highlights and the moon. And I tried to colour match as much as possible.

This is painted thinly and took two coats of paint to get the sky right, because French Ultramarine is a transparent. I noodled that around with Cobalt Blue and Alizarin Crimson with a dash of Titanium White to create this simple background. A tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Hue was mixed in with the highlights, because the moon doesn't always reflect a cold white light. There is warmth in the shadows, as is usual with moonlight, no matter how cold or slightly warm that light may be. I blocked in the ship in the first session, but completed it in the second session in detail when the first layers were dry. As usual, I made great use of my big fluffy blending brushes.

See you next time,
Cheers,
Marianne