Sunrise Moonset, 2008
oil on canvas, 26"x 24"
I began sketching this piece out from drawings I had made of the edge of a Pine woods right behind my house. Originally it was a night scene with a moon hanging low, but that would soon change.
Next I began painting in some general color areas. A way to get a quick view of what overall colors might work where.
I started working on the sky next. The clouds and the light shift toward the horizon. I filled in the gaps between the tree branches knowing that they would be painted on top of the sky.
It was then that I started experimenting with putting the morning light in the treetops, something that has really been grabbing my attention lately.
I darkened the lower areas of the trees and made the lower left dark while thinking through adding light to a more distant set of trees in the lower center.
Feeling good about the way it was shaping up, I decided to finish off the sky. I surprised myself with the way the clouds took on a real glow.
Next I worked on the tree trunks and branches. They would be covered by the needles later so I had to begin getting them ready. There are a lot of tiny steps I am leaving out with very subtle changes over several days and sometimes weeks of fidgeting.
Now I have begun to fill in the branches with needles, made a few shifts in light in the woods and the lower left trees.
I gave the moon some color and finally added the morning glow that was missing. That great red that you see in the branches during the early or late hours of the day.
