Sunday, August 2, 2020

Tribute - Cycles of Fire


The last in this series of tribute paintings to the 1980's science fiction artwork classic, "Cycles of Fire," this painting is my interpretation of that book's cover painting. The original piece, create by William K. Hartmann, depicted a barred spiral galaxy in the background with a binary pair of a red giant and white dwarf looming close in the foreground. My version has the same basic composition, but I moved the foreground stars off into the distance since I chose to focus more on the sheer scale of the scene vs. the stars themselves. As with an earlier painting, the technique of flicking water-diluted paint with a toothbrush was used to create the sparkling stars; finally, like most nocturns, this painting was very difficult to photograph, but I think it turned out well.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"