Tribute - Nightfall

This painting is inspired by a mix of scenes: Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" story, the classic science fiction artwork of the book "Cycles of Fire" from the late 1980's, and my experience watching the sun set and the Milky Way fade into view at Death Valley. The stars were painted using an old toothbrush and a watery mix of paint; I held the brush close to the painting and gave the bristles a slow flick to produce the scattered light of countless stars bit by bit.

Here, in a dry region of an Earth-like world, we see the sun set and a single constellation with millions of stars fade into view. The blazing light of a huge globular star cluster dominates the night sky with its warm glow. What legends of the stars would form on a world like this?

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Aurora in Winter

I decided to go with something unusual for this painting - a scene in the frozen north, near the point where the trees fade away, of the aurora borealis in winter. It was an interesting challenge to paint since it's a nocturne with strangely colored, glowing ribbons across the sky, but I think it turned out reasonably well given the challenges.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Rain every night

It has rained every day and night here in the Mid-Atlantic states for the past week, with only today finally offering the return of sunlight. While I can't change the weather, I can at least turn it into art! Here, we are somewhere out in the hilly country west of the I-95 corridor as another night of rain sweeps across the land, with the glistening lights of a town visible in the distance.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Moonlit Swamp

Beneath a pair of full moons on a far off plane of existence, light glimmers across the shallow pools and squishy mud of a vast swamp. Spreading reeds and ancient trees grow from the mire in a constant struggle between growth and decay. Fireflies dance around the tree roots and grasses, oblivious to the eerie gloom. Part of my MTG: basic lands series.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Glen Burnie Whiteout

I generally don't paint urban scenes since they are tricky in matters of perspective, detail, and scale, but this image, inspired by yesterday's weather, begged to be painted. Wind-blow snow roars through the center of downtown Glen Burnie, MD on a cold February night, obscuring everything for the few drivers on the roads.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Fireflies on Lost Lake

Fireflies dance around the grass and over the shallow waters of Lost Lake, a small pond located in Patapsco Valley state park. This is an idealized version of the lake, without the various small fishing piers and other features that would detract from its simple beauty on a night full of fireflies - enjoy!

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Night Sky Outside of Town

This is the first real nocturne painting I've ever created, aside from a few experiments many years ago. I think it turned out well, though it is very difficult ot get accurate photos of nocturnes - I either end up with ambient light reflecting off the paint, a shadow cast from myself on the painting, or there's not enough light and the photo becomes blurry.

The sky color was a real challenge here: I settled upon a mix primarily of Cerulean Blue and Raw Umber, and then a small amount of Titanium White was added (for opacity) with a tinge of Ultramarine Blue (to shift the color back towards blue since Cerulean Blue has very low tinting strength.) Note that no black was used in the sky since it muddied up the colors.

Acrylic Painting: 14" x 17"