Exoplanet - Winter Lights

The winter season on Earth is marked by festivals of light to push back the darkness, but night has a different meaning on other worlds. Here we see a young, cold exoplanet covered in winter snow. The night sky is illuminated by an enormous nebula and the blazing light of countless new stars. Dark dust clouds are silhouetted against the glowing gases, and particularly brilliant star clusters cast their light across the frozen wastes. This world is far too young for life to have formed. Perhaps in billions of years - long after the nebula fades and the most massive stars in it die off - a sentient species like us will create their own winter festivals to drive back the darkness. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

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"

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"

Death Valley at Night

On my trip to the West in June, the first national park we saw was Death Valley. At first, one would think there would be nothing of beauty in a barren desert, but that was not the case. Death Valley is an alien inferno for much of the year, and yet its stark landscapes, vast views, and craggy rocks provide a wonder of their own. The most astounding aspect of the park isn't seen until nightfall, however. Then, as the sun slowly sets, you stand beneath one of the darkest skies in the nation, and indeed the world. Above you, the Milky Way fades into view, clearly cut through by dark clouds and rifts, and countless stars glimmer and shine. Indeed, the stars themselves feel within reach, as if there is nothing between you and infinity. This is only a painting, and nocturnes are notoriously difficult to create and photograph - one must see the night sky as it truly is to understand.

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"