Blue Moon at Ledges Print

It's been such a challenging year (Covid).  One of the things that seems to shine out in a memory of sadness is spending at lot of time outdoors.  Living in Vermont has been a blessing.  There are several really nice parks within a half hour drive of where we live.  We have two small dogs and they really need to be outdoors as much as we do.  Walking in the woods every day put the changing of the seasons front and center.  For me water colors have always provided the method to share a vision of shadows.  Walking in the woods on a bight moon lit night is amazing.  This year we had two full moons in October and the second full moon of the month is called "Blue Moon".  The amount of color on the ground right after the leaves fall and before the cold can soak the color out of them is beautiful. 

I used a reference photo of fall trees and leaves on a hill side and added the full moon.  The tricky part here was to try something new.  I used acrylic to establish a permanent and semi-permanent glaze for the moon and stars.  This allowed that layering of water color to achieve just the right amount of light in the sky.  Mixing greys to layer over the trees and leaves is the best way to find that value that shows where there is the absence of light.  I used a dip crow quill dip pen and white acrylic ink at the tree and leaf edges where the light collects and wraps a little bit more brightly.  The deeper shadows at the edges are darkened with Prussian Blue ink.  This was a fun piece to work on.  This is a Giclee print.  Price does not include VT sales tax.