Painting has become a source of outlet for me lately as well as being a good past time. I like to think that I am not too bad at it, but wishing I was better and no better way to do that than by practicing. I am still working on finding the style that works for me and I fully know how hard it is to incorporate color into paintings...for me that is. I am not good with colors nor am I good with knowing placement of colors, what should go where is a question I ask myself every time I decide to paint with color.
This time is no different. I had an idea in my mind for a long time now but didn't know how to execute it, so I tried something similar to what I wanted to do to practice what I need to achieve my future project.
Once more I tried finding music to match the mood and paint with the flow of sound. This painting starts with the song Killing What Keeps Us Alive by Margaret Glaspy
Started with doing a black/dark blue background as I am going for a night sky and keeping it simple.
I didn't really think of where to make the line for water. I know in photography when taking a picture of the sky the bottom, like the ground or water, would be in the lower third of the grid. I am not sure if its the same in painting, and I presume it is but in this case I wanted to show both and with the size of canvas I guessed it didn't matter so I did not get too technical with it.
At this point the song changed and I put on Too Late Remix by Mat Zo (remix made by Matt Lange)
I wanted a blood moon showing and wanted to strengthen it by reflecting the red on the clouds. Although I could have made the moon bigger, I didn't have a circular object I could use that was bigger. Trust me, straight lines and perfect circles are not my thing. As you can tell the clouds should have been more straight but my hand does not do what my mind sees. I did the clouds with a sponge, being the first time I used a sponge for painting, I think it's not to bad, it does blend pretty well and differently than a paintbrush, takes getting used to though.
I worked in some pebbles as a shore line. I wanted to practice water touching rocks and shore which I have never done before so it did take some figuring out. Got the base done for the trees in the background and the front and the red moon reflections in the water. I thought of doing more trees but I worried for overcrowding. I'm not sure how experienced artists figure this out; when there's too much or not enough.
The last song, Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men, to tidy up and finalize this painting. By adding details to the trees,and stones, adding more stones as well, it helps this painting look better. I did have an idea to add red and gold mixed sparkles to make it all shine, this is what I came up with:
It felt unfinished, it did linger in my head to make it as though the moon is spilling it's blood moon magic onto the water and so I attempted that. Although I am not sure if this is what it looks like:
Not sure if I should have left it without the sparkle rain but will never know if I never try it. This is definitely an area that needs practice. I find water to be very hard to paint whether it be still waters or with movement. It's a good start towards what I want to achieve later down the road I think.
Thanks for checking out my painting today, if you have any ideas of music to paint to, or a style, write it in the comments, I am always looking to expand :)