From the turquoise sky to the finished painting: twelve photos of the work on my first oil canvas.
Moon Light is a reproduction of a painting by the English artist Sebastian Pether (1790–1844), and my first oil painting, made in 2017 over four months, three hours a day.
I photographed the canvas at every stage. You can follow the order of the work: the sky and the moon first, then the large dark masses, then the colours of the lake, the castle and the house, and finally the details and the foliage.
Scroll through the steps below, or click an image to enlarge it.
The sky first: a turquoise ground, the moon and the first clouds, above the pencil drawing.The bare trees, the mountains and the first dark masses of the shore.The house is blocked in with flat blacks; the lake is still white.The castle, the tower and the windows appear; the clouds turn pink.The lake takes on its green colour and a window lights up.The tower gets its roof, the chimneys rise.The sky softens, the tower roof turns red.The castle brightens under the moon; reflections settle on the water.A small waterfall appears in the foreground.The details: stones of the tower, leaded windows, slender trees, boats and fences.The finished painting, with foliage dressing the whole scene.On the easel, in the studio.
