Acrylic Project: Moonlight Fishing

Week 6

We are now don’t to the final details of this painting and it is up to you do decide how much – if any – of the detail you want to put in, it is not a requirement, just suggestions.

The buildings on the Pier are light in color during the day so they will be a medium dark shadow color (purple, blue and a touch of white). Shadows have shadows as well where even the little amount of light available is blocked, this will give your buildings some shape such as the building on top of the closest pier. There are very dark shadows under the eaves and dark shadows on the side wall.

Finished acrylic "Moonlight Fishing"

The roofs of the buildings are sienna and purple, you want a very cool brown color. Remember to follow the angles of the roof when you are painting.

The windows of the restaurant (building on the  close pier) could be reflecting the coast so use similar colors to what you used in the water but add a bit more blue and/or purple to the color so it is darker. Don’t try to make a mirror reflection it is too dark and the windows aren’t that good of glass, just scumble the color on before you paint the dividers in, the dividers may almost disappear if you got the value right for the glass.

You might want to draw the light posts in with your charcoal or chalk and please look at the photo, you will see that the light posts are above the tops of the roof line, don’t make them too short. Paint them in with a dark color, the mix doesn’t matter so long as it is dark.

The glow from the lights on the Pier.

To make the glow from the lights, it is the same as when we did the glow for the moon though this time our color will be a bit more yellow for the incandescent lights. Use white or gesso and a touch of yellow to make a soft light yellow color. Wipe your brush to get any excess off your brush and with a very light touch and the side of your brush, start where the light will be coming from and with small circular, dry brush strokes add the glow from the lights. This color needs to disappear about half way down the pole. Don’t worry about going over the pole that is a good thing. You want the light to look like it is all around the pole and in front of the pole, just be sure you are doing dry brush so you don’t completely cover the pole. You can use this color to go around the edges of the close building.

Highlights on the pier are white with a touch of your thalo blue. It isn’t the bright moon color but a shade or two more blue and it goes on some of the edges that are directly in the moonlight. Don’t get carried away, keep it minimal and mostly in the foreground.

This is watercolor but the idea is the same. They are just
shapes when people are in the distance.

The people I put in are just “dots and dashes” they are even less detailed than stick figures. Put them in or don’t, if you do use a small, round sable or your liner brush and any dark color with a touch of white in it, should be slightly gray and you might have a good color already on your palette that just needs a little white.

I took pure white and made a few of my stars brighter by putting the color on very thick with my liner brush. The shooting star was an accident, I found a dried spot of white in my moon glow and rather than going through a lot of extra work, I just put a tail on it and now I have a shooting start or comet. Sometimes what looks like a problem really isn’t if you don’t panic, it could work out to your advantage.

I am done with this painting and will be doing some short demos for the next couple weeks. If you are done with your painting, bring in something of your own to work on or if you are still working on this project that is good as well. We only have 3 more weeks until the end of class so if you need my help getting started on your own project please bring it in before the end of class. See you all soon.