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Can you hear the moon calling out to your soul? Often when I stand quietly watching the day end, I hear a whisper, a seed of an idea that wants to be birthed into being. It's one of my favorite times to paint. This painting was done while camping up near Abiquiu lake. I had sat the night before and watched the moon come up with a cocktail in hand, thinking that this would make a wonderful painting. The shapes were simple, so it could be captured quickly. I often pick my pallette ahead of time, before I begin my painting. I work out the under layers I want to use, and consider the relationships of the colors to express the mood I am attempting to capture. I have recreated the color pallette back in my studio. This color study is for the sky. Often we don't have the color we want so we have to layer to create the value and hue we want to see. I worked on anthricite PastelMat for this piece. 

I have recreated the color pallette in my studio and identified the colors I used for the nocturne sky. 

I had a short window of light so I worked fast with the desire to capture the energy of the moon and reflections, thinking of this as a study, not a finished piece. Often, I miss an aspect of composition when I work plein air, so this is why using it as a field study to inform a studio piece can be very rewarding. It gives me another chance to paint the scene again, refine the composition and color expression. I refer to a photograph and study, both have equal importance. 

As the moon rose, the sky became darker the reflections onthe water and the fires in the campgrounds became more interesting and defined. I painted the studio piece keeping this in mind, and corrected the composition to make it a bit stronger.

In this case, I preffered the energy of the first piece, and the contrast and composition of the second. Perhaps I should paint this one a third time!