Virtual Paintout 3: Vevie Goes to Chile!

Hola! 

This month Vevie (rhymes with Stevie) got to practice her Spanish. We "traveled" to Valparaiso, Chile via Google Street View, with the Virtual Paintout gang.  

Here is my finished painting, with the making-of details to follow (Can click on any pics to enlarge; I kept them small here, to keep the page from loading like a snail):

"Beacons in the Moonlight"

Punta Angeles Lighthouse 

Valparaiso, Chile

9 x 12 acrylics 

on wrapped canvas

Last month I promised I would explain why I am including a moon in each painting of this series. For me, it carries a spiritual significance. The moon is beautiful and glows in the night sky. But on it's own, it would be dark. It's actually just a reflector of the light from the Sun. 

I am a Moon. My God is the Sun. He lights me up, filling my life with love, joy and peace. Oh, I still have my share of struggles in life, with lots of stuff yet to learn. But through it all, that love relationship with Jesus gives me hope and joy. And I would love to learn how to infuse my art with that joy!

Here then, is the making of Beacons in the Moonlight (there are actually 3 sources of beacons... can you guess?)

This is the original Google Street View 

image I used for my inspiration:

Once again I played with ideas in Photoshop, 

then printed it out as a mock-up to work from:

Textured gesso onto the canvas,

then line drawing:

Red Napthol Lt underpainting,

then Mars Black over line

drawing with brush:

 Starting the block-in of

the sky and ocean:

Continued block-in of lower

half; started clouds, moon,

lighthouse, etc:

Finished sky, ocean 

and lighthouse beacon;

then added the trees in 

front; continuing details:

And a couple of close ups 

for those of you who, like me, 

enjoy seeing the details:

And so, the finished painting:

My plan is to create one painting each month for a year from Google Street View, then have a local show. In the meantime, I am slowly learning how to offer images of them (prints, greeting cards, etc) in my teensy Zazzle store. I might even get caught up there soon, LOL! 

This was my third painting venture with the Virtual Paintout  gang (HERE). 

And it was so much fun! Each month our leader, artist Bill Guffey,  picks a new spot somewhere in the world and we all "go" there and choose our own spot to paint. You are welcome to join us! Visit the Virtual Paintout blog for all the details. 

Happy painting,

Retta

"Send forth your light and your truth, 

let them guide me." 

Ps 43:3