On occasion the moon is visible when the sun is still shining and the sky is blue. In actual fact the moon was a lot higher in the sky than depicted in the painting, but for the sake of composition I compressed its location to nearer the tree line. The main attraction to this scene, other than my favorite train tracks, was the interesting sky colours. At the top, the sky was a true blue, while the horizon was a pale cyan, almost greenish colour. Making a smooth transition from a medium blue to a pale cyan requires an adjustment of both hue and value. Now that I am seeing it, the two colours in the sky are similar to what I saw in yesterday's sunset, which had the additional tangerine orange at the horizon line. Today it was still about an hour to sunset so the orange colour had yet to develop. I walked home with this painting in hand, minus the trees, so that it could dry fully. After drying at home, I overlaid the trees with umber (PBr7) and hints of dark blue (PB60) from memory. The teal-coloured top of the Reno Depot be seen in the distance on the other side of the tracks.
Moon over Train Tracks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 2024
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