Acrylic Paint on 50cm x 60 cm (~19.5in x 23.5in) wooden panel. Tallinn, Estonia. 2018.
For quite some time I have thought of 'Moonrise Over a Stormy Baltic' as the best I have ever done. In some ways I think it still is. :)
My major influence for this happened during my travels between Estonia and Sweden. There is an overnight cruise ship between Tallinn and Stockholm. Affectionately known as the Party Ship, it is the best and cheapest way to travel between the two cities. I traveled on the ship during my first visit to Sweden (although I have traveled many times via airplane as well for Business, since I am working for the Swedish company Ericsson).
My dad and I took the ship to Stockholm when he came to visit, and later my sister also made the trip...she stopped first in Stockholm and then cruised on over to Tallinn to see me!! Although there are a couple different ships that make the trip back and forth, it was always the case that I was on the ship 'Baltic Queen'
I will admit that I embellished the wave quite a bit in this painting. Although the Baltic can be choppy at times, I have never seen a wave so big there :D The ships travel overnight and while standing out on the deck it is possible to see the moon and stars. The Baltic Sea is brackish (the worlds largest inland brackish sea according to wiki), and the water is dark and green, even during the day ha!
The texture and the glow really bring this painting to life. My style includes the vortex looking sky. It is a motif that appears in my paintings again and again. It is usually how I start them. Especially when I don't know how to start a painting, I pick some colors and get to swirling instead of staring at a blank canvas for too long. Really helps boost productivity. There was one particular paint that helped me achieve the glowing affect. The paint color was sap green, but I was having trouble using it in some early paintings due to the fact that it was very translucent. I was able to combine it with thicker opaque colors of ultramarine, hooker's green, and deep violet.
The experience of painting 'Moonrise Over a Stormy Baltic' is one that I will never forget! This was a Plein Air painting, although I wasn't painting from life. I painting this one outdoors in Kadriorg Park, Tallinn. It is a beautiful park and is a great place for a walk or a picnic. I packed up my supplies, paints, some bottles of water and towels and laid everything out on the grass.
I created 'Moonrise Over a Stormy Baltic' start to finish within a couple of hours. It was the quickest (finished) painting I ever did and that is one of the reasons it is my favorite. I painted this one with only my fingers and then took a nap while it dried! I awoke in Kadriorg park to the sound of distant thunder and I quickly packed up and walked home. It started pouring as soon as I got this painting through the door.
'Moonrise Over a Stormy Baltic' currently resides in Eason, Maryland and is one of the only paintings in my Estonian collection to actually leave Estonia :D
Kadriorg Park, the old summer home of Catherine the Great from Russia with a beautiful garden:
Baltic Queen, a look at the vessel that brought on my inspiration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Baltic_Queen
More info on the Baltic sea, for you fellow geography nerds out there ;)
☮♥RSM.
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