Some paintings start as an assignment, and then quietly turn into something personal.
Sunset Revealed began as lesson focused on three big skills I want to own in oil:
- Radiant underpainting (getting the glow right first)
- Subtractive values (pulling light out of shadow on purpose)
- An opaque final layer (bringing clarity and structure back on top)
But as I worked, it became more than a lesson. It pulled me back into a place I return to again and again in my mind: the Hawaiian islands.
When my kids were little, we spent time there in a way that felt simple and huge at the same time. Warm air. Slow evenings. And that last burst of light where the sky looks unreal, like it’s lit from inside.
This painting is my attempt to hold onto that moment, not as a postcard, but as something you can stand in.
Stage 1: Radiant underpainting (the glow comes first)
In this lesson, the underpainting is not just a sketch. It is the emotional foundation.
I pushed the warm light early, because sunsets do not feel bright because they are detailed. They feel bright because the color is alive. I wanted that inner glow to exist before I worried about the palm trees or the shoreline.
Underpainting stage: Radiant underpainting. I focus on the glow and temperature shifts before I chase details. I didn’t take a picture because I thought it looked so bad!
Stage 2: Subtractive values (carving the scene out of shadow)
This was the part that made the painting click.
Instead of only adding darker paint, I worked the value shapes so the light could win. I thought of it like sculpting. I built the dark areas, then pulled back and refined where the light should breathe.
That is where the depth shows up. Not from tiny details, but from clear value decisions.
Stage 3: Opaque final layer (bringing it home)
The final layer is where the painting becomes confident.
I used opaque paint to lock in the key shapes, especially the palm silhouettes. Those dark shapes anchor the whole scene. They give your eye something solid to hold onto, so the sky can feel even brighter by contrast.
At that point, the subject becomes clear: not the trees, not the water, but the light itself, right before the day disappears.
Why I call these Studio Studies
This piece is part of my Studio Studies series, which matters to me for a simple reason.
I’m in the middle of a real transition, moving from comics into oils and mixed media, and these studies are where I’m finding my voice on canvas.
For collectors, Studio Studies are special because they capture that shift in real time. They are finished, signed, one of one originals, but I price them as studies while I build my larger body of gallery work.
Once this one is gone, it’s gone.
