Claire de Lune

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Painting by the light of the full moon is one of
my favorite challenges, and over the years, I've
learned a few things about this lighting sit-
uation that help me to get a decent result.
Because the human eye is so much more
sensitive to a broader value range than a camera
is currently, there is no substitute for painting
en plein air in the moonlight. The difficulty in
this is that one must have light on the palette
and the canvas in order to work, and there is
never enough moonlight to do this. So one
must experiment with very dim artificial light
and allow the eyes to constantly readjust,
back and forth as one works. As I said, this
is a real challenge, but the enjoyment of
painting outdoors in the cool night air and
light is one of the great joys of painting.