The Hunter’s Moon by Moira Sutton

Last Weekend on Sunday night we had a “Hunter’s Moon”. The Harvest Moon is the full moon nearest the Autumn Equinox and the Hunters Moon is the first full moon after that.  Both moons are close to the Equinox and appear in the sky earlier than usual. You can usually see the moon rising in the sky around the same time as sunset, and because it’s near to sunset, it can take on a red or orange colour. The orange hue is because when you stare at the horizon to watch the sunset and low moon, you are looking through a thicker layer of atmosphere than if you are gazing straight up. The atmosphere scatters blue light but allows red light through to our eyes. Whereas the glow of the Harvest Moon helped farmers to gather crops as the daylight hours got shorter, the Hunter’s Moon gave extra light to hunters looking for deer, boar or other prey destined for dinner. This has inspired my picture this week.

A4 Sheet Acrylic Paper

Carabelle Studio XXL Stamp - Un Arbre - SA40020

Pebeo Dyna Paints – Black/Blue,  and Orange/Yellow

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics – Diarylide Yellow, Napthol Red, Carnon Black, White

Prima Art Alchemy Paints – Deep Waters, Dark Velvet, Black Berry

Black Gesso

Modelling Paste

Woodware Mask-It Sheets

Gelli Plate

I started with making marks along the bottom of the sheet with the Modelling Paste to resemble strands of grass. As this dried I cut a circle from the Mask you could also use a punch or die for this but mine are in storage ready for the house move so hand cut it was.  I stuck my mask where I wanted my moon. Next came a coat of black gesso.

Next I started painting using the dark Dyna and Prima Deep Waters and Dark Velvet paints, alternating to get multiple colour showing but with the left hand side, away from the moon a little darker than the right.

Next I removed the mask and painted my moon using the Dyna Orange/Yellow and the DecoArt yellow and red paints. 

Next I added masking tape over the grass part of the stamp and got out my Gelli Plate to act as a paint pad, and rollered the silver paint on it, then picking the silver up on my tree stamp, removing the masking tape and stamping with it. If you don’t have a Gelli Plate you can use a non stick mat. Once stamped I used the Prima Black Berry to add shadows on the left side of the tree. 

Finally I painted a howling wolf with the white and black paint using an image in google as my reference and splashed some silver paint for stars.  

Moira