Halloween Night
- Kaaren Poole
- Sep 22
- 3 min read
Sadly, the high temperatures and dry days of August destroyed my small pumpkin crop. Nonetheless, with the lengthening nights and crisp morning air, I’m looking forward to Halloween.
I haven’t done anything new for my Redbubble shop lately, so decided to create something for this fun and faux scary celebration, a day which ushers in the biggest holiday season of the year.
Painting Halloween Night
My design includes a moon, bats, owls, a crow, and mice. There are certainly many subjects which would make a nice daytime scene, but I’m often drawn to the night time as those skies are so fun to paint. Here’s where I am so far.
It was natural to begin with the sky-especially in a painting depicting Halloween night-and once I’d started, I was drawn to go ahead with the owls, moon, branches, and stars. There will still be more to do in the sky, but that will come later.
First, I’ll need to work on the mice, crow, and potion pot. As I continue to work, I’ll probably go back and forth between the top and bottom halves of the painting, inching forwards overall, but retaining balance between these two areas along the way.
Starting the Main Motif
The crow will be tricky because he’s black. If I simply paint him black, he will look so flat, and it will be difficult to achieve any detail at all. So, I decided to build up the color with a series of washes, distinguishing between the various parts of the bird with each successive application. Using a side-loaded flat brush, I began with Prussian Blue, then switched to Burnt Umber, then to Payne’s Grey. It’s only at the very end of working on him that I’ll add black, and probably only in the darkest places.
The witches’ hats presented the same problem, but since they’re quite a bit smaller and have less important detail, I decided to begin with black, but as with the crow, I used a sideloaded flat brush to get some variation in color to define the forms.
I’ve barely started the mice and the potion pot. I’m pretty confident in painting the mice, but the pot and its potion has me wondering. I’d like the pot to look like it’s bronze, and the potion to be a startling color—maybe swirls of violet and a sickening green, with lots of bubbles and rising steam. Hmm. Sounds difficult! But I’ll just have to give it a try and hope for the best.
I’d like to see some orange at the bottom center of the sky, and at the very end, I’ll probably add something in the foreground, maybe taller grasses or low-hanging branches, or both. I may even add more subtle color with colored pencil or water-soluble crayons.
To be honest, I’m feeling a bit out of my depth. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Oh, and I’m sort of wishing I’d used rats instead of mice-more Halloweeny I think. But that ship has definitely sailed!
Are you working on any Halloween pieces?
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