Description

Crescent Moon and Mountain Nocturne (Moon Oil Painting)

An oil on panel nocturnal landscape painting of the the crescent moon. This moon oil painting was painted using my own hand-made pigments.

I deliberately chose a limited palette for this scene, as colours are obviously not as bright at night, and a nocturnal painting needs more subtlety in the hues.

I went up the mountain near my home one incredibly windy night. And when I looked up at the mountain peaks, I noticed the huge crescent moon nestled perfectly between the buttresses.

This scene resonated with me and when I got home that evening, I quickly sketched it from memory in my sketchbook. See A Little Nocturne Oil Painting.

I like the way this painting came out and its sort of abstract realism. Forms are quite indistinct in nocturnal paintings, and shadows are very dark.

But it’s easy to overdo the shadow areas and make them look uninteresting and flat. It’s important that the dark areas almost draw you into them, and that the dramatic contrast with the moonlit highlights is maintained.

With my own hand-made pigments and hand-refined linseed oil, I was able to achieve beautiful textures with the paint. This contributes the wild feeling of the scene; with the sense of sharp rocks and scratchy fynbos of the mountain slopes.

There’s something quite exhilarating about the mountain at night, especially in a gale-force wind.

See more Landscape Paintings

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Damian Osborne

Damian Osborne is a fine artist from Cape Town, South Africa. Taking inspiration from the Old Master traditions, from nature, and from the people around him (especially his wife), he tries to push beyond the mediocre and aim for mastery in his paintings.

Latest posts by Damian Osborne (see all)

• What’s the Point of Creating When No One Cares? - 24th August 2025
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