“Orion in the Woods” is a landscape painting of a star filled sky, with Orion's Belt shining the brightest in it's vivid magenta and red constellation. A prominent asterism in the sky, Orion the Hunter is made up of the bright stars Alinilam, Alintak, and Mintaka, two of which are super giants.

I painted the Orion constellation as a vivid mixture of red, magenta and purple stardust amidst the Orion nebula. Important to many ancient civilizations, the Greek myth of Orion depicts a hunter in the sky with a shield, a raised arm, and a sword hanging from a starlit belt.

The stars of Orion without the foreground of the painting. I utilized lots of Jackson Pollock style drips and spatters and a vivid telescope coloured approach for painting space.

Hearing owls at my Nanoose Bay, BC studio (at the time), I painted a grey owl flying into the painting from a starlit forest nearby. The owl is outlined with blue light to stand slightly apart from the rest of the painting.

The galaxy is an amazingly abstract and chaotic subject to illustrate, and I really enjoyed the experience of representing part of the universe with paint. Surrounding woods ground the viewer with a viewpoint of reclining upwards at the night sky.