For your eyes only, Steemians! Upcoming space paintings

I have a solo exhibit coming up in September that I've been preparing for over a year now. Sharing this series with my friends and family on FB and Instagram doesn't help the attendance of the opening reception, and the opportunity to reveal in person what I've been working on is very exciting. I would, however, love some feedback! Whether or not you're an artist or a computer scientist, your opinion matters to me!

You may have seen one of these paintings in my introduceyourself post.

Westerlund 2 | 18x24 acrylic + oil on canvas

I'm using images from the Hubble telescope, slicing them up, and adjusting the reference in PhotoShop until I reach a desirable effect that looks fun to paint. The thing about creating for a gallery show like this is that it's completely on speculation. Yes, I'll have a solo show to list on my resume, but I can't count on any of this work in my budget and invest a lot of money in time and supplies. That means since I can only justify working on these in my free time on top of already painting commissions, I must have fun with this series and that was one of the requirements when I was brainstorming for the content of this series. I'd say I nailed that requirement because I will push through my commissions even harder to get to work on these for a bit.

I started a 36x48 for the show a couple of weeks ago and have been starting to hone in on details. I just started my first layer of oils last night. Here's me working during the 3am hour until my camera died.

[StudioSPace.jpg]

I almost finished an entire top layer with my oils. Blend, blend, blend, stars, stars, stars. That's what my brain was replaying when I laid my head down to sleep.

I'll continue to whittle down these details. I kind of like the idea of leaving some of the brushwork in key spots.

I haven't worked on a piece quite this large since I've moved my studio into my apartment, but it works! I'm certainly nice and cozy. (Yes, that is the sun coming up in the window.)

What do you think?

Thanks for looking!