Ha Long Bay

The Palette

“the sky in this one is rose madder, raw sienna, and a lot of patience.”

“Limestone karst at sunset, painted from a sketchbook in northern Vietnam.”

Ha Long Bay was painted from quick sketches I made on a junk boat in northern Vietnam. The sun was setting fast — I had maybe twenty minutes before the karst dropped into silhouette. I tried to hold the memory of how the sky kept changing colour, layering thin washes back at the studio until the gradient felt right. The single warm reflection on the water is the part of the painting I love most.