Artist Demonstration: Painting the Northern Lights in Watercolour 

📅 July 11
🕐 10 – 1 PM  | 

Guy Langlois will demonstrate how he creates stunning paintings of the Northern Lights. Guy has spent over 30 years living in the high arctic where the Northern Lights are visible most of the year.

He will use a “wet-on-wet” technique, allowing vibrant greens and blues (Phthalo Green, Cerulean Blue and Magenta) to run and blend softly on the damp paper. Key steps include painting in negative space to create a dark, moody night sky, using deep, staining colors (Indigo, Payne’s Grey). He will utilize lifting techniques to create glowing streaks of light. Once the painting is dry, dark silhouettes of trees will be added to provide contrast to the bright colours of the Northern Lights. Lastly opaque white gouache paint will be splattered over the sky to create the stars.

The painting will be created “Alla prima” with the demonstration being complete in approximately three hours.