Moonlight Sonata- In progress

I was really inspired by the idea given by my local artist guild- "A Piece of art that shifts from day to night in the same panel" Being constantly obsessed with creating fantasy elements in believably realistic paintings, I decided to draw from my other world of work- classical music. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" has inspired generations of the power of programatic music and its influence on what we see while we listen to music in general, so I thought I'd try a surrealist painting wherein the piano changed the setting to night. Here's the process.

I started by splitting my canvas into thirds, blocked a grand piano and a woman playing it in, and then laid in a warm backtone to help saturate the background blues when they are put in.

I chose acrylic for this piece, because I really only had about 2 days and 8 hours total painting time- Oils weren't really an option.

Here, about 2 hours in, I have laid in some background clouds, as well as placed my moon. Values are really important early on, so I really focus on tonal colors and values over details. 

Here, about 4 hours in, I have laid in the backgrounds completely, minus some final details. Unfortunately, although the effect is already visible, you can't have a great painting of a woman playing the piano unless the piano and the woman are well painted. I saved the last 4 hours for them.

Around 6 hours in, I have finally gotten a picture of the woman and piano I'm happy with. I added starts flying from the piano too, just for some effect.

(its worth mentioning that I constantly work on multiple pieces, which is why you can see everything floating in the background and sides.)

Only 2 hours left of my original 8, I'm now working details. 

Thanks for keeping up- a new professional photo will be taken soon, and prints will be available then!