Tropical Sunset

Working with Contrast and Warmth

There is a specific moment at twilight when the sky shifts completely away from natural day colours, trading them for heavy blocks of violet and hot pink. In working on Tropical Sunset, the challenge was not just to record a landscape, but to capture the physical weight of that specific light as it settles over the water.

Using acrylics allowed for a quick, layered application, letting me build the intense heat of the background against the cool stillness of the foreground. I wanted the water to feel distinct—a flat, turquoise anchor that catches the final, bleeding edges of the sunset.

The palm trees are less about precise botanical detail and more about silhouette and structure. By keeping the brushwork deliberate and heavy, the dark shapes cut sharply through the warmth behind them, grounding the composition. It is an exploration of contrast: the stillness of the land meeting the shifting, loud movement of a fading sky.