Take 2 on the orange-blue nebula idea, and I am pleased with the results. Instead of towers that look like Dr. Seuss-themed gummy snacks, the pinpoint glow effects and stars are sharper, the streams of gas and dust are more defined, and the contrast is much greater.
Gouache is a step in the right direction. For a truly proper rendering of a nebula, I believe acrylic on a large canvas would be the most appropriate method I have on hand. Oils would be the best method, except I don't have any oils and have zero experience with them. I appreciate the masterpieces done by other painters, but I myself am sadly impatient, and so use faster-drying mediums.
For comparison, here's the watercolor nebula painting. I discovered that my reference photo was of the Orion Nebula, and that the blue "tracer bullets" are globs of nebula material shooting through space. They are described in detail here.
(The gouache painting was scanned with my new scanner, the Canon P-208II. It's a tiny portable scanner, it got the colors almost exactly right, it can scan up to 600dpi, and the only downside so far is it can't scan anything wider than 8.5 inches.)
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