Dark Sky Painting 3 – Heritage Week 2018 – 4X2 foot Acrylic, Soft Pastel, Gel Pen and Watercolour pencil on canvas. Funded by Mayo County Council.
August 25th I gave a presentation about the Heritage of Astronomy in Ireland. The event was part of Heritage Week 2018. The talk emphasised the fact that Mayo has some of the darkest skies in Europe, therefore we should embrace that fact. Our Neolithic ancestors claimed their heritage moments in standing stones and circles. These incredible menhirs are still tactile in the land today. Their heritage moments linking them for centuries to our star and the dark sky heavens above.
The audience agreed to be some of the ingredients of my Dark Sky Painting homage. The dark sky reminds us of our place on Earth and in the universe. The dark sky teaches us that we to are part of the landscape. It is in our sprits as are the flora and fauna that surrounds us in this beautiful county. Our 2018 heritage week moment.
The Edu- Painting
The painting shows the view looking to the north-east and slightly overhead from fields near Louisburgh. The time was 23:00 in the month of August. Orange montbretia and purple flowers that dominate the landscape in Mayo are hinted at in the lower part of the painting. Some of the stars are over emphasized in the painting. This is order for people who are not familiar with stars can have some chance of seeing them in the actual night sky.
The land sweeps down to the sea from
Croagh Patrick on the right. Lower left the bright star Capella in (Auriga) is just rising. Up from that the main stars in the constellations, Perseus and Cassiopeia are featured. At the top edge, the bright star Deneb (Cygnus) is overhead.
Between Perseus and Cassiopeia, the Double Cluster (7,500 light years away) is shown as it appears to the eye in the dark sky. The big W of Cassiopeia points to the Andromeda Galaxy (2.5 Million light years away) which is also visible by eye. The knotted sweeping masses of stars in the Milky Way are featured as seen. An orange Perseid meteor speeds through the painting from Cepheus on the top left to lower right vanishing in seconds just past iconic Croagh Patrick.
Empathy and appreciation of the Dark Sky encouraged the people in the painting to reach out in harmony towards the stars in our galaxy. Mams, dads, kids, and local business people were delighted to be part of the project.
The People
Left to Right as silhouettes within the painting are the people who kindly became the ingredients.
Dolly Temple, Susan Steward, Ciaran, Hannah and Amanda O’Toole, Anne O’Leary, Tricia Hudson, Zadig, Anahid, and Mary Kiremidjian, Luke, John and Tommy Herron, Darragh and Ciara Canavan,
my cat Doodles and myself.
It is what I call an edu – painting, a painting that educates. !
All three now hang in Books at One Louisburgh for all to see and learn from.
In addition Dark Sky Painting three is a direct progression of Dark Sky Paintings
One and
Two Am very grateful to Mayo County Council for the funding to carry out this project during
Heritage Week 2018.
Dark Sky Painting 3 – Heritage Week 2018 – 4X2 foot Acrylic, Soft Pastel, Gel Pen and Watercolour pencil on canvas. Funded by Mayo County Council.