X-Ray Sun by Deirdre Kelleghan – The Original painting is in acrylic and pastel on canvas 30 X 18 inchesÂ
I am mesmerized by the images of the sun from space. A particularly rich bank of images by a spacecraft called Yohkoh inspire me with wonder. Because I am so moved by Yohkoh’s images several paintings have emerged. The painting above  literally exploded onto my canvas. In X-Ray Sun I tried to capture the magnificent energy produced by the our star. It is fascinating how images taken in light we cannot see give us a clearer understanding of our suns activity and beauty.
Follow the Sunshine
Yohkoh was a solar observatory. The task undertaken by Yohkoh was to image the solar corona and solar flares. This project was a collaboration between several scientific institutions. The Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, NASA and the UK’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. Yohkoh took X-Ray images of the Solar Corona between 1991 – 2001. The mission is now over however its legacy in images and data are still online. ( see below for links.) It is always admirable to me how the scientific community can collaborate so well together to achieve a common goal.
My Sun My Star Contest
Before Christmas, I entered X-Ray Sun in an art contest. It gives me great pleasure to be included as one of the winners (2nd in Adult section). The My Sun My Star contest, was an initiative run by National Solar Observatory based in Boulder Colorado. The contest was jointly run by The Hui No’eau Visual Arts Centre in Hawaii.
A copy of the original will go on exhibition in the coming months. This will be in Boulder, and possibly in Hawaii. The original painting will be exhibited at Solas Gallery in Louisburgh Co Mayo. The exhibiting aspect of the contest is just great fun. I look forward to seeing the images of X-Ray Sun in these beautiful places.
The Painting
In order to achieve the exuberant energy look I used wet acrylic paint with finely grated pastel blown into it. In this close up image of the painting you can see the fine particles erupting around the solar disc.
You can access Yohkoh images here
You can follow The National Solar Observatory on Twitter
