Painting the Moon

Before I go any further - Happy 4th of July!  I'm sitting in a beautiful little cottage by Lake Ontario, far and away from the rigors of New York City.  Which couldn't be better, unless I could take off this stupid leg cast that somehow attached itself to my left leg.  Well, technically I put it there.  And will continue to put it there for three weeks until my torn ligaments in my foot heal.  But that's my latest excuse for not writing for almost two weeks.  I hope you enjoyed it!  ;)

I found this wonderful little article in the New York Times a few weeks back, and thought today would be a perfect time to bring it out.  NASA is, in my mind, one of the greatest feats in the American government and what better day to celebrate it?  Also, I love it when scientists turn artist.

This article chronicles astronaut Alan L. Bean from his days walking on the moon to his current profession as painter.  It has been almost 30 years since Bean was part of NASA, but his experiences there are what drives him to paint the moon, lunar missions, and self-portraits with the Earth in the background.  

He says, “When I left NASA, I made up my mind I was not going to be an astronaut who painted, but an artist who used to be an astronaut.”  It was a slow transition for him; he used to paint just the monochromatic colors of the moon, before slowing realizing that, “People talk about nature being beautiful, and it is, but it’s not harmonized like a painting.  If Monet painted what he saw, we wouldn’t celebrate him today. He painted a little of what he saw but then he painted mostly the way he felt about it.”  Colors are now allowed on the moon.  Beautiful blues and greens that are never actually seen there.

He still uses his scientific background, though, something I admire greatly.  According to the article, "He builds a scale model of every scene he paints, and uses a klieg light to simulate the sun and to get the shadows right. He works out the angle of the light and the positions of the people with mathematical precision. He wants the details to be historically correct."  There's a huge difference between artistic license and sloppiness, and we've allowed scientifically incorrect sloppiness in our art for too long.  How wonderful is it to know that the painting above could be re-created on the moon, should we ever be able to make it there again?

Bean's paintings can be seen at the Smithsonian in July, if you're in DC and want to check it out.  You can also see more of his work at www.alanbeangallery.com.  It's really beautiful work!

The painting above is of Gene Cernan, painted by Alan Bean.