Another night fire to burn away roots from an uprooted pine that fell from Hurricane Milton at the Yalaha studio. Sometimes rather than sate at the fire, I like to look up at the immensely tall pines that point up to the stars. On this night an owl kept hooting in the woods behind.
Sparks from the fire would ascend and then flicker out. The blaze was white hot on this night. The thinnest of roots are like kindling and they light up in a flash. After finishing the sketch I felt research was needed. It was a basic full moon but my curiosity told me to look deeper into the celestial happenings that night. I discovered that a full Lunar eclipse was going to happen. There was a total lunar eclipse, or blood moon later in the evening. I didn’t want to miss it. I set my alarm to be sure to experience it first hand. Lunar eclipses occur when the earth is between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow across the lunar surface. During “totality,” the moon moves through Earth’s umbra, the dark center of its shadow, giving rise to the red-hued “Blood Moon”. The lunar eclipse reached its maximum phase, whereby the moon is fully obscured by Earth’s deepest darkest shadow, the umbra, at 2:59 a.m. eastern standard time. When the blood moon was at it’s zenith, I added it to my painting. A telescope was not needed the moon turned as red as mars.
I was feeling accomplished because I had worked my way out of a box I had painted myself into on the design of one of the Shakespeare Theater posters. At the start of the night the poster felt weird, but after many adjustments it is now my favorite poster of the season. It is unexpected but recognizable.
I bought some Masonite and a couple of thin wooden slats today. The plan is to constrict a very simple carrying case of oil paintings I do on location. Once the box is constructed and the oil paints are squeezed out on the portable palette, I plan to start doing oil paintings after class ends at 8pm each night. All the painting will be the same size which is just big enough to fit snugly into the shelves of my bookcase. If this world I will be able to store hundreds of paintings neatly shelved like books.
Today Stella Arbelaez hooked me up with the Leesburg Center for the Arts which has a membership support group called the Tropic Art Alliance. They meet every third Thursday. This month I have a class when the group meets, but I am hoping I can get to the meeting next month. Mysterious happenings are occurring on land and in the sky.