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View Full Version here: : Moon- Total Eclipse Dec 10th 2011


markseibold
16-02-2012, 09:14 PM
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/markseibold/Moon_TotalLunarEclipse_PastelSketch FromObservationAtCrownPointVistaHou seDec10th2011SignatureMarkSeibold_P hotoSonyNEX5StudioLights_CN96Pxl_DS .jpg

After making careful plans to observe, photograph and sketch the total lunar Eclipse of Dec 10th 2011 in the Portland city center, fog formed late, so plans to relocate were rushed at the last minutes as we drove fast from the city to the Columbia River Gorge Crown Point Oregon Vista House, yet to find a hundred people, photographers, etc, most were ensconced in their cars with engines running, while Gorge east winds gusted to 60 mph with 25 degrees F.

So I set up my Celestron Nexstar 5i telescope anyway, huddled into the wind-shielded side of the Vista House with a few brave other photographers. I made quick mental notes of the image at medium power through the telescope and began to photograph crudely as the wind buffeted the scope and my Sony NEX5 camera poised high and teetering on its tripod over the telescope eyepiece. I made a few photographs for reference and some visual mental observations and notes were taken. I have possibly observed over two dozen total eclipses to date since my mid teens years; photographing perhaps a dozen of those events but this was the first sketch. I noted the very slight turquoise-blue fringe on the sunlit edge just after totality, as they predicted and rendered it slightly to the sketch.

Much in post preparation was then later made in the past week at home to produce this accurate large technical documentary dry pastel sketch onto 19" X 25" black Strathmore pastel paper completed today, December 19th 2011. As the foreground ambience seemed as partly visual and incidental to the whole scene, I decided to add in the nostalgic gas street lamps that slightly reflected the Vista House behind, also slightly showing the moons image on its windows and the streetlight lantern glass, causing several repeated reverse reflections.

-Mark Seibold

von Tom
16-02-2012, 09:25 PM
Mark, that's a beautiful image and it captures the eclipse nicely, with the brightened limb and the shadow edge near Tycho. Thanks for sharing it as well as the story :)

Tom

iceman
17-02-2012, 04:22 AM
Beautiful sketching, wow!

erick
17-02-2012, 08:10 AM
That is so good, Mark!

Poita
17-02-2012, 09:14 AM
Don't know quite why, but it immediately took me back to being 11 and reading War of the Worlds on the train, coming home from boarding school.

Fantastic work!

markseibold
25-02-2012, 12:35 PM
Thanks to all of you. Peter, I have never received a comment like that about my art- It's an honor that I could evoke an HG Wells story in art. Aside from one other that responded some years ago in a crescent moon sketch that I produced on October 31st 2008 reminded him of an opening scene to a Tim Burton movie.

Perhaps I should be doing large movie backdrops. I have been told by some that my astro sketching sometimes approaches the art of Chesley Bonestell. It woud be nice to think that I could come out of retirement and take some gainful employment in what I really enjoy doing. I'll have to add some more here to my gallery. Now I'm wondering if I even have a gallery here in Ice?

Mark

OICURMT
25-02-2012, 12:55 PM
Love the detail... especially the moon reflecting off the building's window, reflecting off the street light...

markseibold
26-02-2012, 09:12 PM
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a109/markseibold/Astronomy_MarkSketchesLargePastelAt EaselTotalEclipseOfMoonDec10th_2012 _FromDPReview.jpg

OICURMT

Glad you enjoyed it. ^^^Here's one^^^ more image you might all enjoy- I actually put this together while at the easel in daylight a couple years ago in the wind and a photographer friend took the photo of me actually sketching near Mount Hood. I later used the photo to replace the art with differing images I was sketching at the time. That original photo above can be seen here > http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/1579463287/photos/680366/mark-seibold-sketches-mount-hood-in-pastels-at-lolo-pass-road-zig-zag-oregon-november-3rd-2010

Here also attached below is an actual four-photo-panorama account I put together after daylight still showing the moon to the west [at far right the image of the moon] and at far left the sun rising to the east in the Columbia Rive Gorge. [You must scroll left and right to see the entire image on a couple of these.] We were huddled on the west side of the Vista House, sheilded from the harsh 60 mph east winds that subsided slightly at dawn. A few other images for general interest. The photo of the moon at near totality with wide sky, shows the gas street lamps actually in daylight that I added to the photo with Photoshop, as the street lights were actually off and too dim to see in a photo.

I have not been to the ICE site for awhile- Can someone tell me if there is a space for an image gallery?

Thanks again,
Mark

markseibold
26-02-2012, 09:56 PM
I have added another attempt of the previous image- sorry for so many repeats /~;