Congratulations Alex!!!

[Paddy]

I don't know if people may have missed the announcement (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=66309) that Alex Massey (mental4astro) our astronomical sketcher par excellence won both categories in the inaugural Scott Mellish Astro Sketching competition. Given the extraordinary quality of Alex's work it is no surprise and although I've not seen the sketches I can imagine their quality.

So hearty congratulations Alex. And if there is anywhere on the web that we can see the winning works, please let us know.
:painting::party::party2::bowdown:: clap:

(and I'm not an emoticon kind of guy)

[ballaratdragons]

Woo-Hoooooo, Onya Alex :thumbsup:
Well deserved.

I didn't even know there was a Scott Mellish Astro Sketching competition :shrug:

[Ed D]

Nice going Alex - Congratulations!!!

Ed D

[Deeno]

Well done young man!

[mental4astro]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

WOW! I am both proud and embarrased that two of my works should have won. I am especially pleased that the one of Eta Carina was produced using the technique developed by the competition's name bearer.

However, the greatest prize for me was an unexpected one. The exhibition of all the entries at SPSP 2012 spurred so much enthusiasm amungst the younger attendees that many of them were inspired to pick up a pencil and paper. Even better, this crush of drawing in turn spurred the organiser of SPSP to hastily put together a junior sketching competition. For all the wonderful telescopes on show, the beautiful photos, the bush land surrounds, it was a collection of sketches that had a instant, tangible influence on kids who are more intune with iPhones and iPods than a pencil and paper! This is the greatest victory, and one that every entrant should be equally proud of. Cheers, to you all for your work!

I am still to see all the entries myself. I wasn't able to attend SPSP 2012. I'll seek to have the entries uploaded to somewhere. In the mean time, I've added my two entries here. I believe it was these two, :ashamed: . Eta Carina comple and 98% illuminated Moon. Details of these are in the two related sticky threads on sketching in this forum.

Alex.

[madbadgalaxyman]

Alex,
a very fine sketch of the Eta Carinae nebula! Extremely accurate.

cheers, madbadgalaxyman

[multiweb]

Yeah well done. Those sketches were amazing. :thumbsup:

[traveller]

Well done Alex, awesome stuff!

[danielsun]

Your right Alex. It's great that it inspired kids to put there ipods down and have a sketch.:thumbsup:
Congrats Alex!! Awesome sketches mate !:thumbsup:

Cheers Daniel.

[Rob_K]

Congrats Alex, a great reward too for all the effort you have put into encouraging and assisting people with their sketching! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[DavidU]

Awesome Alex !! Well done.:thumbsup:

[pgc hunter]

Well done Alex. You deserve it for the effort you put in promoting and boosting the art of visual astronomy and sketching. :thumbsup:

cheers

[alistairsam]

Congrats Alex, you deserve it.
that sketch of the moon is simply unbelievable, insanely incredible. i could not believe it was a sketch. you seem to have an Eidetic memory. attention to detail is out of this world to say the least. well done.

[mental4astro]

Thank you all for your good cheers. It means a lot to me to read these comments coming from you.

I think I can confidently now say I am very close to totally overcoming the scurge of astrophotography from its dominante position. I reckon a couple more months should do it... :thumbsup: :cool: :screwy:

[strongmanmike]

Yes, they were quite awesome sketches really :thumbsup:

I wasn't sure about the full moon one though...kinda couldn't categorise it in my mind, looked too much like a painting done from a photo :question:..still great :thumbsup:

Mike

[PeterM]

Alex those sketches are so very good in detail. Congratulations on your award and for keeping the astro sketching alive and as it looks getting another generation interested.

[Steffen]

Oh wow! Congratulations Alex, well deserved!

Cheers
Steffen.

[Paddy]

Great to see the stunning winning images, Alex - thanks for posting them. And how fantastic to have the kids try sketching. You work is truly inspiring.

[Jen]

Oh Paddy you are so :) you always smiling at SV :lol:

Great work Alex keep em coming cheers :thumbsup:

[Paddy]

;)

[Ted Manuel]

Really great work.
Hope to see more!