Mitchell
Yes, I too took years to return to finding this. I sketched as a child at my school desk and constantly and at home. Our father was an art major but fell into a typical office job for decades to support the family. His art became an occasional hobby as an historical modeler in building WW2 model airplanes to perfection, but I believe it influenced my brother, sister and I in some indirect way. He was also always interested it taking us out in the family backyard to point out current objects in the night sky. Later after high school I was to major in art but only dabbled in it because I was carried away with photography. Imagine that that was old wet based film photography in 1973 as I bought a new 35mm camera and learned through class to do darkroom work. I began to take time exposure photographs of the night sky, eventually winning awards with some of them (see www.markseibold.com ), something I still feel is a fine art and science and not at all related to today’s digital photography with computerized and Photoshop aided imaging. I know many defend digital as the same but I feel much differently about it. Believe me I have done it all and nothing compares with the real hand drawn art. It is hard to suggest this to people but artists know it. I can only suggest that one tries it and through the experience, you will discover that those who I term as my non-artist friends will never understand what they are missing.
I suggest that you also see books by Chesley Bonestell. It also took me years to find one of the rarest 'out of of copy print'. I just accidentally stumbled over it 2 weeks ago at the largest book store in America, Powell's City of Books, here in my home town of Portland. It is a widely cherished book titled, The Conquest of Space, with some paintings that are now understood to have driven the early space age. (Art has inspired much of our desire for space and astronomy.) I was further delighted to find it just sitting there on the shelf with hundreds of other used astronomy books and that no one had taken it yet! When I opened this 9th printing from 1959 to see that it was personally signed by Willey Ley and in near new condition, I nearly burst into tears of joy. I could not believe that it was priced at only $35! *Original price still in the dust jacket at $4.95! Covered in the original dust cover and further protected acetate, someone preserved this for over 50 years. I returned to the rare book room just days ago to research that this rare book was not marketed from that department of the store. When the worker there was educated about my knowledge of astronomy, that they may have given the book away as very undervalued as he admitted knowing very little about astronomy art, he thanked me and then discovered my art as we talked. I directed him to my web site at www.markseibold.com and he has suggested that they invite me to exhibit my work in an upcoming gallery show at the book store. Powell’s hosts many famous authors and speakers. This could be the chance of my life to a first very meaningful exhibit that I offered to also speak at the opening.
I am glad to have inspired you Mitchell. I look forward to seeing your sketching soon. I am sure your parents will appreciate your new found art work and rediscovered artistic process.
Mark Seibold, retired artist-astronomy educator, PortlandOregon
*I attached photo copies (although not the best online reproductions of these works) of the Bonestell book and also several of my more recent pastel sketches (again weak reproductoins of my works) from the past couple years for your further inspiration. Most of the works are 19" X 24" on black pastel paper. One "Lunar observation April 4 ~ 5" is 22"X 30". A few have been featured in Spaceweather.com Also see
www.markseibold.com and my gallery at Cloudy Nights Astronomy Forums >
http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/showgallery.php?thumb=1&cat=500&si= markseibold&perpage=12&sort=2&stype =&ppuser=
- Mark