For Lunar Mission One Supporters - enjoy the new artwork "The Scratch and Scar of Marbled World":

www.lunarmission.gallery/thescratchandscarofmarbledworld.html



A luminous sphere of green-gold light shines in the darkness of space...

This together with my previous work first announced on the forum will be visible to the public on May 30th to coincide with the Lunar Mission One supporter's event at the Royal Institution in London.

Mike

That's beautiful Mike. It reminds me of vintage Chinese cloisonné beads.

Thanks for sharing... New wallpaper up

Beautiful, Mike. I'd love to see how you go about creating these...how you approach the process. It would be fascinating.

Stavy and Angela, it's great to hear you enjoyed the new work

Angela, I generally approach the creative process with a lot of research and play, no matter what the medium. For The Scratch and Scar of Marbled World I wanted to focus on an image that highlighted the South Pole Aitken basin as that is the area of the moon that will be the focus for Lunar Mission One's work. I reviewed as many maps and photos of the area as I could lay my eyes on starting with Wikipedia's entry .

I'm fortunate in having a few books of the moon at home - much of the early phase was spent finding authoritative source material as I wanted the artwork to be geologically accurate. It was around this time that I discovered Steve Dutch's superb geological work for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. You can review Steve's many achievements . I contacted Steve as the structure of the artwork follows a geological outline map he had developed, and I wanted to recognize his contribution.

As the piece progressed I began to ponder on how ancient materials on the moon lay on or very close to the surface, and how a child's hand seemed so far removed from that place. And yet the image of a smooth glass marble that twists and swerves in the hand kept returning, perhaps becuase as a boy I would often play marbles on the dried mud paths and holes of my school field at lunchtime during the summers of the Apollo missions. That was a relationship I was interested in exploring and before long my mind was adrift to ponder on the game of a child, and the pursuits of adulthood.

The artwork is created using multiple digital techniques. I work on both a PC and Mac as some tools I use are only made for a particular operating system. Each person will have a preference for the tools they use, whether they be physical or digital. I for example tend not to use Photoshop as I personally find it cumbersome and unintuitive, while it suits others perfectly well. Much of my artwork benefits from darkroom methods I developed in my photographic work. As with much of what I do, there's a cross over between various mediums and methods before I approach the final draft.

The Scratch and Scar of Marbled World took around two weeks off and on to complete. Rather than provide a step by step approach as to exactly how I create a piece, I tend to discuss my work in terms of the general approach I take and the ideas I have. One principle I believe is important is that art in any medium maintains a certain mystery as that in itself encourages one to return

A Master Craftsman at work & an Intelligent Man to boot.

I agree with the almost cloisonné (silver wire) like look to this...it looks like one of those fabulous planets the Moon visted in Space 1999.

Truly Wonderful