Telescope Reviews: Standing in the Photosphere of the Sun

Hi Ahmad

Yes; thank you for the advice. Details? I guess I have never written a formal tutorial as Erika suggested this awhile back. I would need a good editor as the left hander that I am like Da Vinci, I would never finish a work as they say he never really did. It's that left handed biology thing you know. I will offer this for now in short: What I do in large areas of the surface is to drag the chalk stick on its side (very lightly) as this causes what might be known as "scumbling" in oil painting. It leaves a random texture that you can then go over and fill in with light touched in lines with the sharp end of the stick, that is to say, sketching in the further details. So in a sense, I am cheating in the large to be filled in areas by just dragging around allot. Does this description help? I welcome others to share in their details as to how these are achieved. As artists, we are mostly self taught, self experimentation with much in trial and error. After 50 years of life I can asure you that I have made my quota of errors! As you may know, this means hours of making many trial and error mistakes. I tell new younger artist to experiment and do not fear a mistake, as something is sure to be learned. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And I must reiterate that this current work is not really done. As many artworks that we execute as artists do not turn out as originally conceived, I feel that I want to finish this work. Are we perfectionists as artists? I spoke a little about that on NPR's Talk o the Nation a couple weeks ago- Hear it in their archives for the date:

June 12th 2008 Productive Procrastination - Mark speaks as opening caller as a Procrastinating Artist before the guest and he sets the tone for the discussion!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91432804

As for the near foreground surface, it is not to be sunspots but rather the granulation appearance that we see in the most close-up photographs that are available. I am using my imagination a little here, of course. I wanted to make the so-called surface appear as translucent, so I think I need to add more light to it and fill in all the dark that is still showing in-between the granulation images. I want to render an image of translucent cauldrons as if we could see down through thousands of miles of a amorphous or ethereal surface, which is what we are told that the solar photosphere is- The sun really has no surface as we think of a surface on a planet such as the earth.

My works in the past have always been from direct observation and then reworked a little later to add the ambience of say “the hands”. However, I always try to keep the solar surface (photosphere, prominences and sunspots) to appear as near real as possible as they were observed through my h-alpha telescope.)
Please refer to my gallery and feel free to see this site >
www.myspace.com/marksolarprophet

My Gallery >
http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=37924&cat=500

I checked your site to see the one intro image. Beautiful! I would surmise that it is an airbrushed technique and not Photoshop? Can you tell us about it? Will you display it here in the Astro Art Forum?

Thanks again,
Mark

Edited by markseibold (07/03/08 04:30 PM)