Astronomy

The reference-based Astronomy painting series uses false color mapping of gas emissions, sound waves, x rays and other phenomena invisible to the naked eye, otherwise known as astrophotography as inspiration for multi layered oil paintings. Images like these gained wild popularity thanks to  websites such as NASA's Astronomy Picture Of the Day, and the methods of depicting astronomic information that were initially used by large telescopes such as the Hubble and Chandra, and are now being utilized by independent astrophotographers around the world. As luxury objects, these small paintings refer to the baroque and rococo obsession with the precious and intricately executed, while seeking to remain painterly in the physical sense.


 

Westerlund 2

 

Bubble Nebula

 

Tarantula Nebula

Spanning more than a thousand light-years in diameter, the Tarantula Nebula is located in the "nearby" Large Magellanic Cloud, in the southern constellation Dorado. The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies, the cosmic arachnid would take up half the sky if it was within our own galactic neighborhood. This painting is based on false color images composed using narrowband data of emissions from ionized hydrogen and oxygen atoms as well as visible light. The frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, at the top right.