I met a lovely family just yesterday 25.10.2021 Bryony her husband Jan and their two children and we had a fun couple of hours looking at paintings and feeding the black birds and Thrushes that hop and fly around my make shift outside winter studio. I did not think to take any images….. so bugger for that, but I do have one image from the other day of where I am working and how I set things up…..ah well we got to chat about the work and the influences I have and the back story of how I came to be here for the duration of the pandemic….

The studio…..

So the painting they have bought is the second in the series about the Moon…..’Remnants of Theia’ I recently posted some background info about the first painting in this series a few days ago, but it is such a fascinating thing…..So much about the history of our planet and the evolution of life has been fundamentally influenced by that event it is quite mind blowing….So here is what I wrote a few days ago with some minor changes…..

My interest in astronomy and mythology continues to inform the work I do to an ever increasing level, and one evening in mid summer 2021, after several long and difficult weeks working on the Garrison campsite, my son and I and other staff members were relaxing over a few beers and some food.

Also Aaron and I had the chance to visit Samson, one of the uninhabited Islands which we had been waiting to visit for quite some time, I was intrigued as the Island has ruins that date back around 4000 years and I wanted to visit the buriel chambers. One of the the members of staff here has ancestors that were inhabitents of Samson many years ago. To have that connection is fascinating and I was looking foward to this visit with anticipation.

As it happens we had good weather and again the Moon was in the sky, and the ideas for paintings as always where instantly filling my thoughts.

That day visit and the  summer evening relaxing with good food and some beers was fab. That lovely king’s Blue of the sky, long wispy cirrus clouds streaking across the sky and there framed in the sky by these clouds – the waxing gibous Moon. The atmosphere was clear and it was easy to pick out several large features on the surface of the Moon including mare serenitatis, mare tranquillitatis, Mare Crisum, mare fecuditatis, Plato crator was just about discernable as was Tycho crater, Mare Firgoris, mare imbrium, and mare nubium.

The Moon as always is captivating and the conversation faded for me at this point as I just stared at the Moon. It always fascinates me as it seems to be there in complete calm and absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy in which Arthur Dent asks the wise old bird in exaspiration what is keeping the cup in the sky from falling, and the wise old bird replies ‘art’…… that it is artistically correct.

The Moon always seems to have in a far more serious way that feeling of being in absolute harmony, perfectly placed, artistically correct, moving with such grace and beauty. Call it a feeling of awe and complete captivation with the beauty and connection with nature.

As always when I observe I draw upon a wealth of knowledge gained over many years and I start to rumage through what I can remeber of the names of the surface features, the history of the Apollo missions, humans landing on the Moon, and the theories of how the Moon formed, that as moons of the solar system go, in comparison to other moons and there parent bodies the Moon is exceptional in it’s size compared to the Earth…… and so for a long time how it got there how it formed has been a deep mystery.

During my contemplation of the Ruin’s on Samson, the  Moon, that bright king’s blue of the sky, the long wispy sirus clouds that evening I considered once again the origin of the Moon, oddly I had been reading a new article on this subject and watching a fab video on youtube involving a collision between the proto Earth and a Mars sized proto plant named Theia billions of years ago.

Out of interest here is the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-EZjEJc8Bo&ab_channel=AntonPetrov

Hence the Title ‘Daughter of Theia’ and that evidence for Theia or whats left of Theia are buried deep inside our planet. So there I was sitting contemplating that deep beneath me were the remnants of Theia and above was the Moon both consequences of that immense collision, and that those remnants deep in the Earth also cause the Atlantic magnetic anomaly…….. And at the same time the reasons for the title of this painting are also intimately linked to the naming of ‘Theia’ and the mythological stories behind Theia, which are fascinating.

I like the fact that the scientists looking into this also know the mythologies of ancient Greece. I like having that connection with people I have never met, probably will never meet a very deep and profound connection to nature.

In greek mythology Theia was the Titan goddess of sight, (thea) and the shining aithre (ether) of the bright blue sky and right there we have the first visual connections as Selene one of the three children of Theia is the orginal name for the Moon, hence the title Daughter of Theia and the observers gaze is directed towards the Moon in this painting. The bright blue of the sky is representative of Theia – goddess of the deep blue of the sky. Theia also in mythology endowed silver and gold with their brilliance and lustre and so the bright silver luster of the Moon is also a direct reference to the goddess Theia. It is the focal point as it was mine on that evening – Theia bore the titan Hyperion three children Helios – the Sun, Eos – the dawn, and of course Selene the Moon.

The three children of Theia are also implicitly though indirectly in this painting. The painting has no particular refernce to being a dawn or a sunset there are no references to any particular time of day except for that time of day when I once again was caught up in contemplating our understanding of nature, but only for the purpose of the beginings of this description and so Helios the sun is part of this painting for without the sun how is one to see anything, also the painting could be after dawn and so Eos is implied and of course Selene – the Moon is the focal poin

The painting then conspires to present to the viewer all these aspects in one view. The mythology, my fascination, and our contemporary understanding for the origin of the Moon……and contiguously even through the four orientations of the painting, this remains the same.

And finally here is the painting that sold….

Remnants of Theia. Oil on canvas 80×90 cm 2021. £1800

Also in my thoughts during this evening and in fact pretty much every time I look at the Moon I reflect on how much influence the Moon has had on the evolution of life, the rythms of life, in many species including our own female menstruation is directly related to the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, it’s phases and the calender we have, the seven day week.

Another intriguing link to a very informative and fun youtube video….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRd52dXHlQ&ab_channel=It%27sOkayToBeSmart

it all comes from this connection between the Earth and the Moon….. and so by extension to Theia and that immense collision. And now it is even thought that quite possibly that collision may solve another mystery. The mystery of where all the water on the Earth came from, and here is another link to another youtube video again by Anton Petrov….

Here is the link….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB5eUdHub8M&ab_channel=AntonPetrov

…..And now to start another painting in this series…..