Total Eclipse
Perspectives from The Artist's Road
Tomorrow, March 3rd, at 4 a.m., ET, painters of moonlight will get a real treat. A total lunar eclipse will occur—“a blood moon”—visible across much of North America. Totality will last from 6:04 a.m. ET until around 7 a.m. ET. It will be the last one of its kind this year, and it will cause the moon to turn bright red orange! A total lunar eclipse happens when the earth aligns perfectly between the sun and moon, casting a shadow which blocks direct sunlight from striking the moon. Instead, the moon is lit by refracted light which has curved around the earth and been filtered by the earth’s atmosphere. This scatters the blue light, transmitting only the red spectrum. The presence of dust and other pollutants in earth’s atmosphere intensifies this effect. This eclipse will be worth getting up for.
We were out last September with some students painting that red-orange full moon, also caused by a lunar eclipse. Because the eclipse occurred below the horizon in North America, the eclipse was over before the moon rose here, but the moon remained vividly colored as it rose and for a few hours more. It was a wonderful evening and experience. (John’s picture from the evening is included above.)
What is required is some experience painting at night, familiarity with the colors and mixes of the nocturne palette, and a spirit of adventure! We recommend that one gets everything prepared ahead of time—a small 9 x 12 inch primed panel works great. Load up with the colors you’ll need. One can find everything you need to know in our downloadable ebook, Nocturnes: A Primer on Night Painting. If the weather here is clear, we will be out there, bundled up and having a delightful time painting and drinking hot chocolate. Send us images of your efforts. We’ll display them in a follow-up article for everyone to enjoy. Who knows—your work might inspire someone else to give this a try! Wouldn’t that be lovely?
