In September 2000 I flew to the USA, to join a dozen fellow-members of the IAAA for a workshop in Yellowstone National Park (which I had suggested while President ~ my four-year term ended in July 2000).

It was very largely due to the work of artists of the 'Hudson River School' in the 19th century, and especially of Thomas Moran, that wild areas such as this became national parks. Yet the American public at first refused to believe their paintings of fantastic scenery with spouting geysers and steaming mudpots. Small wonder that space artists regard these artists as their forebears ~ the only problem being that we cannot visit the places we paint. So we do the next best thing, by visiting alien areas such as this... (see Alien Earth, when you finish here).

At right is a sketch I made in pastels and ink of the fantastic spires and pinnacles near 'Inspiration Point'. The background, still in morning shadow, is the far wall of the 'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone'.

In sunlight, this is a blaze of amazing colours: yellow, ochre, orange, burnt sienna, blue-grey, white. . . There is still some thermal activity on these walls.

I had never seen an aurora. Even when friends phoned to tell me there was one visible in Birmingham, all I could see from my back garden was the glow of the city lights... So in March 2001 I decided to take a cruise in a ferry through Norway's fiords.

For the first three nights we saw nothing, often due to cloud. Then, on the fourth night, I went up on deck and saw this pale, greenish arch in the sky. It soon broke up into vertical rays and streamers, as in this painting, done from memory when I got home. I have only exaggerated to the extent of combining several features that I saw, into one image ~ a bit like a time-exposure ~ and the stars are accurate ~ note the constellation of Cassiopeia near the top. It was truly magical! (But cold.)

In June 2001 I went to Zambia to see the first total solar eclipse of the new century; the fourth I have seen out of five I've attended since 1991.

From a game ranch outside Lusaka (where we slept in grass huts!) we had perfect, clear blue skies and had a wonderful view. The acrylic painting on the right, which measures 76cm (30in) x 51cm (20in), shows almost exactly what I saw ~ apart from the elephants coming out of the water. But I did see those a couple of days earlier, so it's just a bit of artist's licence. . . The bright 'star' at the top of the tree is Jupiter. (Oh, and it was hot, even though winter.)

An A3-size limited edition, signed print of the aurora and eclipse painting (and many other images on this site)
may be ordered, price £30.00 postpaid in UK.

The originals of the eclipse and aurora have been sold.
Please e-mail me to discuss sales/commissions

More news as and when it's available!