Eclipse – A Limited-Edition Series of Paintings

I love natural phenomena, and a solar eclipse has to rank up there on the things-that-are-cool list as far as nature goes. They’re rare, and they’re not something that even everyone on the planet gets to witness.

Nebraska is currently getting solar eclipse fever because the totality of the 2017 solar eclipse is visible through a wide swath of Nebraska. A lot of the small towns like Beatrice and Alliance are bracing for thousands of visitors. Carhenge is going to be hopping!

The visuals of an eclipse have always been something that resonates with me. So when I started playing around with some compositions that were inspired by what an eclipse kind of looks like, I had an idea to make a limited-edition series of paintings about it.

Normally, I’d think of this as a perfect project for a lithograph or etching or some other kind of printmaking. Except, I don’t have a press. And it’s been years since I’ve printed.

I do, however, have plenty of paper, brushes, charcoal, and a love of making art. So here’s my plan: I’m going to make one painting for each person that orders one. I’m taking pre-orders for eclipse paintings through August 21, 2017 – they day of the solar eclipse.

Each painting will be painted individually, by hand, and by me. While they will all have variances, they will all be very similar. The nature of my process and materials means that I cannot control exactly how the water and charcoal will settle on the paper and how it will look when it’s dry. So in that respect, each painting will be completely unique, even if they all bear what is essentially the same image.

This is also a kind of experiment. I’m curious as to how many paintings I can get pre-orders for since I’m selling them at a discounted rate. Normally I sell work of this size for twice as much. Getting pre-orders and having a set number of pieces to produce lets me work differently, though. And that lets me charge less.

Questions or comments? Drop me a note on my contact page or head over to my Facebook page. I’d love to hear from you.

Order your limited-edition eclipse painting today!