Hybrid Solar Lunar Eclipse

Caught up on the Livestream of this rare event a hybrid solar lunar eclipse.

As I watched the NASA Livestream on YouTube I decided to paint the different phases of it in watercolour.

It is incredible that there isn’t any moonlight for the duration of the eclipse. I found the commentary interesting that they described the atmosphere during an eclipse because there is total darkness, the wildlife go to sleep and you can feel it is different.

Here are my paintings:

“He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name;”

Amos 5:8 (ESV Bible)

I was curious when I heard about this eclipse after reading an article about people flocking to this small town in Exmouth in WA, booking years in advance to be able to watch this eclipse. I was quite excited when I heard that this type of eclipse is different because the moon doesn’t fully cover the sun and cause some amazing effects such as a ‘diamond necklace’ effect. This wasn’t very apparent in the video however I was able to see and capture the solar flares.

In the first few paintings in my A5 Strathmore watercolour journal, I started by drawing the outline of with a black fine sharpie permanent marker, then using a wet brush traced the shape of the sun or the moon. Taking some yellow medium I did an outline and then added some buff titanium. However, the paint was drying quite quickly so the lines still appeared quite solid.

The next version I use the I started by painting the outline of the solar flare with Daniel Smith’s pyrrol scarlet (warm red) first then painting the black moon and black sky behind it. Whilst the paint was still wet I took some more pyrrol scarlett and went over the white and the outline again allowing the red to bleed into the black close by. I then dropped some more Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Medium on to the solar flares. I used some more pyrrol scarlet to paint a soft red sheen on the side of the moon closest to the sun.

This was painted using…

• Strathmore A5 400 series Watercolour Hardcover Journal (note won’t be buying this journal again even though it says its cold pressed, it doesn’t appear to be made of 100% cotton according to their site only their premium paper include cotton fibres. Hahnemule so far is the best for wet in wet techniques).
• Eyton cold pressed watercolour block approx A5 5x7in (cheap on Amazon.com.au but not as good as the Academia section.)
• R12 dagger
• Daniel Smith – Hansa Yellow Medium, Pyrrol Scarlett, Lamp Black (watercolour stick), Jane’s Gray, Buff titanium
• Winsor & Newton Titanium white gouache (only on the initial 2 phases of the solar eclipse)