Steller Arts

The painting I’m working on is going to temporarily grant you superpowers! You’ll be able to “see” in ultraviolet light like many pollinators do.

I stumbled across an open call for a night sky-themed art show. Rather than painting the sky or a nebula, which I do often as a space artist, the show encouraged connections between art, science, and the natural world. WAIT THAT’S LITERALLY ME! Like hello, Steller Arts = space + birds (named after the Steller’s jay & my love of space). Obviously I had to drop everything I was doing to start a new painting.

Yes, I am the final boss of space nerds, but I am also an actively invested in conservation and bird watching. You see my 2nd semester of grad school shortly after moving to Arizona many moons ago, some fucking dingus crashed into my car and I couldn’t walk for 6 months. I stared out the window at birds. I learned to walk again looking for birds. I love birds. I’ve seen almost 400 different species, all documented for citizen science.

Okay anyway, this painting! My vision was to create something in my multi-spectral style that tells a story about where I live. Sonoran Desert flora, fauna, and preserving our dark skies. Many flowers open nocturnally here to avoid the daytime heat, like those of the iconic saguaro cactus. Saguaro blooms stay open for only 24 hours—pollinators have to be quick! These flowers are visited at night by nectar-drinking bats and moths. During the day, birds, butterflies, and bees help out.

Humans can only see in visible wavelengths of light, but many pollinators can see into the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Flowers communicate invisible (to us) messages, signaling to pollinators where to find that sweet, sweet nectar.

The rectangles will include fluorescent paint AND phosphorescent pigment! So glowing under a black light and glow in the dark. People are always asking me to use glow paint in my space art, but tbh it doesn’t mesh well with *how* I paint—tons of colors and not much white (white paint helps reflect the glow). I’ve been locked in working and will post more shorts when I have enough footage.

Oh geez this is super long already, but last thing on a bit of a personal note. My health has gone to shit this year. Long story short, I finally found a doctor who listened to me. I’m getting an MRI for suspected endometriosis and adenomyosis. Depending on the results, I might need surgery. Not looking for medical advice (I am in good hands with the Mayo Clinic & very well-versed on this disease), but just wanted to be transparent. Going to keep doing my best and working hard!

Next print drop is October 21st btw. Bringing back the leftover Leviathan’s Wake prints. Also 🤞 my art gets accepted to these shows! I’ll keep yah posted.

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 61

Steller Arts

When one of Carl Sagan’s main collaborators—a celebrated astronomical artist named Jon Lomberg—is serving as guest juror for an upcoming art show, you drop everything you’re doing to submit. Sorry to all my other space paintings 🫪. Yes, I absolutely want the guy who was NASA’s design director for Voyager’s Golden Record to see my work!

My plan is to submit 2 paintings 🤞. One will be in my multi-spectral style with a twist. This one here in progress, is solar eclipse crescent shadows on a brick wall with a pigeon. Right now I am adding details to the bricks & mapping out where the crescents will be. ☀️

2 months ago | [YT] | 44

Steller Arts

Okay this is not space art, but I painted my pineapple pool floatie! 🍍

2 months ago | [YT] | 53

Steller Arts

Baja Blast counts as space art 🚀

90% complete! I am wrapping up the background “stickers” now after painting bubbles for like a solid 5 days lol.

I know everyone loves my nebulae & planet pieces (so do I), but this year I’ve been experimenting with different types of space art to expand my skills + challenge myself. Painting new materials or interesting lighting. I’ve done a foil sun balloon, vintage pinball game, crystal star & moon, and now a bubbly drink!

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3 months ago | [YT] | 102

Steller Arts

Oh wow, I went on a side quest teaching myself linocut and recorded absolutely nothing 😆. Think I am getting the hang of it!

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3 months ago | [YT] | 69

Steller Arts

Happy Pizza Friday! The year is 1977. A lone Gravitron receives the Wow! signal. I was kinda keeping the idea behind this painting a secret because it’s not close to being finished yet, but the new Muse album came out today & is called the Wow! Signal. That’s fun!

So yeah, going for eerie liminal space-type vibes with this one. My original plan was to make it look like an old photo with film grain. I will worry about that later 😆

4 months ago | [YT] | 23

Steller Arts

Most of my paintings are science-y, but every once in a while I like to add a touch of whimsy. I felt compelled to paint Rocky from Project Hail Mary in a field of dandelions. Amaze!

I’ve been working like crazy and haven’t recorded much lately so sorry lol. But I’ll be back to working on oil paintings soon and promise to film more science + art videos! ⭐️

5 months ago | [YT] | 102

Steller Arts

40 Eridani is a triple star system ~16 light years from Earth. One of the stars, 40 Eridani A, is a K-type star less luminous than our Sun. That’s real life. In sci-fi, a planet orbits that star called Erid. Rocky’s home world from Project Hail Mary and the subject of this painting.

BUT ALSO in sci-fi, a planet orbits that star named Vulcan. Wait a second. Eridians & Vulcans are neighbors! That is something fun I discovered while painting this. I am a huge Star Trek fan and planetary astrophysicist, but I never realized where Vulcan was lol smh

5 months ago | [YT] | 67

Steller Arts

Hello space nerds! Been busy preparing for my next shop update. All the Project Hail Mary and Artemis II mini paintings & prints will be available May 22nd at 2pm PT for my email list. 24 hours later for everyone else. I also started a new Artemis painting! This time in oils. Tomorrow I will finish the Moon & start adding all the bokeh 🤩

5 months ago | [YT] | 52

Steller Arts

12,217 new Artemis II photos were posted on NASA’s website! Here are some of my personal favorites. I love how they capture the human experience beyond Earth. Fleeting, imperfect, beautiful.

Here’s the link with directions so you can find your favorites too! Best viewed on a pc. Give it a sec to load.

permalink:
eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/mrf.pl?scope
➡️ click on the grid of white rectangles at the top to view pics as thumbnails

If that didn’t work (the search query can time out),
start a new search here:
eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/
➡️scroll down past the map, past the ISS stuff
➡️find the box under ‘Search using NASA photo IDs’
➡️type in “ART002-E”
➡️scroll down and click the ‘run query’ button
➡️click on the grid of white rectangles at the top to view by thumbnail

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6 months ago | [YT] | 90