This is an image of a reflection nebula with three new stars still veiled in the mists and threads of their gaseous cocoons. When they are fully emerged they will be a triple star system. I named this picture "Veils of Reality." How did I know there would be three bright stars in this image? Let me unveil reality's image for you. I start these pictures with a blank black rectangle. The first thing I do to create space is that I take a brush full of light grey paint and shake it over the black blank. Paint drops spatter from the brush in random patterns. Some of them are bigger than others. By accident, three large drops fell from the brush in a line like this. This formed the basis of the bright stars you see here. I used airbrush and hand brush to create the nebula and bring out the stars. When I create these space pictures I feel like God, throwing stars and light into the void.
This is a fast process. I could paint up to twenty of these small pieces in one weekend. I would lay them out on the floor on a bed of newspaper and spray away. If I was God, then I was creating multiple universes. Or at least twenty places in one large universe. But does God do randomness? In some monotheistic theologies, God controls every atom and event of the Universe. That is one very busy God. But He has all eternity to exert his control, and I only have one weekend.
"Veils of Reality," acrylic on illustration board, 7" x 10, March 1988.
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