Shine on you...

[Qualia]

As one of the mysterious laws of stargazing will have it, after a good few nights of cloud, this week has been blessed with clear night skies only for the full moon to come out and observe the earth close-up Big, bright and weightless.

Perhaps only astronomers grumble when the moon shines. Perhaps we should appreciate the moon in its own special way, even as it washes out most of those deep sky wonders. A lot of happy things can happen when the moon shines and here are just a few from this week:

[nightfisher]

Rob, your drawings and sketch`s go from strength to strength, they really are top notch, so much better than faffing about with camera`s and getting settings wrong.

I would love to be able to draw even half as good as you and many other skilled people on here, but i was never blessed with pen and pencil skills

[Marki]

Wot he said .

Stunning images as ever Rob, and an inspiration to get out there myself!

[Pete Presland]

very impressive collection of sketches. lovley capture iof all those doubles, and the moon is very atmospheric. i only wish i could draw like you!

[avtaram]

Beautiful sketches.

Avtar

[cotterless45]

Lovely. M2 looked spectacular tonight, before Moon rise,

Nick.

[Scooot]

A sketch is worth a thousand words. Great report. I wish I'd looked at m2 this evening but I don't think it would have been that good from where I am. Thank you, some more doubles there to target!

[Qualia]

Thank you for your kind words, and encouragement    but seriously, I cannot draw. What you are seeing are just smudges and white dots, nothing more and anyone can do that! I like sketching, though, 'cos it's easy, relaxes me, allows me to concentrate on the objects and saves me not having to write

Thank you again

[JamesF]

They're lovely sketches

I'd encourage those who think they can't draw to reconsider.  Drawing is a skill that can be learnt and becomes easier with practice.  Certainly some people have a more intuitive understanding of shape and form that can help with drawing, but that doesn't mean you can't do it if you don't.  In fact, one of the most important things about drawing is nothing to do with paper and pencil (or pen, charcoal, pastel etc.) at all.  That thing is actually learning to see.  What I mean by that is more difficult to explain  Perhaps the best I can think of at the moment is not drawing what you know to be there based on your intellectual knowledge of it, but instead drawing how you perceive the way that it affects the light coming from it.  Draw what you see, don't think "Oh, I know what that is" and draw the image you have in your head because that's often (almost invariably, in fact) the wrong thing to do.  Ironically, ignoring what you have in your head actually makes the process simpler because then you don't look at a flower, a planet or a DSO and think "that's a daffodil" or "that's Jupiter" or "that's M27", but rather "that's a pattern of light and colour" and that's what you're really trying to recreate, even if it is "smudges and dots"

And (visual) astronomers should have a head-start there, because learning to look properly and see what is there is something we put a lot of time into already

James

[jetstream]

Inspiring Qualia! Excellent sketches and a nice list of targets, thank you for the work

[scarp15]

Interesting approach Rob in the way in which you have profiled the full moon (and the clear skies that it typically brings) integrating its dominance within your observing session. There is a good lesson in accepting this circumstance by celebrating its presence and tailoring the session accordingly. As is clearly demonstrated through sketching, both clearly by yourself and others on this forum, by structuring the session so that you have a few selective targets, permits time to focus and digest what it is you are seeing, enabling you to articulate and record visually an image with a degree of conviction. This in turn will not only sharpen your own senses but as is clear can be shared by others. Good incentive therefore to narrow down a target list a little and so not get too carried away, permitting time to organise and so attempt to record what you see. As has been mentioned, drawing is a state of mind for some, yet for many it can also be a learning experience made easier when you are motivated about a particular subject, it is after all inherent if dormant in all of us. 

[Qualia]

Great posts, James and Scarp Cracking stuff and I hope your words inspire others to slow down a little and "not get too carried away" What you have written, Iain should be a visual stargazer's creed. Thank you for the inspiring words

[chiltonstar]

Some superb sketches there! Almost makes me want to have a go at sketching although, as my art teacher put it to me many decades ago, "you have the artistic skills of a carrot!"

Chris

[Mr Spock]

Lovely drawings and they show what observing is all about. Great post.

[scarp15]

Some superb sketches there! Almost makes me want to have a go at sketching although, as my art teacher put it to me many decades ago, "you have the artistic skills of a carrot!"

Chris

Where art at school is concerned, id take that as a complement, carrots are meant to sharpen your eye sight anyhow. You should give it a go and take a flask of carrot and coriander soup with you next time you are out, then when you have completed a drawing sign it off as 'by the Carrot'. As I have mentioned drawing is a frame of mind, when you are organised, composed and relaxed, provided that you are motivated towards grasping a particular objective then you will achieve something.

[Paul73]

I'm feeling quite inspired by the sketches. However, as with singing, I fear that I will be stuck with appreciating the work of those more talented than I (err - can't construct a sentence for toffee either).

The moon may have been washing out the fainter targets. But I find that colours are often enhanced by a good dollop of moon pollution.

Keep posting Qualia. I always enjoy your missives.

Paul

[Ruud]

Oh, those are nice, and you show us so many! Wonderful sketches. You are a true master.

Thanks!

[Qualia]

Thank you all for your kind words. Seriously, I am very touched by your thoughtful and extremely generous sentiments

[ghostdance]

 ...Seriously, I am very touched by your thoughtful and extremely generous sentiments

Credit where credit is due, man. Your posts are at once educative & inspiring, & full of the wonder & humble appreciation of all this marvellous universe we stumbled into...

" I see first lots of things which dance...then everything becomes gradually connected"  ( if I may make so bold with Mr Mojo Risin )

[Qualia]

Thank you, Mr

[ghostdance]

Mr

You got me - straight thru the heart

I'll see your Riders and raise you one Texas Radio...