10 Day Old Moon
I decided before dark that this was the night to try a whole moon sketch again.
August has been cloudy and rainy since the beginning of the month. It was clear
before sunset, but clouds and rain were due in by 10 pm local time. I attempted
this type of drawing at the beginning of the year and I was unhappy with the
result. The drawing at that time was too small and I rushed it. This time I
proceeded in a similar manner but I made the drawing larger and took my time. I
also re-read chapter one in Astronomical Sketching by Richard Handy, David Moody,
Jeremy Perez, Erika Rix and Sol Robbins before I started. Rich and Erika wrote
this chapter. I did this to make sure I didn’t forget something important. To make
this sketch I needed a small scope so I used the finder scope of my 18” which
doubles as a 4.25” f / 5 Dobsonian. Some of my favorite views of the moon have
occurred using telescopes of this aperture and smaller.
Sketching:
For this sketch I used: black Strathmore 400 Artagain paper, white and black Conte’
pastel pencils and a blending stump and my index finger too. Brightness was
slightly adjusted after scanning.
Telescope: 4.25 inch f/ 5 Dobsonian and 21mm eyepiece 26x
Date: 8-23-2007 0:45-2:40 UT
Temperature: 30° C (86° F)
Partly cloudy, calm
Seeing: Antoniadi III
Colongitude: 27.9 °
Lunation: 10 days
Illumination: 69.4 %
Frank McCabe
Frank…this is an Excellent-Incredible…Sketch.!!
Peter
Peter,
Thank you. I enjoyed doing this sketch.
Frank
Frank,
This is a phenomenal full phase lunar sketch! The detail and beauty of your rendering is breathtaking. Thank you for sharing this masterpiece!
Jason
Jason,
Thanks. I didn’t run into any major problems putting this sketch on paper. This alone was a big surprise to me. I have sketched large areas of the moon before and they have all been poor. Some blind luck must have occurred here.
Frank