Concentric Compass

Before I start, let me say I had to type all of this twice since my F***ed internet crashed as soon as I was going to submit! one of the penalties of being overly-descriptive about your work I guess

Have you ever wondered if you could see the polar regions from the desert? With the right timing and location, A long-exposure photograph will reveal the pivot-points of the Earth's rotation as the stars at night make trails of light across the sky as they draw perfect arcs as if they are drawn by a compass, and those same stars have long been used as a more conventional kind of compass that used to help traveller's find their way

This is made for a contest that I found by accident (one of the rewards of actually going to see who faved your art) held by *hugznstuff and =MoonGoddess72 where the theme was to show off what you think is magical or amazing about the world you live in. So since I have been fascinated by the sky and beyond ever since I was a kid, I based my idea on that. Not everybody knows that the Sun and Moon aren't the only things that move across the sky, but every night, the stars make their discreet journey over our heads too. So when caught over an expanse of time, you can see the "star trails" they make...Stars over the equator have further to travel, so they make longer trails, while those over the poles make shorter, more curved ones in the same expanse of time.

This one is 100% pure digital painting!!! yes, I figured I would once again do it "the hard way" and resist the urge to use any 3D or photo-elements, even if it meant getting a slightly less-realistic result whilist requiring twice the time to make it. But since the scene is rather minimalistic, I figured I could handle it sorry about not allowing critiques, I'm just juggling other contest entries and other projects to spend too much time dilly-dallying on one peice, but that means more art in the near future

The lighting isn't so much "off" in here. Imagine if this really WAS a long-exposure photo that was started in late afternoon as the sun was going down. It's light on the cactii and rocks in front, and the sky and clouds would have been preserved on the image, even hours after the Sunlight faded and the stars started to make their mark. The result is a rather surreal orange glow on a night time scene. The sky is obscured by little more than the smeared paths of moving clouds, and a bonus - the streak of a shooting star makes a welcome disruption to the circular pattern of the rest...Oh whatta night

Artwork made and copyrighted by me. Do not use, alter or display any of the images in my gallery in any way or place without permission from me