Astro Enhanced Art

I was frustrated, I couldn't find astro art that satisfied that odd mixture of science and emotion. Sure there was Starry Starry Night by Van Gogh .. stars dripping through the Paris(?) sky but where were my own mental images? Where was the secluded cove at Lake of the Ozarks watching the Cross slip into the darkened hills, time for Dad to fire up the 5 horse outboard and take us in. Where was Crux over south seas unimaginable as I stood for a few brief days on Maui and realized just how much larger the world was than my TV screen .. no art captured these emotions .. I found some pictures in old dusty shelf astronomy books and this brought the idea ..

I'd create my own .. enhance pictures I found that were ALMOST there in my mind .. the sunset, the sky .. the lake, the ocean . the scene .. how hard would it be to dab in some impressionistic yet realistic stars? Stars dont have to be pinpoints always .. we see them in our minds eye more a watercolor sometimes .. So I tried it .. I may make a collection .. just small additions

But is adding the cosmos to a scene small in any way? Or is it dreaming big?

I Might See my Future, and it Might Not be a Dome!

Ive got dome-fatigue you know, Ive built them out of sheets, posters, panels, displayboards .. and they arent ever tall enough, or smooth enough, or domey enough .. or big enough, or white enough, or light tighted enough!

So I mused as I lay in bed and gazed up in the dark at my square victorian bedchamber, 12 foot ceiling lost in dim haze and I thought .. I want kids to build star projectors darnit! Or buy my little one, my cakebox, if you will .. and use it where? where gare? Why in their bedroom of course .. nobody but my beloved geeky friends (i fly my geek flag high) are going to ever build a dome, or buy one ... I need stars on the ceiling ... And other folks are already selling these (see picture)

So I might see my future, and it might not be a dome..

I might need to build a bedroom out behind the barn to give shows in .. it might ought to be square not round ... pie r squared.. isnt that math?

Stars on the ceiling. As I lie there in bed ..

DeClutter, but don't DePlane!

Anyone whose lost a parent goes through it .. their 'stuff' remains behind ... I once visited a tragically killed amateur astronomers observatory at the invitation of his mother. What about our 'stuff' when we're gone? Its an invitation to declutter . to weed out things we wouldnt want to burden loved ones with ..

But if we take it too far, arent we deplaning? Getting off the aircraft that flew with our dreams? Destroying a little of who we ARE for a time when we ARENT anymore?

I say declutter and find out whats really important to you. Make a will, a list of where things should go in the event you do.

But keeping flying. You havent landed yet. Long may we fly.

Stars and Guitars (Back Then)

I used to be much more interesting. Back Then... I was all stars and guitars.. maybe I could be again.

Pouring over the charts, it was dark at 5 on these long winters eves .. a telescope in the basement by the washer.. M42 after supper .. a sears silvertone on my bed, and new Black Sabbath to learn .. stars and guitars . I kept notebooks .. I wrote little songs .. my best friend had a big telescope and his own guitar and we'd play in the garage .. duane (allman) and ritchie (blackmore) we were .. chords and lead .. comets and galaxies .. it was so much more exciting than jobs and babies and houses and bills .. I bought them again but they sit unused mostly .. Black Sabbath is Ozzie in rehab .. the stars out back are the glow from the stores along the strip in my town .. my best friend has kids and grandmother sisters and I have college bills larger than house payments .. wherefore art thou, stars and guitars?

I used to play chess .. cruise to the music shops.. buy things secondhand .. I used to be so much more interesting .

Back then

all stars and guitars

Maybe I could be again...

You've Got To Build a Story

You need to build a story. You need to develop content

I found this quote in an article, of all things, on getting a job in todays hyper competitive job market - extreme interviewing if you will .. but it hit home for planetariums at home too ..... it hit home that no matter how many gadgets I built, collected etc, people would probably say 'thats nice' and surf on to the personals on Craigs List ..

What compels us? Compel is my new favorite word, its been the subject of our sermon series at church these past weeks, and stories compel us. Content compels us. I realized that I have a tendency to just go on building forever, when I should be writing and performing in my vehicle. Its like building a record player then having a 1 record collection. A TV with only one channel .

I know, just when Im done I knock out a wall .. I turn a visitor center into a stage theater, I push aside my pyramids and start on a castle ..

Youve got to build a story - but there are many stories about these planetariums, about these stars, about these people who look at them. It should be easy right?

But its not .. there are so many stories out there in the ocean, I tend to stay on the beach ...

HPA Makes a Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy1eKmyq1w0

It came about not because I always wanted to, or I even had a video camera. Sitting looking at my ancient digital camera one day, I found that it had a 'movie' setting I'd never tried. This only worked for a few minutes, but then it occurred to me that I had another better camera unused I'd won in a contest, and it took longer videos! So I did this in one take after having done a version of it the day before. Most of it was coincidental - the CD playing had just been done of the Big Bang, something I generated with music software 2 years previous, edited onto the beginning of a show tape. It was Tuesday and I was off. The Nasa stickers were from Owen and his museum of planetariums. This isnt even my planetarium, its in the barn proper and I just love theaters so made one with my egyptian theme. The light bulb at the end just happened to be there. The voice seemed like Hitchcock meets Masterpiece theater. Very strange but fun.

From WOW to WIN

How do dreams get accomplished? First of all, do we have dreams? Pipe dreams, sleeping dreams, or waking goal oriented dreams, they all flit in and out of our minds eye like butterflies. But do we realize them?

Planetariums are like that for a few .. half remembered trips .. WOW like memories, but how can they go from WOW to WIN .. in other words, how can we realize these half glimpsed urges, visions today?

As much as we like to be eccentric backroom hermits, celebrating our oddities and workshops and tattered old catalogs, we really cannot do it alone.

The secret of going from WOW - remembering the wonderful feelings that the stars and planetariums evoke in us .. to WIN, holding these things in our waking lives .. is to surround ourselves with supportive people.

So that when I build an aurora projector out of a coke bottle, I do not get the blank stares, or apathy or even negativism (why are you wasting your time with this) . I get positive vibes, enouragement, more dreams and suggestions ..

It seems to me the only path from WOW to WIN is through others .. for a passion shared is a passion that will endure.