Astrophotography from a Rebel

This quote resonates with me on a psychological level in regard to life. The pieces that make us feel we are here for a reason and the bits that if stripped away potentially leave us feeling inadequate.

It’s common for humans to ponder their existence, asking “Who am I?” when they are young. It’s when they get older that not everyone can find an answer. Many people identify as daughters or sons, mothers or fathers, brothers or sisters. They’d include occupations, titles, degrees, etc. in an effort to carve out their place in the crowd.

It seems that shrugging off these labels would make some feel inferior, as though the words themselves are their entire identity. Removing them or aggrandizing their jobs or relationships would alter the respect they would gain from others. Humans tend to judge, making presumptions before truly meeting and getting to know others. Something that the icy cold social media platforms certainly don’t help with.

We tend to bottle up what we want to go after in life for fear of being ostracized by others who don’t share the same interest. I was no exception. I attended an all-girls school from grade 1 to 13 and I knew the chances of meeting another space enthusiast like myself was slim😔 Still, I always had a fascination with the universe and telescopes🔭🌠, but the science classes were extraordinarily boring to me.

How could I find excitement in a class where students were asked to drill on exam skills instead of acquiring knowledge? How would I want to be an aspiring scientist when the chemistry teacher lambasted me for taking sick leave for 2 days? Instead of answering my questions on the arcane concepts in the chemistry textbook, she blamed me for taking sick leave.

But I always kept my interest in astrophotography a secret from everyone🤫

I knew I wanted to become a painter…I just didn’t know what I wanted to paint! It took me quite a while to figure out the answer.

🤔 “What I can paint for life?”

Flowers? “I don’t know much about them.”

Trees? “What kind of trees do I know of?”

Pets? “Do I love animals apart from rosy-faced lovebirds?”

Landscapes or seascapes? “They are captivating, but I am an indoor person.”

Politics? “What can I paint if everything resumes to normal after a couple of years?”

🤔 “Who am I in the crowd of millions?”

Space

I came up with this answer out of nowhere.

That was what I loved when I was young.

These were the questions I needed to find the answers to🧠

My life has taken a new turn from the moment I picked up astrophotography. What used to be an everyday phenomenon, gazing for hours at the start, now seems to pique some new interest in me every day in this adventure. Could you imagine what our world would be like without the power of telescopes?!🔭The incredible wonder lying outside of this rotating sphere 🌏 We find ourselves on would never be more than just a dark void with sprinkles of twinkling star dust to us🌌

Everyone knows that the moon rises and falls, playing a never-ending game of tag with the sun ☀️But to me, it’s more than a static silvery ball hanging above the sky, casting an influence on the tidal movements with its waxing and waning. It’s a muse. I couldn’t have imagined that it would move so fast and that keeping it in focus in the telescope was not as simple as shooting videos of it. I have no idea what awaits me when I step out of my comfort zone to explore the realm beyond our reach, but I do know that the journey is going to be a mesmerizing one😳

While the joy that attending astrophotography classes brings me is beyond words.

I wanted the ability to offer something so unique to more people. By combining my interest in oil painting and astro-photography, I realized my vision of galaxy wall art prints. From the moment the painter instills meanings into the artworks during the creative process, the artworks take on lives of their own. My galaxy wall art prints are imbued with life from the moment I pour my thoughts onto the original paintings.

My goal for painting is to influence people to step forward, take a chance, and know that it’s okay to live outside of your comfort zone! Turning my galaxy wall art paintings into prints creates gives me the ability to reach out to more people and spread my passion and encouragement onto them🤗 I have never been an exceptionally competent individual. If I can do it, then everyone must have the ability to do so.

If you asked me in my teens what I would see myself becoming in the future, I never would have imagined I’d be doing something I love so deeply. I found no point in churning out artworks just for showing off my skills. Nor did I want to satisfy the market trend dictated by gallerists or curators. So, I followed my heart 💗 and it led me to where I wanted and needed to be. My fine art prints are going in the opposite direction of what the galleries are collectively promoting. There’s no one who can chart the course of my career apart from myself.

I am here to be a trend setter through my limited-edition galaxy wall art prints imbued with meaning, which can be found on the blog posts on my website. Sharing my passion through astro-photography art prints with others matters to me more than anything as a painter.