Contact Chris

96-036 "Off Shore Comet"
1996, Acrylic on Illustration Board

This is a scene featuring the famed Comet Hale-Bopp, painted several months before the comet would become visible to the unaided eye, as it is here. The stars can be seen as twilight fades, including the "W" of Cassiopeia which the comet's tail trespasses. I must say that this is my favorite beach scene I have painted; I love the way light plays on little dunes at sunset. Also, placing astronomical objects out over the sea is an analogy to their presence out in the sea of space. Passing near the Earth, and thus in its glory, the great comet is just "off shore".

Chris Butler