Knowing that the total eclipse was happening around 3:30PM today I set out after class to the train tracks at the Westminster crossing. Luckily another professor was handing out eclipse viewing glasses, kind of like 3D glasses but they completely block all light except from the sun. Using the glasses I watched the moon slowly devour the sun like taking a bite out of a cookie. Since the actual full eclipse would only last about one and half minutes in Montreal, I began the painting with an outline and waited for the conditions to change. At about 50% I noticed that the lighting became the equivalent of an overcast day even though there was only a thin cloud cover. The headlights of a passing train, and the red lights of the crossing were noticeably brighter which is one way you can gauge the lighting conditions. But what happened next took me by surprise. The sky turned dark blue at the horizon, and then the dark blue swept over the whole sky until it was a kind of in between day and night. A few stars became visible. There were no shadows at all in the full eclipse other than those cast from the passing commuter trains. The shadows in the painting were from moments just before the eclipse was full. I had filled in the sky early with a pale orange, but added dark blue rapidly as the conditions changed. It was like being on another world, and with a train rumbling by on the other side of the fence it was surreal. I took a very quick peek at the eclipsed sun and saw the moon, a dark charcoal-blue colour at its very center. After the full eclipse passed, the horizon turned orange like a sunset, then slowly went back to overcast and back into a blue sky day.
Total Eclipse, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, April 2024
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