Night of the Falling Stars

In Khemi, the land of the Khemaru, it is the national day, September 7 (Racolta 18 in the Noantri common calendar). This day is known as the "Night of the Falling Stars," and it commemorates something which was observed on the Old World of Lanka II, before the Khemaru went through the Gateway to the New World. Around this time each year there was a brilliant meteor shower, and it also coincided with the annual flooding of the great river Yama. The flooding was welcomed because it deposited fertile silt onto the croplands of the Khemaru.

Here on Noantri New Earth the Khemaru occupy a similar habitat, with another river re-named the Yama and more yearly floods. But there is no meteor shower. So the people re-create it with fireworks. The riverbanks of the cities and towns, and the shorelines of the Middle Sea, are all aglow with fireworks displays on the Night of Stars. People turn out in the late summer heat to watch, knowing that the waters will bring new life.

This image (click on it for larger view) shows the newly built port city of Saida, as the fireworks light up the center of the city. There are revelers and observers on the roofs and walkways, and on boats floating in the urban inland waterway.

This day also marks the sixtieth birthday of the renowned Khemaru scientist Tanheu Afboureh-Souteth, who re-discovered the scientific basis of techno-magic (nouergy). He had the unusual good fortune to be born on the Night of the Falling Stars. Tonight he is participating in a fireworks display at the University of Masri, where he will create a nouergic lightshow. Happy birthday, Nouergist master Tanheu!

Photoshop, 7" x 10", about 2 hours' work. Firework image brushes courtesy of "Digital Artist Toolbox."

Fall Branch, Tennessee

During my recent trip I visited Tennessee as well as Virginia. When I got tired on the road I would take any exit, just to stop for a while and see what was beyond the highway. One exit led me to Fall Branch, a historic little town in northeastern Tennessee. It was Sunday and the town was deserted. In Tennessee everyone goes to church on Sunday and then spends the rest of the day at home with family. At least that's what the custom is, I don't know what really happens. While parked in a (deserted) parking lot, I did these quick sketches of buildings along the town's main street. I'm sure someone was watching me, but no one came out to confront or talk with me. After I finished the drawings and rested up, I was back on the road and I may never see Fall Branch again, unless I consciously decide to.

You may notice (probably not) that this entry has been posted rather late in the evening on September 6. That is because for whatever reason, my Internet connection disappeared last night. I was glad to find it returned when I got back from work in the evening. As a good blogger, I want to put up a posting every night, so this is September 6 and I will post again after midnight on September 7.

Antiques and cute stuff

Saturday afternoon in Falls Church, and I'm shopping and drawing at Stifel and Capra, an antiques and cute stuff shop downtown. This building started out as a doctor's residence and office, back in the late 19th to mid-20th century. Then it became a beauticians' school. After that it was divided up into many dealerships as an "antiques mall." Currently it houses two or three dealerships, an art gallery, and studios for a number of artists. I bought some stuff, and then went outside in the pleasant weather to sit on the tailgate of my car and draw the building. I made some corrections and added grayscale tone in Photoshop, back in the studio.

Drawing is Pitt pen on sketchbook paper, about 10" x 6 1/2". September 4, 2010.

Back to the Asteroids

Remember these? Yeah, those nebulae and asteroids in theatrical colored light. At least I didn't have those asteroids lined up like beer bottles. They are properly tumbly rocks, ground to a soft roundness over the eons of dust, gravel, and minor collisions. According to some scientific speculations about the far, far future of the Universe, there may be nothing left at the end but these crunchy bits, grinding each other to dust in the near-total darkness of heat death. Consciousness and intelligence, by that time, will have long since been extinguished. Have a nice future!

"Beacon over Red Rocks" is acrylic on illustration board, 7" x 10", November 1991.

UBIK illustration Philip Dick

I posted before, one of the pieces I did for the 1979 series of Philip K. Dick books, published by Gregg Press. Here's another. Some of my online music friends expressed interest in these illustrations. As I said in my earlier post, I didn't have a good time doing this project, I was emotionally messed up in those days of summer 1979 and reading a lot of the disturbing texts of PK Dick was not going to improve my mood.

UBIK is a chaotic, avant-garde piece of science fiction about psychic powers, suspended animation, time travel, and a mysterious drug called "Ubik." It is loaded with religious symbolism, hence the cross that I snuck in behind the spray can.

"Ubik" is ink on illustration board, 7" x 10", summer 1979.

Taris: The original building site

Returning to the world of the Noantri, this scene is in the deserts of Khemi. This rocky outcrop overlooks a chasm which is a stone quarry. Khemi, the land of the Khemaru, exports building stone all over the settled world. At the base of the quarry is a tributary of the great river Yama. Stone from the quarry is put on small barges and floated out to the main river system, where it is shipped to port.

This is the territory chosen by the architectural family Khan for their country estate. The site you see here was unoccupied until Mereth Kahn, techno-mage and architect, re-created it by the use of nouergic force and modern construction. On his family's land, he built fabulous residences not only for his parents and their staff, but for himself. The whole complex is known as "Taris," which means "Place of Light."

This is the site for Mereth's private home. In the next installments of this sequence, you'll see how the building progressed.

Photoshop, about 3 3/4" x 1".

Moldworld

"Mycelium" is a planet where fungi and molds became the dominant plant species. There are mold meadows, forests, and gardens. There are mushroom trees and fungus prairies. The atmosphere is very thick and moist, and the sun is almost never visible. In this little environmental study, a human explorer makes his way through a verdant valley, accompanied by a friendly native creature called a catopod, which appears to be a combination of feline and octopus.

Photoshop, about 3 3/4" x 1". August 31, 2010.