Don White
From the Artist, Don White... I am a mixed-media, watercolor, gel pen, acrylics, and alcohol inks artist, astronomy nerd and possibly an introvert. I draw circles and paint skies and imagine what it might look like in outer space. I love to paint imaginary satellite views of outer space backgrounds and undiscovered planets... I've been an outer space geek since grade school, and have read hundreds of science fiction novels over the years and my art ideas come to me while I'm daydreaming... which I probably do more than most. When I paint, I use watercolors, acrylics, gel pens and alcohol inks on very thick 300# heat pressed watercolor paper to create the image, then I use digital filtering to finish. I am also a Getty Images contributor, Adobe Stock contributor, Dreamstime contributor and Shutterstock contributor which means my images have been curated and approved for commercial licensing and can be used in print, presentations, broadcasts, websites, book covers, album covers, and on social media sites. I am still allowed to sell my artwork on an individual basis.
Personally, I believe the universe holds much more information than our senses can perceive, and reaching out into space will challenge everything we ever thought was true. I have been fascinated with interstellar travel and drawing pictures of space since childhood - and now, as an artist, this barrage of newly discovered planets and celestial objects lights up my imagination with questions; “Is there sound in space?” … "Is there really a planet?" … "How long does it take to get to Mars?” … “What is the Great Attractor?” … “Exactly how does mass bend spacetime?” … “Why is Light a particle when you are looking at it but a wave if you’re not?” ... and on and on...
It was something Dr. Carl Sagan wrote that started a flood of ideas in my brain - he said: “Since in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space - every surviving civilization must become spacefaring. Not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable - staying alive. If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.”
It was a brand new concept to me at the time, and it shook me to the core…. Yes, a single cataclysmic event or collision that happening anywhere in our galactic neighborhood could obliterate all of US and all of THIS and all of everything that CAME BEFORE!! I hope that in even a tiny way, my work starts some conversations that move us forward in that direction.