watercolor

Last night I was able to capture the sunset crescent with a 50mm portrait lens on my Sony A5100 mirrorless camera as well as my iphone. I have been waiting to try to capture the sunset crescent since the summer, but every month it has been too cloudy.

What luck that it was clear last night when Venus was visible as well! Sunset crescents a couple days after the new moon are spectacular enough on their own with a pink, purple or orange glow on the horizon as the faint sliver moon comes into sight. With Venus visible as well, this made it extra special.

I’ve been following EarthSky.org lately to try to start learning about astronomy and to keep updated with anything interesting going on with celestial movements.

Here’s a shot with my Iphone, which is probably just as good as my 50 mm lens :

 

And here’s with my camera and lens:

 

 

I really want to start nature journaling as we come into the New Year, so I thought this was a great subject to start with. My white paint for the moon and star wasn’t showing up (eek!). Not the prettiest painting, but the point is to practice and learn.

 

 

 

 

I’m using a Moleskin Art + Sketch journal for recording nature. I didn’t try to do a sky painting on these pages since it requires a lot of water and I think the pages can only handle a light wash.

 

Anyways, cheers to the return of the sun in the North and a New Year.