Man and Super Moon
Now for the long awaited conclusion to my wonderful weekend March 18-20. To answer a few of you, a perigee-syzygy isn't something that I caught from a mosquito bite while camping outdoors. Nor is it a special ear infection cause by too much banjo music.
When I got to O'Leno State Park, I was excited to learn that there would be a full moon both nights. A full moon meant nocturnal painting opportunities, which equates to bonus painting time and is a lot like an extra Christmas in my book.
But it wasn't just any old full moon. It just so happened that my banjo camping painting extravaganza coincided with something called a "super moon". And a perigee-syzygy is the technical name for a super moon. Perigee is when the moon is closest to the Earth, and syzygy is a fancy name for a new or full moon. The two don't happen at the same time very often, just once in a blue moon.
When there is a perigee and a syzygy at the same time, the moon is 12 percent larger and brighter. For me, this mean 12% more illumination for my night painting scene, and I needed it. It was pitch black dark on a little swinging bridge directly over the Santa Fe river. I was painting around midnight and about one hundred yards away, the old time banjo and fiddle players were still jamming. I could hear 'Old Joe Clark' and 'Old Coon Dog' at 150 bpm as I painted away. The bluegrass players had already retired for the night and I gained a lot of respect for the old timers as they finished their jam around the time I wrapped up my plein night air.
I had a nice drive back to Atlanta, and as soon as I got home I worked on all that I learned at the camp. I'm now writing an alternate version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" entitled "Super Moon of Central Florida". Does anyone know something that rhymes with perigee-syzygy?
Submitted by donthacker on Tue, 2011-03-29 21:22
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Super!
Hah! That's cool you went out for the moon! That's the paint out of a lifetime:) - Good choice!
Thanks
Great to hear from you Marc! It has been great to see what you've been drawing and painting in Montreal, and I love your articles in Imagine FX.
It was a neat coincidence that I painted during the super moon, but I do plan to live long enough to paint a few more super moons. Now that I know what they are, I'll be on the look out. Believe me, 12% more illumination is quite handy when you are doing a nocturnal in the woods. The hardest part was painting while my body was becoming covered in hair and my hands turned into claws.