Tag: lunar landscape

Some Unearthly Landscapes Around The World That Would Make Extraordinary Space Art Paintings

lunar footprint painting
First Footprint on the Moon

Are you looking for some inspiration or ideas for that next space art painting? As you can imagine, space artists have a bit of a challenge when it comes to reference material for their cosmic paintings. After all is said and done, they can’t travel off to some other planet to paint on location. One way for these artists to remedy this situation is to travel around the world in search of suitable typography that will make them feel like they’re on another planet.

Below is a list of earthly locations right here on Earth with some rather surreal looking places featuring lunar-like rock formations or “out-of-this-world” looking dunes that, when combined with a little imagination, would make for some rather extraordinary paintings of other world places. This is by no means a comprehensive list and there are no photos, however, if you do a search for each location that is listed below in “Google images” you will find some suitable images to work with.

space art painting Neil Armstrong astronautFirst Man on The Moon
Space Art by Teresa Bernard
24″ x 18″
Oils on gallery wrap stretched canvas

>> More info

  • Antelope Canyon, Arizona
  • surreal landscapes
    Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar

    Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar

  • Badab-e Surt, Iran
  • Berca Mud Volcanoes, Romania
  • Black Desert, Egypt
  • Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico
  • Capadoccia, Turkey
  • Cano Cristales, Serranía De La Macarena, Colombia
  • Cariboo Region, British Columbia, Canada
  • Cave In Algarve, Portugal
  • Cave of Crystals, Mexico
  • Cenote Angelita, Mexico
  • Champagne Pool, Waiotapu, New Zealand
  • Chocolate Hills, Bohol, Philippines
  • Dallol Volcano, Ethiopia
  • Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
  • Danau Kelimutu, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia
  • Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming
  • other worldly landscape
    Devil’s Town, Serbia

    Devil’s Town, Serbia

  • Dragonblood Trees, Socotra, Yemen
  • Egerszalok, Hungary
  • Emerald Ice On Baikal Lake, Russia
  • Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
  • Eyes Of The Devil – Prohodna Cave, Bulgaria
  • Fingal’s Cave, Scotland
  • Fly Ranch Geyser, Nevada
  • Gates To Hell, Derweze, Turkmenistan
  • Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
  • Glowworms Cave, New Zealand
  • Grand Canyon, Arizona
  • Grand Prismatic Spring, Wyoming
  • Hang Son Doong Cave, Vietnam
  • Hornocal Mountains, Argentina
  • Ischigualasto Provincial Park, Argentina
  • Jökulsárlón, Iceland
  • Kerið – Grímsnes, Island
  • Kerlingarfjoll, Iceland
  • Koekohe Beach, New Zealand
  • Lake Natron, Tanzania
  • Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
  • Marble Caves, Chile
  • Meteora, Greece
  • Monte Roraima, Venezuela
  • Moon Valley, Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Brazil
  • Mt. Roraima, Venezuela
  • Naica Mine, Mexico
  • Namib Desert, Namibia
  • Nishinoshima, Japan
  • Odle, Dolomites, Italy
  • Painted Dunes, Lassen Volcanic National Park, USA
  • Pamukkale, Turkey
  • Pancake Rocks, New Zealand
  • Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina
  • Pinnacles Desert, Western Australia
  • alien landscape
    Rainbow Mountains, Vinicunca, Peru

    Rainbow Mountains, Vinicunca, Peru

  • Red Beach, Panjin, China
  • Rock Cave, Petra, Jordan
  • Roraima, Venezuela
  • Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
  • Salvador Dali Desert, Uyuni, Bolivia
  • Seven Colors Rocks, Mauritius
  • Seven Giants, Russia
  • Shilin Stone Forest, China
  • Skaftafell Glacier, Iceland
  • Sossusvlei, Namibia
  • Spotted Lake, Canada
  • The Wave, Arizona
  • The White Desert, Egypt
  • Tianzi Mountains, China
  • Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
  • Tsingy De Bemaraha, Madagascar
  • Tunnel of Love, Ukraine
  • Twelve Apostles, Australia
  • Uluru, Australia
  • Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
  • Valley of the Moon, Atacama Desert, Chile
  • Wave Rock, Australia
  • White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
  • Whitehaven Beach, Australia
  • Window To Hell, Kamchatka, Russia
  • Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
  • Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park, China

This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor is it in any particular order. When you visit these places be sure to take your camera along to take lots of reference photos for your paintings. Once you get back to your studio you will have lots of fun as you immortalize your memories of these places on canvas wall art.

Did your favorite “alien” landscape location make the list? If not, and you think it would make an extraordinary space art painting, feel free to add it below in comments.

Additional Reading

Becoming an Artist of Space Paintings

Space Art by Teresa Bernard

Moonset

night sky painting

© Copyright 2013 – Presentc

Size: 20″ x 16″
Support: Gallery wrap stretched canvas
Description: A night sky painting depicting the moon setting beyond the horizon. This representation does not require a frame as the painted image extends all the way around the edges of the painting.

Purchasing Information
$360 Plus S/H

Contact the artist to purchase this painting.

Artist Comments: A moonset is when the moon is full and dips just below the western horizon near dawn. Ever since man first looked up at the stars, he has been fascinated by the big sphere that hangs in the night sky above us and this particular artist is no exception. My favorite time to take a walk is in the late evening just before turning in for the night. I absolutely love looking up into the night sky and seeing the stars and the moon on a cloudless or almost cloudless night.

FYI…Did you know the common belief the moon has a dark side is a myth? The truth is both sides of the Moon see the same amount of sunlight. The Moon rotates around on its own axis about once every 27 days. This is approximately the same amount of time it takes to orbit the Earth which means the same side is always facing the Earth. Astronomers call this phenomenon “synchronous rotation.” Only about 59% of the moon is ever visible to Earth over the course of an entire orbit. The rest of the 41% — the part many call “dark” — is the part we never ever get to see from Earth. The “far side” of the Moon has only been seen by the human eye from a spacecraft.

First Man on The Moon

Astronaut Neil Armstrong painting

© Copyright 2012 – Present

Size: 24″ x 18″
Support: Gallery wrap stretched canvas
Description: A depiction of man’s first lunar landing. This painting will not need a frame as the representation extends around the edges of the canvas.

Purchasing Information
$420 Plus S/H

Contact the artist to purchase this painting.

Artist Comments: This painting is a tribute to American Astronaut Neil Armstrong. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to land a spacecraft on the moon. However, it was Armstrong who took that first step onto its surface. A third crew member, Michael Collins, was alone orbiting the Moon in the Command Module Columbia awaiting their return.

Armstrong was commander for the Apollo 11 lunar mission. In this historic mission Armstrong became a global hero the instant he made that “one giant leap for mankind” with a small step onto the surface of the moon. The crew of Columbia took a TV camera with them so the world could watch as they spent about 2 hours on the lunar surface collecting soil samples and conducting a few experiments.

I was just a young girl the day Armstrong walked on the moon and I don’t remember a lot about it, but I do remember watching the footage on TV. During that time Armstrong and Aldrin also took photographs, unveiled a plaque to commemorate their flight, and planted the flag of the United States.

Armstrong died August 25, 2012 at 82 years of age. I finished this painting a few months before his death.

You can read more about Astronaut Neil Armstrong at NASA’s web site: Neil A. Armstrong.

To find out more about the Apollo 11 mission visit NASA’s web site: Apollo 11 – First Footprint on the Moon.

See another space art painting I did called First Footprint on the Moon.

First Footprint on the Moon

lunar footprint painting

© Copyright 2012 – Present

Size: 18″ x 24″
Support: Gallery wrap stretched canvas
Description: A rendition of mans first step onto the lunar surface. This painting did not require a frame as the image extended all the way around the sides of the painting.

Artist Comments: This painting depicts the historic event of man’s first walk on the moon. It is one of two custom paintings commissioned by an art collector living in Japan. The other painting is “Land Rover Tracks of Mars.”

Man first stepped on the moon July 20, 1969. The iconic footprint depicts the infamous day when Neil Armstrong first put his left foot on the rocky Moon surface. The Apollo 11 crew had taken TV cameras with them and this meant people all over the world could watch when it happened. You can read more about this historic event at NASA’s web site:  Apollo 11 – First Footprint on the Moon.

First Footprint on the Moon is my first painting of the space art genre. Since I have never been to the moon nor seen the iconic footprint in person, it required some research on my part to come up with this composition. I used a NASA photo of the footprint and spent time studying their photos of the moon’s surface to get an idea of what it would be like there. For the background I used photos of strange “alien looking” landscapes found right here on earth to complete the composition. Then, I added the distant view of earth in the night sky to add the finishing touch. My client absolutely loved his painting when it was done. I love it too. In fact, he was so happy with it that he commissioned me to do another one for him. This time the setting would be Mars.

For more information on how to commission a painting select Art Commissions.