Looking Back

Looking back at the far side of the moon with the tiny marble earth nestled in distant space. The original photo was taken by China's Chang'e 5 Lunar Explorer.

I have made oil paint from material that originated on the surface of the moon, from lunar meteorites. These meteorites start as a part of the lunar surface and are ejected into space when the moon is impacted by other space rocks like asteroids. The ejected surface material is captured by the earth's gravity until it eventually crashes into the earth's surface.

Since the Apollo missions brought back lunar samples to be examined, it is now possible to identify these very rare meteorites as originating from the moon. Around 500 lunar meteorite samples have been discovered from an estimated 30 meteorite falls.

As meteorite dealers cut the rocks into tiny samples for collectors to purchase, the cutting dust is collected and this is what I use to make paint from. It is a very fine powder that is at least 99.5% pure lunar meteorite dust. It binds really well with the linseed oil to make paint, turning a darker grey when the oil is added.

For the jewel-like earth I have used the very precious lapis lazuli paint.