Total (Death Star) Eclipse, original altered painting by Heather Castles

To commemorate the solar eclipse over Toronto today, I absolutely had to alter this painting to capture the moment the moon passed in front of the sun.

On Monday April 8th 2024 the moon completely covered the rays of the sun, bringing the darkness of night to a slice of North America, including Toronto. Although a total solar eclipse occurs about every 18 months somewhere on earth, the last time Toronto experienced one was in 1925. Our city isn't expected to experience another for 120 years.

Throughout history artists have documented their culture, events, and history through their paintings. In our slice of time, many elements of our shared culture exist in a fictional and digital world. As an artist, I still want to capture my experiences by creating a tangible piece of art that gives those elements of our popular culture a place in our history. So with May the 4th fast approaching, I chose to paint the most ominous moon in fictional history into my painting, to illustrate both the solar eclipse, and this moment in time when imagining fictional realms has such a big place in our culture.

The original painting was collected locally in Ontario and is signed J. Morel. He was born in 1911 in Edinborough, Scotland and was well known for his moon-lit paintings. The painting had a lot of nicotine damage, so I had to give it a good clean before the eclipse could move across the moon. The frame is of good quality so very sturdy, but has some damage which adds to the charm... the trim is nicotine stained so I am keen to repaint that part of the frame but am going to leave that for a little bit and can discuss that with you as the collector as to whether you'd like that or not.

"Total Solar Eclipse"
altered painting by Heather Castles

Approx. 2 x 3 ft painting on vintage canvas + vintage frame

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