Ground Control To Major Tom – Postcard Art

Postcard art.

is fun to make and small enough to travel anywhere…Rachelle Antoinette

Rachelle’s log.
Entry One.
“Blog Launch.”

Its no secret, I am a space addict.
The evidence is in the footprints.
So what better to share first to launch my new blog.
A little blast from the past.

Title: “Ground Control To Major Tom”
Size: 6″ x 4″
Medium: Oil based enamel paints on heavyweight photography paper.

Initally, this postcard art was created as my first entry for the 2014 Twitter Art Exhibit in Orlando, USA.

Alas, as I worked with a modern sized format postcard ( 6″ x 4″ ) I realised the size required for the entry was larger than what I had prepared, so this and a couple more didn’t make the destination.
Lesson learned – read the instructions thoroughly!

All was not lost, I did submit a work of art that year, just not what I had planned.

The painting itself is inspired by a deep interest in all things involving astrophysics, space and how the earth is captured by NASA and beamed back down to us.
Unlike most of my art which is wholly abstract, I wanted this postcard art to have a figurative element to it.
To achieve this meant engaging more control of the paint in it’s application rather than letting the paint create the art organically like I would normally.

I really enjoyed creating this little work of art, and it has gone on to inspire similiar paintings for different causes including the successful submission in 2015 of “Major Tom To Ground Control” to the Twitter Art Exhibit in Moss, Norway. 🙂

What’s in a title? – I found myself singing David Bowies Space Oddity as I painted, so to quote Spock “it was only logical”.

Ground Control to Major Tom,
Ground Control to Major Tom,
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on,
Ground Control to Major Tom (Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six)
Commencing countdown, engines on (Five, Four, Three)
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (Two, One, Liftoff)
David Bowie