theartofmichaelwhelan: “ ELLIE’S DREAM (2010) by Michael Whelan Acrylic - 40” x 30” The vision that became ELLIE’S DREAM came to me exactly as you see it here. I was thinking about the Moon Race and the clear cloudless skies of my childhood days in...
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theartofmichaelwhelan:

ELLIE’S DREAM (2010) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic - 40” x 30”

The vision that became ELLIE’S DREAM came to me exactly as you see it here. I was thinking about the Moon Race and the clear cloudless skies of my childhood days in California. The curving structure is shaped to resemble a wind-twisted rocket contrail, something that I witnessed many times while living near Vandenberg missile base.

I chose a girl at the pinnacle of the structure because humanity’s reach for the moon will be incomplete until a female crew lands there and explores the surface, representing the other half of our species. (She’s named after Dr. Ellie Arroway, the character in Carl Sagan’s CONTACT, portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie, but that’s the only connection to the story.)

The job remains undone, the dream unfulfilled.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ PASSAGE: VERGE (1989) by Michael Whelan Acrylic on Canvas - 48” X 36” A painting with many meanings, but the most obvious one deals with the question of the woman taking a last look back before she decides to step off the...
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theartofmichaelwhelan:

PASSAGE: VERGE (1989) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 48” X 36”

A painting with many meanings, but the most obvious one deals with the question of the woman taking a last look back before she decides to step off the cliff and go through the arch to an afterlife - or does she turn around and stay?

Michael doesn’t like to say, since he also considered it as a portrayal of him “stepping off the brink” from his safe career as an illustrator into the unsure world of fine art.

Judging by her quietly assured pose, it seems that whatever she chooses will be the right decision. Michael didn’t feel so calm about his!

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ THE DREAMING LANDS (2002) by Michael Whelan Oil on Canvas - 20” X 30” This painting is one of several works derived from my experiences at MSKCC in 2000. That year I also read a couple of books which mentioned a feeling I...
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THE DREAMING LANDS (2002) by Michael Whelan

Oil on Canvas - 20” X 30”

This painting is one of several works derived from my experiences at MSKCC in 2000.

That year I also read a couple of books which mentioned a feeling I have experienced at night during camping trips: lying in some huge quiet wilderness area, and imagining the overwhelming weight of the Earth at my back, as if I was actually lying in space and pressing against my back was the huge sphere of the earth with all its wonder, order, chaos and complexity. At the same time I also had a sense of being a part of it all, of sinking into and being one with the foundation of stone and rock which supports us all, the whole planet and everything on it.

This feeling came to me again while I was recovering in the hospital, with the sense that all the buildings and man-made constructs were transparent as mist, that the “bones of the land” (the rock and stone under everything) were the only things that were real and solid and supporting me.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ LUMEN 5.1 (1999) by Michael Whelan Acrylic on Canvas - 30” x 20” The shape of the opening admitting the glare of light is somewhat like a diagram of an eye, with the circle held by the figure representing the iris. The...
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theartofmichaelwhelan:

LUMEN 5.1 (1999) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 30” x 20”

The shape of the opening admitting the glare of light is somewhat like a diagram of an eye, with the circle held by the figure representing the iris. The further one goes outward the greater one can see inward.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

theartofmichaelwhelan: “ FLOOD (2000) by Michael Whelan Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 48" Faced with the prospect of cancer surgery, I thought that while awash in pain killers I might at least experience some interesting dreams. Instead I found that the...
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FLOOD (2000) by Michael Whelan

Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 48"

Faced with the prospect of cancer surgery, I thought that while awash in pain killers I might at least experience some interesting dreams. Instead I found that the medications did exactly the opposite, completely deadening any creative sense I had. My net sum of interesting creative ideas while in the hospital was zero! It taught me a valuable lesson: creativity is linked to my reasoning and thought; interrupt the flow of thought artificially and the creative forces are negated altogether.

Some time afterwards I did experience some particularly compelling waking dreams. I didn’t know what they were about, but I felt that I had to paint them. EBB and FLOOD were done on faith - it didn’t matter if anyone—even myself—understood what they were about, they had to be made real.

Source: michaelwhelan.com

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