The story behind my early space paintings with the same name.

Since I was a child, the vastness of space has always captivated me. I grew up on the edge of the desert, where summer nights were spent sleeping on the roof of my parents' home. Out there, the cool desert breeze made it far more comfortable than indoors.

I lay awake in bed many nights, eyes wide open, marveling at the clear, star-studded skies. The Milky Way arched above, from one end to the other of the night sky, like a celestial river of stars and mystery so clear that I felt I could count all the stars. I wouldn't dare blink, afraid to miss a single shooting star or meteoroid streaking across the heavens. In awe, I had no clues or knowledge of what I was looking at other than what little I had read in an old Encyclopedia Britannica.

Those nights were filled with mythical tales about the Milky Way, adorned with a cloud of gases weaving tales among the stars, said to be the pathway to the heavens.

Inspired by these enchanting nights, I immersed myself in painting fantasy space scenes. Back then, as a young man working as a graphic artist, I was assigned as one of NASA’s primary artists long before the era of CAD and digital art. My brush brought technical space visuals to life, depicting the grandeur of the Space Shuttle and an array of satellites against cosmic backdrops.

Then, a day I eagerly awaited arrived - July 11th, 2022. NASA unveiled the James Webb Space Telescope, a marvel capable of peering back to the very birth of our universe, the "Big Bang." Its initial test images were mind-bending, hinting at even greater discoveries to come.

These strides in human achievement serve as a humbling reminder of our place in the vastness of the universe. We are fortunate to witness such groundbreaking technology, a stark contrast to the world of just a few decades ago. Less than 40 years ago, humanity dwelled in a technological analog era vastly different from today's digital world. The cell phones our children hold in their hands now contain over a billion transistors, making them more powerful than the most advanced computers of yesteryears. Truly, we live in an age of wonders, where the mysteries of space are unveiled before our very eyes.