Gale Crater, Mars: What was once a Martian lake is now a rover’s playground
oil on canvas, 20”x16” tryptic, framed to 22” x 50”
NFS
This represents a merging of my two worlds, as scientist and artist. While earning a PhD in planetary geophysics, I studied water’s role in shaping the ancient Martian surface. Now I use oil paint with brush and palette knife to layer and scrape the Martian landscape onto canvas. I try to create MarsScapes that feel approachable by accurately representing the Martian surface but with a more colorful palette.
This painting is inspired by a 2015 image from the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on Mars. Mount Sharp (a mysterious mountain that sits in the middle of Gale Crater) rises in the distance (upper left, yellow). Layered rocks (foreground) formed as sediment settled to the bottom of an ancient lake, 3.3 to 3.8 billion years ago, and slope down into the crater under the weight of the water.
I chose to create a triptych (set of three paintings to show one scene) to symbolize the process that scientists use of stitching together multiple separate images into one before it is released to the public. Together, the images tell more about the scene than they would individually.