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Clouds appear black in dark locations, but reflect skyglow in cities

Image Credit: Christopher Kyba and Ray Stinson

Like art? Appreciate dark skies? Then thanks to the British Astronomical Association you can hire original art and benefit the BAA's work to preserve starry skies.

One way in which the British Astronomical Association’s Commission for Dark Skies (CfDS) raises funds for its work is to offer paintings for hire. The artworks, on cosmic themes, have been created by two talented artists who support the campaign against light pollution and are happy to see their creations used in this way.

There are currently four works in the CfDS ‘stable’, from the studios of Kathryn Thomas of Poole in Dorset, and Christine Wakelin of Eye, near Peterborough:

Night Thoughts (74 cm x 73 cm) by Kathryn Thomas: cosmic-inspired forms and imagination merge to create a window into the experience of the macrocosm.

In Your Dreams (76 cm x 61 cm) by Christine Wakelin: a dreamlike depiction of the human experience of the environment of an overlit Earth. This painting spent two years in the gallery of an American art collector.

Euler's World (88 cm x 74 cm) by Christine Wakelin: A fantastical dreamscape celebrating the work of pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Paul Euler (1707–1783). Can you spot Euler and his chair and telescope?

Caroline and William Herschel (66 cm x 48 cm) by Christine Wakelin: Saluting the pioneering work of the Herschels, discoverers and recorders of many a comet, nebula, galaxy and, in 1781, the planet Uranus.

Would-be hirers can find out more about charges and shipping arrangements through www.britastro.org/dark-skies/enquiries.php