Just One Planet Earth

Just One Planet Earth
Originally uploaded by randubnick.

I created this painting (and collage) back when I was in college at the University of Colorado. I did a series of paintings inspired by the moon landings. (Mel calls it my Star Trek series.) I wish I had more images of that series. This is acrylic paint used as water media, with the rising planet Earth cut from another piece of paper and pasted onto the surface. I am posting this because today Mel and I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" which begins and ends with the first photo of the Earth seen from space. I haven't done any paintings in my planetary series in quite a while (but maybe I should!). although this basic composition still turns up in my landscapes as images of sun and mountains. But "An Inconvenient Truth" is a great reminder of what that first photo of Earth meant, and the commitment to the environment that came along with it for a lot of us back then. Like this old painting, that commitment needs to be dusted off and reconsidered (however inconvenient), because after all, there is just one planet Earth.