The process behind painting Star, Dust

Star, Dust began with a question of scale. To paint the Sun and Earth to true proportion on a diptych meant the Earth would be barely a fingernail — 10 mm against a 1090 mm Sun.

I built the Sun in layers: a warm underpainting of cadmium and ochre, then glazes of transparent orange dragged outward to suggest flares. The Earth I saved for last, a single deliberate dot of cerulean and titanium.

The hardest part was restraint — letting the black of space stay empty enough to feel vast.