2024 Eclipse _ Fergus-ON

2024 Mixed media on canvas 45.7 x 60.9 x 1.9 cm

This is a record of my experience viewing this year's total eclipse. The 3 crescents is because I used the special glasses (glued to this canvas)- without my bifocals... so scared by the media that I might hurt my vision from one thing or another. My friend Sandy and I watched this amazing phenomenon on April 8, 2024, in front of the Giant Tiger store in Fergus, together with a small crowd of other enthusiasts. The clouds had parted around 3pm, as we left Wendy's restaurant and I had 2 pairs of Eclipse certified glasses in my pocket, so we got to see the darn thing. At one point, I accidentally looked at it for a split second with the naked eye: instead of black and orange, I saw the moon in greyish blue with a white corona on its right side. Glasses back on and looking a the orbs, I later saw just black. For 4 minutes time which it was supposed to have lasted, the whole process seemed a very long time. My youngest nephew drove to Burlington, ON which is on the "path of totality", and took fantastically beautiful photos with his phone. Younger than me by 32 years and a much savvier person, on the selfie where he is looking up he wore his regular glasses AND the cardboard ones on top...