~ Testimonial ~
"I am pleased to have known Sheila Szabototh for 12 years now having met her through our mutual interest in amateur astronomy. Over the last few years I have watched Sheila's artistic skills develop dramatically. Sheila not only observes and paints the sky, but she takes a keen interest in a variety of natural subjects and renders them all to good effect. However, her astronomical renderings are uniquely her own and they are not only painted with fidelity, they are aesthetically pleasing and provide a view beyond one available through the telescope and camera. The difference is the addition of imagination and artistic interpretation. I look forward to viewing Sheila's future efforts and feel that she is a developing talent worthy of note." - Richard Jordan

"Your paintings look like dances!" - Sarah Anne

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Astronomy Paintings

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Eruption
16 X 20 mixed medium on masonite
For Sale ~C$395

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A barred galaxy of ice and gas - I feel the emptiness and vast distance in these colours and shapes.
Against a black background, it is a very dramatic dance in my mind.

Waves of Ice & Wind
24 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$575

notecards available of this painting at C$2.75 each or 4 for C$10
(mix and match a set of 4 from any notecard options)

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Solar Flares and Turbulance
24 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$575

Sun Flares & Prominence Poetry

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The energy and brightness of Sol makes me constantly return for more.
I find the solor prominences most attractive and compelling.
These chromospheric eruptions can reach 124,000 miles (200,000 kilometers) above the surface of the sun.

Dancing Prominence
18 X 24 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$395

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The Eye of Jupiter has made humans feel eerie for centuries.
A major hydrogen storm ~ each band and huriccan circle seem to be going in different directions.
The white spot below the eye is the approximate size of Earth in relation to the gas planet.

Eye
18 X 24 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$395

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I'm attracted to Jupiter. It's a mother of a planet. Hydrogen gas dances so violently during orbit. What enormous storms she can brew!
Painting this picture, I could feel so tiny and overwhelmed. Is this how Io would feel?
Working with Blue is so dynamic and creative and adds so much "aliveness" to a painting. What fun this painting was to shape.

Io's Perspective
20 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$575

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I'm hypnotised, feeling the gravitational pull from these magnetic explosions ~ hot glowing hydrogen gas! These colours just draw me in.

Envision
10 X 10 oil on stretched gallery canvas
For Sale ~ C$275

notecards available of this painting at C$2.75 each or 4 for C$10
(mix and match a set of 4 from any notecard options)

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Graceful swirling motions of this spiral galaxy twirl me around yet nothing is tangible in that much vastness of nothingness!
I felt isolated; I felt the silence and the cosmic stillness painting this image.
This painting is another "special to the owner" kind. You can choose to hang the canvas with the galaxy to the left,
right, top or bottom and it wouldn't be wrong!

Galaxy Field
10 X 20 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$275

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This aurora was a special "real" phenomenon that occured over Lake Huron. Curtains of gentle swaying gas painted the sky with care. What is special about this painting is that the owner can "make it his/her own" by hanging this scene as shown by looking up through some tree branches, turning the canvas to the side as though standing beside a tree while looking up, or hanging it upside down, from what is shown here, indicating the northern lights are peeking through underneath low hanging branches. I got totally lost in the velvet texture of colour.

Lakeshore Aurora, 1998 in Port Elgin
20 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$575

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One of the most awesome sights in the universe ~ to me ~ is the milky way. A cotton ball path rich of, my next favourite sight, nebulae ~ as well as many other items of interest. As I painted this picture, I vicariously travelled the sky from the horizon to the zenith climbing in and out of mountain areas packed with stars including my favourite ones in the constellation of Sagitarius (bottom left, looking south).

Milky Way with Sagitarius
20 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$575

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I was in a light playful mood when I felt hot enough to visit the sun. My first experience of a total solar eclipse in Turkey in 2006 "completed me" somehow. I feel a deep connection to the sun ~ as if it could feel and think! Anyhow, the corona (the colourful part of the sun's rays as shown in this painting) seen only when the solar disk is covered by the moon, I portrayed here as a playful, hidden, dancing creature who only shows himself to me on these special "total solar" occasions.

Colourful Eclipse
8 X 10 oil on masonite
For Sale ~ unframed C$75

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I tried to capture some of the mysteriousness of space, gas, stars ~ their relationship. For me, this nebula = mystery & strangeness.

Rebirth
16 X 20 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$395

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Birth and death of stars ~ Life cycle of us humans. Painting this picture I was in awe of the whole process ~ The Universe ~ Does it feel like this?
Is this what the brain really looks like while working? Confusion... Questions...

Star Burst
18 X 24 oil on stretched canvas
For Sale ~ C$395

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Rosette Nebula
24 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
SOLD

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Wow, I can remember, like it was yesterday, my first total solar eclipse in Turkey 2006 and still the best one I've ever seen. I'm sure my group mates can also remember, like it was yesterday, my absolute awesome screams and the following 48 hours of my non-stop dance!
This is a painting of just one phenomenon of a total solar eclipse, Bailey's Beads. When the sun starts to appear or disappear from behind the moon's mountains.

Bailey's Beads
24 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
SOLD

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Jupiter's Red Spot Jr.
18 X 24 oil on stretched canvas
Collection of The Artist
Not For Sale

"Artistic Winner" of the Bruce County Astronomical Society Photo Contest ~ Shoreline News, December 2007

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The Great Nebula in Orion - M42 - I see as a rose. Abstract and unique and beautiful.
I let myself get lost in the swirl of hot dancing gases while painting this painting.
It just kind of emerged and grew out of the background on me.

Orion's Rose
24 X 30 oil on stretched canvas
Collection of The Artist
Not For Sale

notecards available of this painting at C$2.75 each or 4 for C$10
(mix and match a set of 4 from any notecard options)

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Big Blobs of hot solar prominences lay surfaced on the top of this canvas and wrap their way around the sides of it.
Paint sticking out giving a 3D image (for me) creates a "Being-on-the-Sun" feeling.

My Favourite Sun
10 X 10 oil on gallery canvas
Collection of The Artist
Not For Sale

notecards available of this painting at C$2.75 each or 4 for C$10
(mix and match a set of 4 from any notecard options)