Big Bang To First Life Mural, part one

This mural was created for the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (and was done prior to my discovering the benefits of working digitally!). It is intended to be read from left to right.

Painted in two panels 36" wide each, to appear adjacently and enlarged on walls to a total of 47 feet in length.




1st panel: Big Bang: the entire universe of matter and space was condensed to a single point, which started expanding instantaneously. Subatomic particles - atoms of H and He are thrown out in all directions. Clouds of hydrogen and helium collect in Dark Galaxies. Twinkling galaxies develop.
Focus: one Spiral galaxy: The Milky Way.
Star Formation - within Milky Way, Our Sun appears, surrounded by a particle cloud which coalesces to form the planets.