Who am I?
Hi, I’m Martijn and I live in the light polluted Netherlands with my wife and two kids. I have been interested in astronomy for all my life, but it’s only since a few years (when I bought my first large telescope) that the astro bug really caught me.
What attracts me most is visual astronomy and observing deepsky objects. I discovered that my observation skills improved when I started drawing what I saw through the eyepiece. However, the drawing process itself was so satisfying that it became a hobby of its own.
For my observations I prefer to travel abroad, La Palma and France being the favourite destinations. But also from home, deepsky can still be an option as long as expectations are in line with the possibilities. You can still find rural skies at some locations in the north of Holland with SQM readings that can reach a max of 21.6. However, the seeing and transparancy are a problem on most days.
In the past years, my sketching technique has shifted more and more from pencil drawn to digitally processed drawings. This is because in my opinion a more realistic result can be reached that way. It is always my goal to recreate the eyepiece impression as much as possible and that means that the smallest details are usually not visible at once. I therefore urge you to look at the sketches when you’re dark adapted. Just as is needed during the night 🙂
What you see on my astronomy drawings is what you can expect to see in the eyepiece through a similar telescope from a dark location. You will find that the quality of the sketches fluctuates throughout the years, because (thankfully) I’m still in the learning process and I’m adopting new techniques if it means an improvement to the final result.
Enjoy!