We were sorting through some artwork from my father (Ray Marta) the other day and came across his illustration celebrating the first moon landing, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.
This illustration would have spanned a full page in the newspaper. The original was created with ink, gouache and waxed pencil on pebbled illustration board. The blue color was was guided by instructions on the acetate overlay he created for the press team.
If you're old enough to have lived through it, do you remember where you were on the evening of July 20, 1969? I was sitting in our living room, probably on the floor, looking attentively at the TV. My grandmother kept saying, "This is history. You have to watch this!" Of course, she was right.
In these days, when we're used to our 4K TVs, it's a wonder we could see much at all on those jerky, blurry, noisy images broadcast back from the moon. But it didn't really matter. It was all incredibly fascinating.
When they got back from the moon and NASA released those incredible images from the Hasselblad camera, especially the iconic earthrise photo, my favorite aspects of science fiction became reality.
Thank you to everyone who made it all happen. It proved to this young girl that, if you work hard enough, dreams do come true.
