Why I Hand-Painted 70,000 Stars for My Andromeda Galaxy Painting

When I first decided to paint the Andromeda Galaxy, I knew it couldn’t be just another representation of a distant star system. I wanted to capture the overwhelming feeling you get when you look into a sky so vast it quiets every thought. Andromeda isn’t just an object in space — it’s our closest galactic neighbor, a reminder that the universe is alive and expanding beyond anything we can comprehend.

I spent weeks painting tiny stars, one by one — more than 70,000 individual points of light. It was slow, rhythmic, almost meditative. Somewhere in the repetition, I felt myself become smaller and bigger at the same time. Smaller in comparison to the expanse of space; bigger in the realization that being conscious enough to witness it is its own miracle.

Every star I painted became a reminder that we are not separate from the universe — we are the universe, made from the same elements forged within those stars. Painting Andromeda was like trying to touch infinity with a brush.

For anyone who has ever felt awe under a night sky, or found meaning in the silence of darkness, this painting is an invitation to remember where we come from — and what we’re part of.

Keep looking up!