The original inspiration for the graphic goes all the way back to the early 70’s when I wrote a childrens book called All About Blue. Its a story about a girl named Blue who is charged with painting the stars onto the night sky. “There once was a girl in the land of all white, she lived on a hill she painted the night.” Work on the book prompted a genuine interest in night sky observation. The book illustrations were based on actual night skies. The double spread at the center of the book was the first Indigo Night graphic, I suppose. In any event, the book was never published, and the idea slipped away. Years later I met Michelle, my own true love. She’s done some serious long distance sailing, and got me interested as well… you should see the stars from the deck of a small boat on a dark night’s passage My close friend Terry taught me the basics of celestial navigation. That’s the two of them there. I was down below at the time. It had something to do with a bucket as I recall. Once again, I started drawing night sky illustrations, this time to help me place the 59 navigational stars. My favorite: Zubenelganubi, in Libra. This time the idea evolved into the graphic we offer for sale here. Only in the past few years has the technology become available that allows us to produce these graphics, each one of a kind, to our standards, and at a reasonable price. Here’s one of my favorite quotes, from Wind In The Willows, by Kenneth Grahame I’m partial to the edition with the very charming illustrations by Ernest Shepard. It’s in the chapter called The Piper at the Gate of Dawn. “The line of the horizon was clear and hard against the sky, and in one particular quarter it showed black against a silvery climbing phosphorescence that grew and grew. At last, over the rim of the waiting earth the moon lifted with slow majesty till it swung clear of the horizon and rode off, free of moorings; and once more they began to see surfaces—meadows widespread, and quiet gardens and the river itself, from bank to bank, all softly disclosed, all washed clean of mystery and terror, all radiant again as by day, but with a difference that was tremendous…”

Address: Indigo Night Printwear & Graphics 310 East Market Street Charlottesville, VA 22902
Telephone: 434-297-4500 or 866-565-4500
Website: http://www.indigonight.com/