Art by Charlie

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Ithaca, NY
Art by Charlie

Hello! I'm a planetary scientist and artist and I create pointillism paintings of the planets and moons across the solar system.

Follow along here for updates.
🖼️ link in bio to buy paintings, stickers, prints
🖌️DM for commissions

05/31/2026

Part FOUR of painting ☀️ the Sun ☀️

Took a bit to get this part out because turns out trying to do a PhD and be an artist at the same time is difficult (shocker! I know!!).

I’m hoping to get this piece done by August so I can show it at a local art show, stay tuned for that 👀

04/21/2026

A community art gala at Ithaca Tompkins International Airport showcased Cornell student work, local artists and performances as part of a broader effort to strengthen the airport’s connection to the Ithaca community.

03/14/2026

Putting my helper () to good use for day 2 of Awesomecon! Come stop by table N-38 anytime from now to 7pm today!

01/14/2026

Neptune (2020): God of the Sea 🔱

🎨 I completed this painting of Neptune almost entirely during the pandemic over the course of 2 months, one of the faster paintings I’ve completed because I tend to turn to painting in times of stress and spring 2020 was certainly stressful 🙂 I aimed to capture the striking deep blues in Neptune’s atmosphere but interestingly, Neptune might not look like this at all.

💙 I was using a reference image from 1989 taken by the Voyager spacecraft that was apparently altered to make the clouds pop more to the scientists studying the planet (a very common practice!). It turns out that Neptune is actually a lighter blue hue more similar to its neighbor, Uranus. Poetically, Neptune was named after the roman god of the sea in 1846 almost 150 years before our eyes gazed upon its wide variety of blue hues for the first time in 1989.

💨 Whipping across the planet at 1,200 miles per hour, Neptune also has the most powerful winds in the solar system, almost 8 times faster than a category 5 hurricane. One of the fun parts about painting planets with large atmospheres is that the images that we take are only snapshots in time. The large blue dot in the painting (fittingly named the “great dark spot”) has since disappeared since the original reference image was taken in 1989, but other spots have appeared and disappeared over time.

🛍️ While this original piece isn’t for sale, you can purchase prints and stickers of Neptune from my Etsy site! Just check out the link in my bio or in the comments below.

01/06/2026

Saturn (2019) 🪐

One of my favorite paintings I’ve ever done, this 48”x24” pointillism painting of the ringed planet took me three years to complete. Because of the painting’s size, it’s often difficult to see that it’s made completely out of individual dots of paint. I incorporated the many storms in Saturn’s atmosphere that while paling in comparison to the size of storms on Jupiter, are still absolutely massive. While Saturn’s rings are the first thing people think of when thinking of Saturn (and with good reason!) I focused more on the coloration within the planet itself by enhancing the undertones of the various cloud bands to highlight the vast variation within Saturn’s turbulent atmosphere. Someday, I’d love to do a painting of Saturn from above showing its rings in all their glory and the jet stream at the North Pole which is hexagonal in shape!

While this painting isn’t for sale, you can purchase stickers and prints of the original on my Etsy site! Check out the link in my bio or in the comments below.

01/01/2026

Titan in the Infrared (2026) ✨�First painting of the new year!

I’ve been working on this painting of Saturn’s moon, Titan, since October 2025, and finally finished it just in time for the new year. It depicts Titan as seen in infrared light by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
In visible light, Titan appears as a mostly uniform orange sphere due to its thick, hazy atmosphere. But by observing it at different wavelengths—like the near-infrared—scientists can peer through that haze and reveal details of the surface below. This particular view is based on an image taken by Cassini’s Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on November 13, 2015. The colors here aren’t what Titan would look like to the human eye; instead, they represent different infrared wavelengths captured by Cassini.

I’ve been feeling especially inspired by Titan lately. Each instrument onboard Cassini revealed the moon in a completely different way, uncovering unique features depending on how it was observed. To me, that’s a powerful reminder of how shifting perspective can change what we see—and what we understand.

This 19.5 × 19.5” original painting, along with prints and stickers, is available on my Etsy. Link in bio and in the comments below.

12/28/2025

Was recently commissioned to create these two custom paintings of the adorable Addie and Caleb 🐾 I grew up around a TON of animals so I always enjoy getting to bring people’s fur babies to life 🙂 Check out the link in my bio to commission your own!

12/04/2025

Made a few special pieces for a busy market weekend! Come do some holiday shopping in Buffalo and Ithaca this weekend 🦬

🗓️ Saturday, December 6th | 11 AM-4PM
❄️ LiveNF Makers Market
📍 Niagara Falls Convention Center (101 Old Falls Street, Niagara Falls NY)
🎟️ Admission: $2 per person
👧 Children under 16 are free
💙 All ticket sales support the LiveNF Niagara Falls Education Foundation Scholarship

🗓️ Sunday, December 7th | 12 PM-4PM
❄️ Evergreen Social Vintage Market
📍 Triphammer Marketplace (2255 N Triphammer Road, Ithaca NY)

Address

Ithaca, NY
14850

Website

http://linktr.ee/artbycharlie13, https://planetartbycharlie.etsy.com/

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