Jesse wanted to depict a black hole as if it were painted by the Dutch masters, so he utilized the color palette and techniques of the 17th century painters. The painting was inspired by the image of the Messier 87 (M87) supermassive black hole that was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Jesse simulated the gravitational lensing and accretion disc in Blender and created several 3D renders to use as reference for the painting.
Early concepts
Image from Event Horizon Telescope
Oil study of M87
Early concept sketching
Composition sketch
Stages of the painting
B/W 3D render
Outline underdrawing
Imprimatura
Adding grays
Smoothing
Adding Details
Final Painting
Visualizing the gravitational lensing
Jesse designed the painting to be oriented vertically to give a tilted sense of unease, but there is no up and down in space, so the painting can also be displayed horizontally.
