18. White Tiger of the West

Today's project is the first to not depict an actual star-shaped 'star'. But it's still very star-related.

At 11:04 this morning (that's 10:04 GMT), the sun crossed the celestial equator into the southern hemisphere. This moment is know as autumnal equinox and marks the beginning of the autumn season in astronomy. So I - being an almost hobby astronomer and currently taking a one year star challenge - decided to pay my tribute to this season in an astronomical kind of way.

In traditional Chinese astronomy, the sky is divided into 28 'lunar mansions' which are again grouped into four symbols: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Black Tortoise of the North, the White Tiger of the West, and the Vermillion Bird of the South. They are all associated with a season as well, and I was quite delighted to find that the one for the upcoming autumn season is the White Tiger! :D

The tiger is a simple aquarelle painting (DIN A3). For the stars I used acrylic paint. (I would have liked to use my Chinese calligraphy set, but I don't have it with me, so I had to make due with a not so very traditional way of painting. It was fun non the less!)

P.S.: The first one to find a well known western constellation among those stars will get a big cyber-hug and a cheer in the next post! ;)