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Artist - Janet Fountain |
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| Copyright of all artwork belongs to the artist and is registered with Copyright Agency | |||||||||
| Title: | The Astronomer's Tower | Completed: | Dec 1997 |
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West Melbourne | ||||||||
| Medium: | Acrylic on canvas | Private Collection | |||||||
| Size (h x w): | 66 x 84 cm (26" x 33") | Note: | In memory of Douglas George Semmens (1930 - 1979) | ||||||
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My father was a school teacher with many interests. When we lived in Warrion, Victorie, he built a telescope to enjoy the night sky. He learned to start making the telescope mirror, by travelling to Geelong Astronomical Society meetings. He worked in the lounge room at Warrion, grinding the six-inch mirror in spare moments over several months. Sometimes the mirror glass went back to Geelong meetings for a check on the progress of its curvature. Then it was sent away to be coated with a silver backing. The telescope frame was made from pieces of wood. The observatory was an old water tank, with a hole cut in the roof. My father also loved animals. At Warrion we had goats, bantams and silkies, a duck that vanished one night, sheep, guinea pigs and white mice. In the front porch we even had fish tanks.
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