"How did it feel to walk on the Moon?"

That is the single question I've been asked most often since November 19, 1969. I've said, "It's the feeling of excitement a person experiences only when their life's vision becomes a reality." Or, "It's the feeling one has when years of dedication and training finally make their most cherished dream come true." Often I'll remember, "I felt a long, long way - 239,000 miles at least - from most of the people and places I love." I might also add, "It seemed unreal...impossible...but my space gear, and the familiar voices from Earth told me otherwise." From time to time, I would look down and say to myself, "This is the Moon," and then I would look up at a small, beautiful, bright, blue-and-white sphere hanging in the mysterious, luminous black sky and say to myself, "that is the Earth." I've tried a lot of words over the years, but I don't think I've ever completely expressed my feelings about that incredible experience.

The original idea for this image came to me in 1986. I began painting what had taken shape in my mind but, when it was nearly completed, the painting just didn't feel right.

I set it aside for several months, but studied it every day or so. A new vision emerged that elicited happier and more exhilarating thoughts and emotions, ones closely related to how it actually felt. Then I was able to finish it. - AB