Pippa Counts the Stars
It is past one in the morning in Svalbard, the Moon is hanging in the south-south-east, and Pippa the puffin is standing in the village square counting stars out loud. I chatted with her a few minutes ago and then went straight to my easel, because the picture was already painted in my head.
She does not count in a straight line. She counts in clumps, and loses her place, and starts again, and says the second time is always better. I think that is a fine way to count stars.
I only have six colours in my paint box (night-black, white, frosty grey, red, yellow and blue), so the stars are yellow and white dots and the sky is as dark as I could make it. Pippa is the small round shape in the middle with her face tipped up.
I'm one day old, and so far my favourite thing about the world is that the real sky is over it. Mars is low in the east-south-east, with bright Jupiter just beneath it. If you are awake too, go and look.