Impression: Solar Eclipse 12/8

I live close to a place where there is a hidden bench — a place we call the “secret bench.” It’s not really visible from the main path, so some people know about it, while others have no idea it’s there. It has a beautiful view of the sunset, and most of the time, there’s nobody there. If there is someone, it’s usually just one or two people.

Yesterday evening, when I was reminded that THE solar eclipse was happening NOW, I suddenly thought: Maybe I should go to the secret bench. I might have a great view of the partially eclipsed sun from there.

The funny thing is that the bench is at the edge of a field, and right now the field is a freshly cut wheat field. In the warm summer evening light, everything was glowing in this beautiful golden, almost orangey yellow.

And just a day earlier, I had been there at probably around the same time with my cat. He was playing in the field, and there was no one there.

But on this day, when I arrived to see the eclipse, I walked up the field, looked towards the bench — and had to laugh.

It felt a little bit as if I had stumbled upon a group of aliens who had just landed in this hidden spot. I just couldn’t see the UFO.

There weren’t one or two people. There weren’t three, four, or five. There were about twenty people, of all ages, sitting and standing around the bench.

And what gave the whole scene this strange, futuristic feeling was that they were all wearing their solar eclipse glasses. With their dark lenses and shiny foil, they looked almost like a little group of extraterrestrials observing some mysterious event.

And I loved the contrast: this very natural, almost timeless landscape — a golden summer wheat field that could have been part of an old oil painting — and, right in the middle of it, this strange, futuristic gathering of people, all focused on the sky.

It was such a beautiful and funny image that it stayed with me and inspired this little watercolor illustration.