Editing Alan Bean (section)

==Painting==
[[File:Alan Bean photo at NASM by Matthew Bisanz.jpg|Bean in his studio in 2009|thumb|right]]

Bean resigned from NASA in June 1981 to devote his time to [[painting]]. He said his decision was based on that, in his 18 years as an astronaut, he was fortunate enough to visit worlds and see sights no artist's eye, past or present, has ever viewed firsthand and he hoped to express these experiences through his art.<ref name="nmmuseum" />

As a painter, Bean wanted to add color to the Moon. "I had to figure out a way to add color to the Moon without ruining it," he remarked. In his paintings, the lunar landscape is not a monotonous gray, but shades of various colors. "If I were a scientist painting the Moon, I would paint it gray. I'm an artist, so I can add colors to the Moon", said Bean.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://internationalmuseumofart.net/alan-bean/|title=Alan Bean|publisher=International Museum of Art|access-date=December 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928093928/http://internationalmuseumofart.net/alan-bean/|archive-date=September 28, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Bean's paintings include ''Lunar Grand Prix'' and ''Rock and Roll on the Ocean of Storms'', and he used real Moon dust in his paintings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/16/AR2009071604590.html|title=Conversations: Astronaut-Turned-Moon Artist Alan Bean|newspaper=Washington Post|date=July 19, 2009|access-date=December 24, 2017}}</ref> When he began painting, he realized that keepsake patches from his space suit were dirty with Moon dust. He added tiny pieces of the patches to his paintings, which made them unique. He also used a hammer, used to pound the flagpole into the lunar surface, and a bronzed Moon boot to texture his paintings.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bean|first1=Alan|title=Message from Alan Bean|url=http://www.alanbean.com/message_from_alan_bean.cfm|website=Alan Bean: first artist on another world|access-date=January 23, 2017}}</ref>

In July 2009, for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Bean exhibited his lunar paintings at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Air and Space Museum]] in Washington.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-alan-bean/alan-bean-moon-walking-u-s-astronaut-turned-painter-dies-in-houston-idUSKCN1IR0Q6|title=Alan Bean, moon-walking U.S. astronaut turned painter, dies in Houston|last=Dunham|first=Will|date=May 26, 2018|work=Reuters|access-date=May 26, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

{{blockquote|quote=But I'm the only one who can paint the Moon, because I'm the only one who knows whether that's right or not.|source= Bean describing his Moon painting capability<ref name="nmmuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=72|publisher=New Mexico Museum of Space History|title=Piloted the lunar module on Apollo 12, the second lunar landing mission|access-date=May 28, 2018}}</ref>}}