Science City

Science City
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The stair goes up to an area with mounted birds-the most common in our area-and a microphone to listen to bird calls on. At the foot of the tree is a cave area with stalagtites and stalagmites, crystals and spelunking gear and a bat call area. It opens to the dig site at the Dino Lab where a real Paleontologist is working on the fossilized bones of a Camarasaurus he found in Montana (I'm pretty sure). You can watch him and another guy freeing the fossils from rock and see the field jackets they were transported and stored in (plaster and toilet paper coccoons for the fossils and surrounding rock so nothing gets lost or damaged). I was sitting up a hallway from the tree, by the playground where my kids were busy climbing the jungle gym and making soap bubbles. We have a Family Membership to Union Station, our second year, and will spend lots of time here on hot days! During the World-wide Sketchcrawl. At Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri.

Hagalaz

Hagalaz
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

(Hail) is the whitest of grains,
it comes from high in heaven
showers of wind hurl it,then it turns to water.
-Old English Rune Poem

Chestnut Graphitint and Noodler's Eternal Black ink on Stonehenge paper, the rune was drawn with a C-1 Speedball pen point dipped in clear water.

Germanic/Norse Runes are something I've studied, off and on, for a number of years. It's a way for me to connect with my German heritage in a way that meshes with my spiritual practices. I had the idea to try to use the watercolor pencils in a way to illustrate the symbols, reminiscent of illuminated initials in Gothic texts. Still playing with them, this will be a bit of a journey and I'll do lots of exploring along the way. I noticed on NaBloPoMo that April's theme is letters, prompting my return to studying some of the more ancient European letterforms in a new way. This particular rune marks the beginning of my journey.

Lamy Goodness!

3-15 Journal Page
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

This is the first "real" journal page in this book! I have a new pen and am really enjoying it. I'm trying to watch Elizabeth, the Golden Age before it expires (on pay-per-view) today. The Cub's playing on the floor in front of me with his Mini Whinnies and Star Wars and Transformers Pocket Models. I like being able to do this! I may keep using Lamy ink in this pen-maybe not blue, I'll see what's available. I plan to buy a second one, anyway, to keep another color in. One for grey waterproof Noodler's ink, the other for soluable Lamy ink. What color? Something to ruminate on for a few weeks! I'm also able to lift the ink with my waterbrush and a tissue, nice! More to spend my allowance on! We got the new MW Drafter set last night, too. They're carrying Breyers at Zoom again! It's been about 10 years, or so.

Masking Tools

Masking Tools
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Not that anyone ever needs an excuse for more art tools, but I got these to satisfy my traveling-with-masking-stuff need. I also read and got started on the first exercise in Lesson 3, trying out different ways to draw/paint surf and waves.

Off for a hike along Indian Creek with the kids...there's a waterfall at Jasper's!

Stuck Still Life

Stuck Still Life
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm sitting here with my morning coffee, as I did 2 days ago when I made this photograph, staring at the same page in Kate's book. It's the second page of Lesson 3 on water, sky & clouds. I'm thinking about why I'm not keeping my attention and energy in the lessons and off making the book. When I pick it up, I read "I wanted to maintain lacy foliage effects in the distant trees, as well as a lighter trunk here and there, so I used a bit of liquid mask to protect those areas, applied with an old bamboo pen." Then I stop. My brain says, "liquid mask, bamboo pen, how can I make those really portable? that's a necessary thing, i must solve this now." And off I go to the internet and look up all the art supply stores' sites for masking supplies and think about screw-top containers versus snap-top containers spilling in my backpack and how can I get the really fine lines I need to make with a bamboo pen versus a synthetic brush dipped in soapy water first to keep the mask from gumming up the brush and all the things I would have to take in my backpack to paint at the park and how I can make it so I can throw it in the pack quickly to keep up with the kids or run from rain.

And I don't get the lesson read.
And I don't paint.

Hopefully, this self-examination will clear up the matter enough, this morning, for me to actually get further than that sentence once I post this entry...we'll see!

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Orchid WIP 6 - Done?
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Watercolor pencil on cold press paper. It's a little bigger than the last two were, it's 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches. I was just supposed to do a simple flower or piece of fruit to get some feel for watercolor pencils...but couldn't pass this up. I took the photo at Powell Gardens last year during Cynthia Padilla's Botanical Still Life class. It was fun to try different techniques; lifting color from the pencils with a wet brush, dry points on wet paper and blending in layers. I like them! I'd like to pare my palette down to something portable, like most of us are in Kate Johnson's Watercolor Pencil Magic online class, and I want to get some of the F-C Albrect Durer pencils, too. They are very portable and it was neat to do the doorway and come home and wet it and detail it later last week.

This orchid's gotten some nice comments over on Flickr...come see!

Conway Hall Door

Conway Hall Door
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

at Rockhurst College, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, MO. We were there for a Girl Scout function and I had a little time after helping with the sack lunches (I bagged turkey sandwiches, PB&Js & cleaned up), so I got out the Graphitint watercolor pencils and my trusty sketchbook! I did this so quickly! Some details I had to do from memory or make up... the reflection in the doors, the texture of the stones...the bush wasn't there, and I know I should have been able to see into the door a bit..and wet the whole thing at home tonight. Not an assignment for my class either, but we were working on rocks and trees in Lesson 2 last week.