crochet the coral reef

Orange is part of the reef of crochet

Today I learned about a project that is currently on display here in Washington DC at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum  titled The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef 
This is one life sized crochet installation and there are many of them growing around the world.

recycled materials crocheted into the reef

It is a very interesting story how this crochet project came to solve a problem using a form of lacy handy work, my grandmother tried to teach me, presented by Margaret Wertheim on TED talks. If you haven't ever seen a TED talk check out the videos of the best thinkers in the world telling their stories in 18 minutes or less. Well worth the time to view this story and make a date to go see the installation while it is in town. Thanks to Sabeth Jackson from Pyramid Atlantic Studios for posting the talk on her blog and letting us know this exhibition is in Washington DC right now!
Went to see the show today and really enjoyed taking photos which you can see in my flicker set called Crochet Coral Reef

sketchcrawl #29

National Cathedral 

Holly tree sketch Bishop's garden

We regrouped and posed for a group photo at noon and headed off for lunch then headed off down the hill on Mass. Avenue towards DuPont Circle. We stopped at the Finnish Embassy to see if it was open but were disappointed to find it closed up. Along the way we discovered a little memorial park across from the English Embassy and everyone split up to draw for about an hour. I chose to go into the wooded area at the back of the memorial because there were trees there in the forest setting. 

Erin sketching at the memorial 

My woodland sketch at the memorial

Islamic Center's courtyard 

From the memorial we ambled down the road talking and visiting until we arrived at the Islamic Center on Belmont Street NW. It is a mosque and community center with a book store and ATM! We decided to look inside cautiously feeling a little unsure if we would be welcome. At first it seemed quiet deserted almost. Signs say please enter with head covered for women and everyone must remove shoes. So we took off our shoes to go all the way inside. It was elaborately decorated with Islamic motifs of plants representing nature long hand like a calligraphy. It is a small building with a dramatic sort of fantasy, giving a feeling of grandeur as you stand in the courtyard. We

Looking up at the tower from the courtyard.

spread out again and everyone began drawing different parts of the building. I felt tired and tried to draw the arches in the courtyard but soon found it was much more complex than my patience could cope with so late in the crawl.

A distraction arrived right on time.

While we were seated drawing there a group of men & boys in colorful caftans arrived. Next thing I knew there was a big white stretch Humvee at the gates and a party of women and girls disembarked stealing my attention from the architecture I was struggling to draw. I was shy about taking pictures but suddenly I saw the group's photographer and realized that what I was seeing in shades of turquoise and pink were the men and women of a wedding party. Someone reported that they were from Sierra Leone and this was clearly an African display of colorful costume on a very special occasion. I enjoyed watching them and wished there was a way to make this a water color on the spot. Full sun and blue skies gave all the colorful dresses full expression of joy and celebration. 

This is the second time on a sketch crawl I have had a first. Last time it was the delightful Brazilian all female drum corps practicing downtown on a Saturday morning in Farragut Square. This time a first time in a mosque and a first time to see a full wedding party in African wedding costumes. Both well worth the trouble of getting up early and walking for a long afternoon around town with a bunch of very nice artists. My drawings are not as rich as the experience and I always feel like I should have done more or had more color or like something was missing. It is hard to slow down and draw what you see and to do it all day is pretty draining. My pal Vincent confessed to being pretty drained after our third stop. We made it down to DuPont Circle and threw in the towel and hopped on metro and rode home together.

printing solo

press bed with news print and a metal plate

Yesterday, I was very excited to use the print shop at Pyramid Atlantic Studios for the first time as a solo printer. I finally managed to get certified to use the press, the chemicals and all equipment in their studio alone. I wanted to do this as much as ten years ago but it didn't seem possible then. Now, thanks to a lot of people, but mostly Keith, I began with a refresher course in how to make the plates and print this year. Then I went to twice monthly open print shop nights and printed with a monitor to build up my experience. I have been building up volunteer hours making book boxes for the Moving Parts project for over a year now to get time to redeem in the shop. Thanks to Kelly O'Brien for inviting me to volunteer on that project.  Last week after talking with the print shop manager Jake Muirhead he gave me his approval to go ahead and use the intaglio print studio solo.
It was very exciting to actually get in there and set up and get to work on my own. I got some materials from the Art supply across the street. Thanks to my sister Jenny for the gift certificate that bought these tools and materials I had been without. Now I am making setting up to begin printing them on my own. I set my fine print paper to soaking in a tray of water. I turned on the hot plate to warm my etching plate and covered it with newspaper to protect it from ink. Then I plugged in the lights over the inking area. I dug out my plates, ink and fresh ink wiping tarleton, a sort of stiff cheese cloth used just for etchings.
Finally I set up my iPod with the portable mini speakers to John Lenon first to hear my newest songs Yoko released last week for his 70th Birthday. I was on a roll. I had my clean news print ready and damp print paper.

printing press with blankets rolled back

On the press I placed three felt blankets I selected to pad the steel roller. I set the press bed pressure with a clean plate sandwiched between blankets and press rollers. I chose a pressure toward to lighter side of what felt right on the bed to begin printing.

tarletons, newsprint & daubers in front of the large hot plate for metal plate warming 

Suddenly I remembered that the Plexiglas plate I was preparing to print did not need to be heated! Swiftly removed it from the hot plate and set to work inking it up. Only the metal plates get heated to soften the ink. The Plexiglas plate I was using started to warp on the hot plate so that was clearly a first mistake.
The black oil based ink is smeared all over the top of the plate almost like icing on a cake only much stickier and thicker than icing. Then slowly with the stiff tarleton I wiped off the ink leaving the lines I made in the plate full of black ink and the surface almost clean.
Once the edges were wiped clean I take it to the press and set it on news print then cover it with a sheet of blotted damp print paper and that gets covered with another new print sheet and the blankets. Then comes the fun of rolling them all slowly through the press. At last on the other side the print will be revealed by pulling up the blankets and peeling the damp print off the plate. This is when I see the results. Not bad for the first one moving on to the next repeat the inking, wiping and place paper then roll it again and the next was a little lighter?  I change how much ink I wipe off in the next few prints. Trying to get it darker. I stop for a break and show someone the results who passed by discussing how I wish it were darker. Then suddenly I thought to myself maybe I need to add more pressure? I ink up the plate again and get it ready to pull through the press then turn the screws three notches tighter or a quarter turn on the dial at opposite ends of the roller. Run it through and voila, I get a darker print! Wow I solved my first problem but not as soon as I had wished. So much for not having an expert around but next time I will know to try tightening the screws sooner.

I ended up printing 9 prints in three hours, more than I expected but not all as good as I would like. Clearly I need more practice which is why I wanted to get in there to print alone. I collected my prints from the drying rack and sandwiched them in a folder to take home and press flat to dry. Then I began the important process of cleaning up the studio. It is paramount to leave it clean so it will be ready for the next artist to begin with a clean studio and not get surprised by ink on a surface that will ruin some expensive paper or the clothes of unsuspecting visitors.  Everything cleaned and put away all the tools returned to their proper places, the lights and hot plate turned off. I came home very happy to have completed my day of print making solo at Pyramid Atlantic studios! Now I hope to go back and print and burn my new plates in the acid about once a week so I can build up a portfolio of etchings. Thanks to everyone who supports my creative printmaking.
Next up I will be working at home on the metal plates I covered in hard ground yesterday readied to begin drawing new lines that I will etch in the acid the next time I visit the Pyramid Atlantic Studios to work solo or otherwise.

10-10-10

the top of my new favorite tree in Lafayette Square it is so burly

everyone in front of the Whitehouse for the 350.org rally for climate change solutions and clean energy.

James Hanson reading his prepared statement about changes needed in the future of American and world wide energy policy.

This past Sunday was a beautiful day in Washington DC. Keith and I went downtown to an international work party rally that was part of over 7,000 events held around the world sponsored by 350.org . We were "delivering solar panels and water heaters" to the Whitehouse which will be installed soon. The speakers were smart scientists all committed to helping end our fossil fuel energy dependence and bringing solar wind and other forms of clean energy to American life. James Hanson was the scientist from NASA who figured out we need to get the particles of atmospheric carbon dioxide down to 350 parts per million or lower to stop the cascading climate shifts that are happening. Last I heard the carbon measures above 380ppm. It is still happening and I see less interest in the country since the down turn in the economy and this event reminded me how far we have to go and how little has been accomplished. I am happy that Obama is putting solar panels and water heaters on the Whitehouse. I hope this is just the beginning of a move to turn the climate crisis and lead the world towards a better future. See images from all the demonstration work parties around the globe on 350.org's web page over 10,000 images from 10-10-2010.

Once the rally broke up we sat down in the shade. I drew my favorite willow oak again from a different angle. After lunch I found another old willow oak tree I like even better, so I sat down and drew it while Keith went to see a couple of craft shows in the Renwick I had already seen. Lafayette Square is across from the Whitehouse and the museum is right there on the corner of 17th & Pennsylvania Avenue.

tree sketches

white cedar tree trunks viewed from our 2nd floor studio

beech tree trunk Manassas

white pine tree trunk Manassas

Randolph St. dying Norway maple

Randolph St. maple tree

banana tree trunk peeling layers

banana tree sketch

My daily morning routine is almost set as a habit now. I have continued past the three month marker which I have read is how long it takes to get a habit embedded in ones life. After I did my morning pages and sketch I found myself with no Internet but access to Keith's computer/scanner where I figured it was a good time to scan my recent sketches. I discovered there was a nice group of tree sketches in the book. Lots of flower sketches but this tree group stood out as a quick edit for a blog post. I have 42 more sketches to edit and I am going to take time to do a few each day instead of all in one sweep. Seeing all these sketches gets me thinking it's time to start work on some more prints but getting some more time drawing trees is a priority too. The weather is milder and I want to go out and do some more sketches and studies of some of the great trees in our neighborhood. The big ones often don't stick around as long as one would think they will. The big tornado and thunder storms that went through NYC is a good example. Dozens of trees were toppled. NYT readers photos of the aftermath on their website here. Be good to your trees friends.

aquatic gardens

Keith by a lotus pond having a happy birthday

great flotilla of lavender blue water hyacinth was the first sight to greet us as we arrived at the Kenilworth Aquatic gardens in North East Washington DC.

female black swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar rarely sat still for a portrait

one of many beautiful water lilies in the ponds blooming

this blurry photo reminds me of the great stained glass artists John La Farge and

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Keith kneels to make photos by one of many ponds at the

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

This memorial holiday weekend Washington DC has had a perfect string of days after a hurricane Earl passed by at sea on Friday sweeping away the 90ºF heat wave for a while. All week I have been dreaming I wanted to go outdoors on the first day that wasn't going to get over 80ºF. Saturday was Keith's birthday I didn't want to dictate where we should go. I let him decide on his own and sure enough after 11 years together he chose the exact place I wanted to go on his special day. Kenilworth Aquatic Park and Gardens! We spent two hours strolling slowly with our cameras looking at the birds and flowers and the whole scene along the Anacostia river where the tides fill the marsh with river water then drain it nearly dry and back again.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is one of those out of the way places that takes a little navigating to find but once you are there it is heaven. US Parks runs it and does a pretty good job maintaining the 11 acres of ponds, wilderness trails and board walks. It is teaming with wildlife some native and some invasive making it a demanding job to keep under control . First I saw a large river muskrat rustling the dried lotus leaves to build something in one pond. Much later we spotted a beaver den not 15 feet from one of the boardwalks. The first bird we discovered was a small adult green heron in a shallow lily pond fishing. Keith and I both took some pictures of it moving along slowly on the hunt. Then we spotted a few turtles on a log sunning which reminded me of one I had as a pet in the 1960's.

Soon we saw there were bigger birds closer to the river. Canada geese were making a lot of romantic declarations. A great blue heron perched on a fallen tree in one channel while preening some blue gray feathers before it slipped into the water to fish. Finally from the board walk we saw several Snowy egrets also on perches and in the water hunting small fish. There are tad poles and minnows in all the ponds making it a great buffet for so many of these marsh birds I am sure it is a haven to them as well as for me. There were butterflies, eastern tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails like the female one seen above, a bunch of orange and brown smaller butterflies and the migrating wonder, orange and black Monarch were everywhere. Numerous dragon flies were hard to catch near enough to photograph clearly. It was a challenge to get perfect photos but the excursion was well worth the effort and one I would gladly repeat soon. I took 98 photos and haven't yet finished the editing but you will be able to see them in my flickr Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens set soon.

local trees

workers planting new trees at the far end of the community play grounds

new redbud trees at Turkey Thicket Community Center

more new redbud trees along the edges of the ball field

tall locust trees at either end of the ball fields

Yesterday, the last day of August, I came by Turkey Thicket community center and was delighted and concerned to see a few dozen new trees laying on the ground. Hours later they were planted in the ground with mulch and green water gator bags filled. Since the center opened a few years ago no new trees have been planted around this huge area of game fields. During the heat of most summer days walking or exercise on the track is rough with no shade. In a few years now there will be some and having more trees and a wee bit less grass mowing will help absorb some of those green house gases that make our summers hotter.