Minnesota Storm

Knitting and Snow....the perfect combination  Warmth and Beauty in early December

The Blue Marble self portraits

"Forty years ago today, Apollo 17 astronauts took a famous photograph of Earth. It's now known as "The Blue Marble," because that's exactly what our home looks like: a blue marble floating against the vast black velvet backdrop of space. The photograph was the first clear image of the Earth, because the sun was at the astronauts' back, and so the planet appears lit up and you can distinctly see blue, white, brown, and green. You can also see a cyclone forming over the Indian Ocean. The photo became a symbol of the environmental movement of the 1970s.
The crew of Apollo 17 was about 28,000 miles away from Earth when they took the Blue Marble photo. It was the last time that astronauts, not robots, were on a lunar mission — since then, no humans have gotten far enough away from Earth to take a photo like it."

from the Writer's Almanac for today Dec 7, 2012      Host: Garrison Keillor
Writers: Betsy Allister, Holly Vanderhaar

Florida Watercolors

Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park, Gulf, Florida

sand dunes at St Joseph Peninsula state park

These were done quite a few years ago.   I have recently been doing some gouache copies of work and do not want to post any of those since they are quite derivative, so here's at least more original work.

Strings of Stripes

Using some lovely wool from Denmark called Kauni Efffektgarn in colors coded: EQ and EF, I am knitting a pattern called Wiggle Wrap by Sally Brandl.  I hope this colorful interlude will help me get going on finishing the warp of hemp on the loom which has been waiting for action for too long.

On Being : A Dash of Light

This program is an interesting burst of sunshine on a complex vision.

http://www.onbeing.org/program/alive-enough-reflecting-our-technology/63

another more local, humble yet interesting burst of sunshine on a complex vision

S P O O L S

Metrosketchers at Swedish Institute

interior stained glass window and fancy mouldings, in addition to Christmas tree decorations

the exterior of Turnblad Mansion, looking from the Nelson Cultural Center

inside the Turnblad Mansion looking out

The American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN was the site for the most recent group sketching trip.  There are two buildings: the Nelson Cultural Center and the historic Turnblad Mansion.  Often the sketchers in one building could look across the way and see the sketchers in the other building looking back at them.  My drawings are from the viewpoints of both buildings and I could even see  a reflection in the windows of the building from which I was sketching.