Icicles and Blooms

Icicles watercolor by Meera Rao

In the last week of January this year, we saw some heavy snow fall and with it very interesting icicle formations as the snow melted slowly from the roof top.  It is indeed serendipity when I paired it with the photo of the week in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022.  Debra Baxter's Devils Horns Crystal Brass Knuckles(Lefty) 2015 made with Quartz crystals and sterling silver was exhibited at the Renwick Gallery, Washington DC. 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 week 5 

Relief in Full Bloom  Faber Castell PITT Artist pen by Meera Rao 

Spring came early for us last year on January 27, when we received our first shot of Covid-19 vaccine! It was indeed relief in full bloom! We then waited eagerly for the second shot scheduled in three weeks :) 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 week 5 

Japanese flowering apricot Prunus mume 'Peggy Clarke' in the Smithsonian Engagement calendar 2021 is a digital image  by Hannele Lahti from March 2019 at the National air and space Museum, Washington DC Smithsonian Gardens. 'This deep pink, double flowered cultivar of the Japanese apricot is easily mistaken for its botanical cousin the Japanese flowering cherry. Flowering apricots are the first sign of spring, blooming before cherry blossoms have even begun to open.' 

Little Sister

Little Sister watercolor by Meera Rao

This special little baby girl was a pleasure to paint. When it is hard to visit grand babies because of the pandemic, painting them has been a truly unique gift for me. It also gave me an excuse to watch her baby videos on loop and cherish the play time with her on video calls. While painting this portrait, I could almost feel her ‘baby smell’ and soft skin with each brush stroke :)

Blissful Baby

 

Blissful Baby  watercolor by Meera Rao 

I finally finished the baby painting of my grandson. It was really long overdue (five+ years!). I was somehow never satisfied with my earlier attempts. This time, as preparation, I  watched many of his baby videos. That made it a lot more fun, felt a little bit easier and natural to sketch and paint. I am sure sketching consistently over the past few years also helped! In the end it turned out to be an immensely rewarding experience. 

If you could say it 

in words

there would be no reason

to paint.

~Edward Hopper~

Changing Dance of the Universe

Changing Dance of the Universe watercolor on Yupo 

My Dad breathed his last on January 21. I know death is inevitable but letting go is never easy.  The pandemic fears meant I was not with him in person. But the marvel of video call technology and my dear brother's intuition made it possible for me to be there just minutes before he slipped away.  My swirling emotions later poured out in "Changing Dance of The Universe." 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 week 4

The photograph for that week in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 - 'Untitled Female Dancer with Mirrors' c1950 is attributed to Robert S. Scurlock. "The Scurlock Studio was an African American family photographic business that flourished in the Shaw area of Washington, DC., from 1911-1994. Among thousands of photographs in the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History, dancers represent a frequent subject, including professional performers, Howard U students, and private dance school clients. The identity of this dancer, shown rehearsing is unknown" 

Wearing Pearls and Celebrating Kamala  watercolor on Yupo

On January 20th 2021, Kamala Harris became the first woman, first Indian American, first black and Asian American to be sworn in as the Vice President of the United States of America! I wore pearls, a bright blue top that day as I watched the ceremony on TV and celebrated the historic moment. 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 week 4

Minnijean Brown-Trickey's graduation dress,1959 graces the opposite page in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021: "Minnijean Brown-Trickey (b1941)made history by simply going to school and claiming her right to belong. In 1957, four years after 'Brown v Board of Education', she and eight classmates integrated the all white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bullied and eventually expelled, Brown graduated from Lincoln High School in New York city wearing this dress, which she designed. She later remembered 'I felt perfectly beautiful in it'." 

Folds and Craters

A Leporello In Celebration of Life color pencils by Meera Rao

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 -Week 3

During the the past two years because of the pandemic closings, the National Museum for the Women in the Arts has offered an Art Chat every Friday introducing women artists from their collection. I have thoroughly enjoyed attending those online chats rarely missing any. On Friday January 14th, during the art chat we were introduced to book art in Leporello binding and encouraged to fold a sheet of paper and draw along during the event. I took bits and parts, a color or form from each of the artworks from the three artists of the day and filled my page.  In book binding, Leporello binding is a concertina folded pages with front and back boards.   Leporella fibriata, I learned later because of a lucky spelling error  is a hinged orchid from Australia. While contemplating the page for week 3 in the Smithsonian Engagement Calender 2022,  I decided to fold my artwork and hinge my leporello like a leporella to the page.  Perfect for my 'upcycled'  dairy and art journal for sketching the pandemic years! 

The painting 'Luck Lines' on the opposite page in the Smithsonian engagement Calendar is by Nicole Eisenman. "Often steeped in allegory yet resistant to easy interpretation, Eisenman's paintings acknowledge the complex social and political structures that shape contemporary identity. 'Luck Lines' foregrounds the line believed by palm readers to reveal one's destiny encouraging us to consider whether our lives are predetermined or shaped by individual will."  

My page before folding

A Glorious Sunset  watercolor by Meera Rao 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 Week 3

The photo in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 for week 3 was a photograph of the Greek village of Oia, Santorini by LucVI.  The caption on the photo reads "Part of the Cyclades, a Greek island chain in the Aegean, Santoni is also renowned for the important archaeological site of the Akrotiri, once a Minoan Bronze Age city buried in volcanic ash in the 16th century BCE."  As luck would have it, in my camera roll for that week in 2021 was a glorious sunset from my own backyard :) We may not have a volcano near by, but we have the Chesapeake Bay Meteor Impact Crater - 'worlds best preserved wet-target impact crater.' formed around 35.5 + 0.3 Million years ago in the late Eocene epoch era.  Scientists have proof that the continued slumping of the sediments over the rubble of the crater has helped shape the Chesapeake Bay

Beauty, Death, Time and Recipes !!

Red Bench at the Cemetery  watercolor by Meera Rao 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 Week 2 

A winter storm blanketed Washington DC the first Monday of the year. At the Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC, the beauty of a snow covered red bench sitting amidst snow capped tombstones was very unsettling in a way. The photograph of the watch on the opposite page seemed to further that feeling reminding me of the ticking clock of life.

When I read that it is an uncommon watch and belonged to Helen Keller, I was intrigued. The touch watch by Rossellini & Fils c.1865 Geneva, Switzerland, designed to tell time in the dark, with pins around the edge that correspond to the hours on the dial, was a gift to teenaged Helen Keller.  ‘A revolving hand on the back of the watch stops at a point between the pins that corresponds to the hour and approximate minute. With the hand and pins as locators, it is possible to feel the approximate time.’   

While I was mulling over the concepts of beauty, death and ticking clock, I stumbled across this quote written by Albert Einstein on the passing of his friend Michele Besso : ‘Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me.  That means nothing. People like us, who believe in Physics, know that the distinction between the past, present and future, is a stubbornly persistent illusion.’ Sounds like ‘Maya’ - something right out of Upanishads that I been reading and and trying to understand !!! 

Color mixing : greens. Watercolor Meera Rao 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 week 2 

The photograph for the week in Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 week 2 is of ‘cordial recipes from James Smithson’s  receipt book’  :  ‘Honor the Smithsonian’s 175th birthday by toasting the founding donor, James Smithsonian (1765-1829), with one of his cordials- aniseed, peppermint or cinnamon. Smithsonian, a chemist recorded formulas for a wide array of his favorite compounds that found use in tooth powder, boot black, and cough drops.’ 

Looking through my photographs and sketchbooks I discovered that ‘color recipes’ for green by mixing different yellows and blues was what I was working on during that week. :) 

Cheers! Be Hoppy !

Guinness Barrel House  pen & ink and Pitt artist pens

Last Sunday, we met family from Out of town at the Guinness Brewery in Baltimore. It turned out to be  a perfect place to meet - as we chose to gather at the open area in the complex with picnic tables. Since we were there as it opened late morning, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The kids ran around and played happily and adults were all very happy to meet each other after long pandemic separation!  There was a lot of happy catching up and we were too busy for much drinking or eating :)  A few hours of seeing each other and renewing bonds gave us some comfort. 

Guinness Brewery  view from Parkinglot  pen & ink, watercolor and Pitt artist pens

The sketches done in the parkinglot were quick ones  done in the car while waiting for the place to open. I added color at home. The Barrel House sketch was done at home. It was the view from our picnic tables. I like the effect of adding a touch of color to mostly black and white sketches. I was experimenting on how much color to add in each of these sketches. 

Guinness Brewery view from Parkinglot   pen & ink and Pitt artist pens

 

New year and the Theme Continues !

Hydrangea in December from our garden watercolor by Meera Rao 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021 week1 

Happy New Year !! Wishing all a happy, healthy, creative year ahead!

I am back at it again - sketching simultaneously in my 2021(retroactive) and 2022 Smithsonian Engagement Calendar as a continuation of my 2020 theme of ‘Sketching the Pandemic Year!’  I haven’t come up with any other project to keep me ‘engaged’ and had these two beautiful books on hand. So I  continue to record something for each week while still mulling over other ideas ! This way I will have at least 106 sketches done this year :) 

“The ‘Dyber Amertrine’ photographed in the 2021 Smithsonian Engagement Calendar is a quartz variety mined in Anahi Mine, Bolivia, that is part amethyst and part citrine, accounting for the unique purple and yellow orange color combination seen in theses gems. Although faceted and carved by hand, the ‘Dyber Ametrine’ also represents the state-of-the-art cutting techniques used by gem artist Michael Dyber , including ‘Dyberotic Optic Dishes’ that create optical illusions.”

The fading, drying hydrangea is from our garden photographed last December. It mirrored the colors and beauty  of the ametrine and was the motivation for me to continue sketch-journaling in these Engagement calendars! 

Cooper’s Hawk  watercolor by Meera Rao 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022 week1 

As with the owl in the previous post, I identified Cooper’s hawk calls I heard on my daily walk last week using the Merlin Bird App from Cornell Ornithology Lab. Two days later I saw three of them again in the same area circling above.  Using bird guides and my own blurry photographs I sketched it in watercolor. 

The explanation in the 2022 Smithsonian Engagement Calendar about the dove photographed on that page : ‘Artis Pablo Cano created this card for Helen Kohen, a noted art historian and critic, to thank her for a gift she had given him and to tell her how he was using it. The front of the card features a drawing of a dove and the back includes a sketch of a design for a telephone booth shaped like a women’s head.’  I guess now that page has a dove and hawk :) 

What Bird is that ?

Owl sketch in Mixed Media by Meera Rao 

I have not seen an Owl in our backyard but I hear its calls late at night and early mornings.  Recently the app  Merlin Bird ID from the The Cornell Lab added a feature to record the bird calls. The app then helps you identify the bird using its sound bank! How cool is that?  That's how I learned that it is a Great Horned Owl that is in our backyard! I have been using the app on my walks(Identified Cooper's Hawk call just yesterday), in the backyard, or anywhere else I hear a bird call that I can not recognize (which is 99% of the time!) 

I sketched this owl (Screech owl?) during a draw and paint along with Jack (John) Muir Laws  about a month ago. His website, You Tube channel, and books are  treasure troves of information on nature and nature journaling. I used pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and my new Derwent Grahitint  paint pans set. Sketching often has definitely helped me improve my 'seeing' and drawing skills. 

 

Congressional Cemetery

 

Congressional Cemetery  Derwent Grahitint paints, watercolors and pen by Meera Rao 

This is a sketch of family vaults at the Congressional cemetery in Washington DC. When we visit DC, we often go for walks at the cemetery with our granddogs. Most days Congressional cemetery members’ dogs can roam around there leash free. ‘The Canine Corps’ and the folks who bring them form an important part in the running of the cemetery providing about 1/4th of the operating income. 

The website explains: ‘Congressional Cemetery is a 35-acre historic yet active burial ground located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Initially known as the Washington Parish Burial Ground, Congressional Cemetery became the first truly national burial ground as Congress bought sites, buried noted civil servants, and funded the infrastructure.’ 

'Among the nearly 70,000 burials at Congressional are scores of noteworthy citizens who left their mark on the city and the nation.' 

While walking around reading the names on the gravestones, I recognize very few. But as I slowly learn the names, I am  getting a very special understanding of history of the city and the nation. The calm, quiet beauty of the place along with happy dogs strangely always makes visiting the cemetery a memorable experience. The last time we were there, the trees were in full fall color glory !