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 ! 

That Eventful Night

That Eventful Night  watercolor, pen and ink 5.5x3.5” by Meera Rao 

That night in July 2020 when the confederate monument in the neighboring town Portsmouth, Va came down, I sat glued to the TV.  I did a small sketch with a pen as I watched the events unfold. A huge crowd gathered around the monument with their cell phones in hand recording the historic event. Unfortunately the statue came down on one of the people involved and gravely injured him. Almost a year later when the anniversary came about, I watercolored my sketch.  Last couple of days, issues about removing the base of a toppled Lee statue in Richmond, Va has been in the news reminded me of the sketch  tucked away in my sketchbook. 

13 years and 620 posts !

 Vanilla cafe. Pen and Ink by Meera Rao 

November was a busy month and I did not get around to posting on my blog. I missed the blog anniversary - 13 years and 620 posts :) A big ‘Thank You’ to all who have visited, followed, read and or left comments. I have met many talented and generous artists who broadened my horizons inspiring me to do better.  I am really grateful for all the support I have received ! 

Having this blog has been a wonderful incentive to keep sketching and painting which in turn has helped me grow as an artist. Over the years I have become more comfortable sketching in public, experimenting and not minding imperfections in my work but seeing them as valuable guides to develop further.  Vanilla cafe  was sketched on location - we visited this cafe every morning for 5 days during our stay in London in late October.  This is a nice little memory of great soy lattes and vegan croissants during our stay :) 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 53

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 53 December 27-January 2 

The nature’s jewels whether it’s the largest rough diamond mined and then crafted into a necklace or the vibrant colors of the blueberry bush in winter are all wondrous!  ‘The Cullinan Blue Diamond necklace’ in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar  2020  a gift given to his wife Annie by Thomas Cullinan ‘ features nine blue diamonds and 253 colorless diamonds in rose gold and silver setting made around 1910. Suspended from the bow is the 2.60 carat Cullinan Blue Diamond, named for Thomas Cullinan, then Chairman of the Premiere Mine in South Africa.’  It was to commentate the largest diamond ever mined at 3106 carrots.  That diamond was gifted to King Edward VII of England.  I don’t know if the miner who found the diamond received any bonus! 

Blueberry bush in winter colors watercolor by Meera Rao 

A year of sheltering at home savoring the beauty and wonder of nature, moved me to appreciate and be grateful for every day miracles. I revisited the  year 2020 as I  posted these 53 sketches and my thoughts! In January of this year I received my first covid-19 vaccine.  Yet, ten months later, the pandemic is definitely not quite over and life is going on in a new normal- much different and still masked! 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 52

The Great Conjuncture of Jupiter and Saturn 

On December 21 2020, we were fortunate to watch the great conjuncture of Jupiter and Saturn as the the planets appeared closest to each other in the night sky. It was a treat to watch it right from our backyard soon after sunset without a telescope ! The conjuncture happens once every 20 years when Jupiter overtakes Saturn in its orbit. This one was the great conjuncture because it is the rarest of the conjunctures between naked eye planets -separations of less than 10 arcminutes have only happened four times since 1200- this being the most recent. According to NASA website  : What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.”  We, at first could not really believe what we were able to see with the naked eye - double checking it on NASA and other astronomy websites, and watching live streams from astronomy centers. We went in and out of the house admiring the universe’s wonders ! 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 52 December 20-26

Grandma Moses Out for Christmas Tree 1946 (oil on pressed wood) graces this week in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020. ‘This winter landscape includes a number of charming vignettes as people pick out Christmas trees, pull sleds up a snowy slope, and chop firewood.’  As sweet as the scene in the painting is, my cherished Christmas memory for years to come will be the great conjuncture !!! 

This is week 52 - but there is one more page and one last sketch to share to complete my ‘Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020’ ! 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 51

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 51 December 13-19 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar had an unexpected benefit for me - I learned a lot of interesting history through the photos for each week from the Smithsonian collection. The stamp pictured is a $1 beer revenue stamp proof single, 1871 Card, scarlet and black ink engraved frame and vignette from the collection of National Postal Museum. Who knew there was a beer revenue stamp !!! According to the write up on the page, “at the time this stamp was printed, the federal beer tax was $1 per barrel. Brewers purchased sheets of the stamps without gum or perforations, cut the stamps apart, canceled them and pasted them over the stopper of the beer barrel so that tapping the barrel destroyed the stamp. This 1871 proof contains two mistakes : Secretary of Treasury Hugh McCulloch’s name is misspelled ’McCullogh’ and the word ‘printing’ contains a typo.”

I am not much of a beer drinker - beverage of my choice is coffee with lots of soy milk ! This particular morning a rainbow fell  through the window across the tablecloth and the coffee mug - best start for a beautiful day ! The table cloth and the patterns on my cup complement the photo on the opposite page quite well. Savoring the moment, I knew what to draw for that week :) 

Rainbow cup watercolor and pen by Meera Rao 

 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 50

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 50 Dec 6-12 

The shirt pictured in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 for week 50 is from Harlem Globetrotters from 1960s. It is at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  The caption reads: ‘Although founded in Chicago in the 1920s, the Harlem Globetrotters name helped identify them as a black team. While barnstorming through the Midwest, the team developed many of the comedy routines that would lead to their international fame.’  Mushroom is a ‘fungi’ that is why I paired it with the Harlem Globetrotters  -  fungi /fun guy - get it ?  ;) 

Mushrooms  Watercolor by Meera Rao 

 

I  found this beautiful, colorful mushroom in our backyard. I loved the colors and it’s shape. There was only one mushroom of that kind. Even after looking through guide books I was not able to identify it definitively. I was not aware that taking a spore print might have helped with the identification. I have since then been reading up on mushrooms/fungi and in awe of their underground network as well as their role in the ecosystem. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 49

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 49 November 29-December 5 

‘Richard Avedon’s eye catching posters of the Beatles- created at the height of the band’s fame- became icons of youth culture in the 1960s. This psychedelic portrait of John Lennon (1940-1980)-[ offset lithograph on white wove paper] appeared on the cover of a special issue of Look magazine in 1967 that chronicled changing times in a tumultuous decade.’ 

That is the explanation in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 for week 48, and my colorful sketch for the week chronicles the unexpected fun I had with my granddaughters during the ‘shelter at home’ year.  We met via video chats. I quickly learned from them how to use all the different fun features :) We giggled and role played for hours. I am forever grateful for the silver lining that shone through during those dark pandemic days. Even though I am thankful that they are back in school, busy with their lives,  I really miss those video chats and the time we spent together chatting, reading, playing away happily. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020  Video Chat fun by Meera Rao 

 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 48

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 48 November 22-28

The beautiful Yuit (Siberian Yup'ik) carved Eskimo ivory flatware (1920-23) from St.Laurence Island, Alaska, in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 pairs nicely with our Thanksgiving dessert plate :)  We had a simple thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us but we are still so grateful for this loaded dessert plate courtesy of our many friends! Sharing even during the pandemic shelter at home days added that wonderful rainbow to our lives. 

The Dessert Plate watercolor by Meera Rao 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 47 Nature’s Calligraphy

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 47 November 15-21

‘I think I will never see a poem

 as lovely as a tree’

~Joyce Kilmer~ 

My husband and I try to walk everyday and record 10,000+ steps. Every few weeks we get the urge to go somewhere different and change our routine a bit. As always, Nature, during the covid shelter in place days,  has been a source of magical moments and I have been documenting my joys, awe and surprise in small ways.  This particular day last November, we came across this tree with beautiful vines by the water looking like nature’s calligraphy.  Then I saw the photo for the week in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 - Adel Ibrahim Sudany’s cover art for One Sky,2018 Album by the Rahim AlHaj Trio. The caption for that photo reads : ‘Sudany’s painting for One Sky echoes the statement of humanity’s oneness found in the music of Iraqi oud players and composer Sourena Sefati, and Palestinian American percussionist Issa Malluf. Sudany is an Iraqi designer, calligrapher, and professor of Arabic Calligraphy at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.’   

I feel a beautiful tree like that may have inspired the writers long ago to create flourishes and calligraphic styles! 

Nature’s Calligraphy watercolor and ink by Meera Rao 

 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 46

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 46 Nov8-14. 

Deepavali, the Festival of Lights is celebrated in India and by Indian diaspora all over the world.  It is a five day festival around the New Moon day of lunar month of Karthika (October/November) observed by lighting of rows of Deepas/ Diyas/lamps, puja/prayers/worship, exchange of gifts, wearing new clothes, sharing of lots food and sweets, and of course getting together with family and friends. The festival is a celebration of good over evil, knowledge/enlightenment (light) over ignorance(darkness), While the stories behind the celebrations vary from region to region within India, the essence remains the same - cherishing the inner light, hope and restoration. 

It just so happens that I am lucky to have been born on one of the days of Deepavali festival- and in addition to my actual Gregorian calendar birthdate, my family also celebrated it on one particular day during Deepavali. So it is a very special festival for me! I sketched a festive ‘rangoli’ on the page using the age old dot system (this one has 5x5dots scheme) 

Rangoli for Deepavali by Meera Rao 

The photograph in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 for that week is of William James Aylward’s American Schooners, Old Harbor Marsellie, 1919 Charcoal and Watercolor on paper. ‘Aylward was one of eight artists commissioned by the U.S.Army to join the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War 1. Having grown up around the docks and shipping of the Great Lakes in Wisconsin, he here adeptly captured American schooners docked in the harbor of Marseille, France. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 45

 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 45 Nov 1-7 

Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 #repurposed 

What could be more appropriate for this week than the gavel presented to Susan B Anthony at an 1888 meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association, an event marking the 40th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention in the United States ?  I spent twelve days around the Presidential election helping out with the Virginia Voter protection hot line. Hoping and praying to have a woman, who happened to be a woman of color, of Indian heritage, as Vice President, wanting to see nation back on right track, I had written and mailed hundreds of postcards over the preceding months.  Of course, Democracy cannot ever be taken for granted and all of us have to make a commitment to be engaged and keep it going.  

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 44

Great Blue Heron by the deck watercolor by Meera Rao

This Great Blue Heron Ardea  herodias is in our yard almost everyday! It is either busy fishing by the waters edge or staying in shade by the bushes grooming or ‘meditating.’  Scanning for the heron whenever we come out the back door is a habit now as we don’t want it to get spooked by us - though these days it accepts our presence in the yard :) This particular day it sat nonchalantly very close to the deck. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 44  October 25-31 

Pictured on the facing page in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 is ‘Xenacanthus, a freshwater spiny shark that lived in rivers and ponds during the Permian Period, 294-290 million years ago, preying on fishes, reptiles, amphibians and perhaps even large land carnivores that ventured close to the water.’ This Xenacanthus skull cast is on display with fossils of other aquatic creatures in the Hall of Fossils- Deep Time at the National Museum of Natural History. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 43

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 43 

I first came to know about Lincoln Park after our son and his family moved to DC. I liked the green space in the middle of the city block and was intrigued by the two statues in the park. But I have cringed every time I saw one of the the statues ‘The Emancipation Statue’ of Lincoln and a free slave at his feet. (Oops!  I just noticed my spelling mistake in sketch !) So it did not surprise me in October 18, 2020 when we were visiting, that there was a raging debate about replacing or removing the statue. As everywhere else there was a fence around the statue and notes were left on the fence by people expressing their opinions or supporting’Black Lives Matter.’ On our walk that day, I saw in  one of the old red fire and call boxes near the park, a prototype of replacement sculpture that showed Barack Obama and Lincoln, with miniature flags flanking the two presidents. Unfortunately,  I do not know who the artist is. 

Replace the Emancipation Memorial 

 When I went to sketch it later in the Smithsonian Engagement 2020, I was tickled to see the photograph for the week. ‘36 Takeouts, Groceries, and Restaurants in Wards 7 and 8 Washington DC, 2018’ by Susana Raab.  A photographer at the Anacostia Community Museum, Raab cataloged urban stores in the neighborhoods east of Anacostia River in Washington DC. Lincoln park is ward 6. 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 42.

Ripe Bitter-melon Pod with Red Seeds watercolor by Meera Rao 

Often, we miss picking vegetables from the plant because they are well hidden and we don’t see them till they are ripe and bright! That’s what happened with this bitter-melon (a delicacy!).  When we finally picked it off the plant, I placed it on a shiny stainless steel plate and decided to let it dry in the sun.  It soon burst open exposing the bright red seeds against bright yellow-orange fleshy insides. Of course, I had to sketch the beauty :) 

Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 42 October 11-17

Nature’s color selections are amazing. The bitter-melon looks like it’s competing with the Scarlet Macaws (Ara macaw)on the opposite page in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 for week 42. According to the write up on the page, the digital photo of the Macaws was taken by Sean Mattson, in July 2016 at Coiba National Park, Panama Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. They are nearly extinct in the mainland but ‘lead a boisterous life on Panama’s Coiba Island, the largest landmass in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute runs a research station on the neighboring Coibita Island, providing scientists with access to fauna, flora, and coral reefs in this park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.’