Hoping to find some inspiration at the arboretum. 

Acrylic on rock.

Beautiful trees.

A new overlook for one of my favorite waterfalls!

Acrylic on rock.

Peewee.

 

A sunny day to play in the water along the shore where owls live.

Acrylic on rock.

So many owls live here. 

Today’s painting and picture in no way represents each other. In hind sight though, maybe the painting was inspired by the view from the hike.

Watercolor on paper.

From the old lookout.

 

Oh my! Peppers are 4-5 inches now! 

Acrylic on rock.

Peppers!

 

The kale grew like a rocket while we were away!

Acrylic on rock.

Kales.

Harvested garlic today a made a water color.

Watercolor on paper.

Garlic harvest.

 

Holy cow! We got home and the first thing I noticed is that the bergamot has bloomed! Hurray! Also, today’s watercolor is star trails around the north star.

I probably should mention that in addition to all of everything else from this last week, I did complete quite a few observation drawings and two full lists for the star party I attended and/or for the astronomical league. Someday I may post them or even turn them in for credit, but right now they are just for me.

Watercolor on paper.

Blooming’ bergamot! 

 

Cassiopeia is still my favorite. It’s been a long, fun and sometimes trying week. I’m ready to go home tomorrow. 

Acrylic on rock.

Chief Paulina Country 

The beads were definitely a hit. The youth did them during the morning session and continued on with them in the afternoon session. We talked about wavelengths and played a bit with beads and filters to see how the colors change, but that was apparently much less interesting that just beading and making patterns. Some origami was also done in the afternoon but not much. It was the last day of the youth tent, so it was pretty relaxed. 

Beaded necklace.

Sunset.

 

I was busy enough today that I didn’t take many pictures, but it was a super fun day! It started out with painting wood rounds, then nailing string art in the shape of constellations. There are definitely some budding artists in the group! Then in the afternoon, we turned the bottles into rockets with fins, nose weights, decorations, you name it and then filled them with water, pressurized them with air and launched them about 100 feet in the air. All the youth and their parents loved it. 

Watercolor on paper.

Launching water rockets.

 

Today was a day. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this aspect, but the temps this week are upwards of 98F and we have about 450 people camping in tents or RVs. Most people are up all night doing astronomy and then sleep during the day. Except kids. Kids are up at all hours and therefore so am I. 

So anyways, something I honestly didn’t realize was going to be a challenge today was mixing paint colors. Yes, as in blue and yellow make green. For today’s youth, most of them have only ever been given green, not asked to make it. So although we painted solar systems, we really ended up learning a lot about color theory and how to deal with frustration when things aren’t perfect. This is how my solar system ended up in a slightly different orientation, in completely unrealistic colors that glow in the dark and have smiley faces. It’s good to not be to serious about these things. All in all, everything turned out okay but I’d definitely plan for a full rainbow of colors next time. 

Also, this morning’s planet walk was fabulous! There was a surprising amount of people that attended it for being fairly early in the morning. The planets were spaced apart accurately over 300ft and there was a scavenger hunt that went along with them. Later in the day, a twister came through and launched Uranus into outer space, never to be seen again.  Concerned about littering, the youth and I did go around asking people if they’d seen Uranus. You can definitely tell who has a sense of humor depending on the pronunciation and jokes that may or may not have followed.

Acrylic on foam.

The planet walk.

 

Today’s painting is of M27, the dumbbell nebula. In the youth tent we played Voyager, The Game - courtesy of NASA and JPL. For the younger crowd we also had a lot of other games on hand and found out there are a few exception chess players.

Watercolor on paper.

Geocaches are everywhere.

The painting is of M57, the ring nebula. Also, we got the youth tent set up and ready to roll. Looks great! 

Watercolor on paper.

The youth tent is sent up and ready for fun!

Many astronomers draw what they observe in the night sky. I also like to paint it. In both cases, the tricky part is that it’s done in the dark with minimal red light to see what your doing. I’m sending a good amount of time this week in Sagittarius, Ophiuchus and Scorpius.

Watercolor on paper.

Some of our scopes.

 

Hanging out in the high desert with telescopes for the next week. 

Watercolor on paper.

Sunset.

 

Hitting the road today, for the second time this week. 

Acrylic on rock.

Blooming lavender.

 

🎶 All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go 🎶 Finished the last item needed for the star party today… prepping all the bottles that will become water rockets! 

Prepped bottles.

Flying the flag.

 

The topic of the day is “Things you see in the water”.

Watercolor on paper.

Tides out.

 

 It’s a two light house sort of day.

Acrylic on rock.

My favorite lighthouse.

Turtle tails and hiking trails… that about sums up this morning.

Acrylic on rock.

A pond along today’s trail.

 

Transplanted the kale starts to some larger pots today. Also finished moving all the plants out of the greenhouse. The flowers are hanging out on deck racks until I get back from upcoming trips. 

Kales transplanted.

Petunias, fuchsias, geraniums and orange mint.

Rerouted for “dangerous weather”? 

More like beautiful storm clouds. 

 

Made two new raised beds with trellises and mesh wire underlayment. Filled them with straw, steer manure and soil. Dusted them with bone meal. Then planted the 8 tomatoes, 4 peppers, 2 tomatillos, basil and thyme that have been growing in the green house. I’ll probably add sun shades to them tomorrow too. Actually I’m hoping to empty out all the plants from the green house tomorrow due to current heatwave and traveling schedules. 

New garden beds.

Orange mint.

Why yes, that is a scavenger hunt to go with the planet walk. Because learning is fun. The petunias I grew from seeds are doing marvelous by the way!

In in cardstock.

Petunias.

 

The last four signs for the planet walk. Plus purple tomatillos are ready and sweetly delicious!

Vinyl and paper on foam board.

Paper on foam board.

Vinyl and paper on foam board.

Paper on foam board.

Vinyl and paper on foam board.

Paper on foam board.

Vinyl and paper on foam board.

Paper on foam board.

Purple tomatillos.