Goddess II

About a year ago I had posted a picture of a painting that I made of the Goddess Kali. She is a powerful and ferocious Goddess in Hinduism, and is worshiped as the destroyer of evil. Goddesses are usually displayed as beautiful, soft and feminine, but Kali is the embodiment of all that is powerful within us, and I like her portrayal as a warrior - one who will fight evil and destroy it.

My plan was to make a series of three Goddesses in this partial-Madhubani style. Kali was my first choice since her portrayal is so dramatic and interesting. She stands on a demon that she has vanquished, holds in her hand the severed head of one of the villians she has killed, sits on a tigress and holds in her hands all sorts of weapons. Here's that painting again -



I recently finished the second Goddess painting, and chose Saraswati this time, the Goddess of learning. In complete contrast to Kali, Saraswati is serene and smiling, bestowing intelligence and wisdom on us. She is clad in white, and stands on a white lotus, with a peacock as her companion.

It was a lot more difficult to make this painting interesting ... I struggled with the colors, and though I initially wanted to go with a completely different color scheme, I ended up again in the realm of earth colors, which I seem to always gravitate towards ...

Here she is -


I haven't decided on the next Goddess for this series. Am currently distracted with pottery, as you saw in my previous post. So it might be another year before I produce the 3rd Goddess!

Have a great weekend.

Experiments in Pottery - 1

I took a pottery class this semester, and we are almost done for the year. The last time I took a class in pottery, it was a fully wheel-thrown, short class. I was also working full-time, so couldn't spend much time practicing.

So I took a class again this semester. This time I mostly learned hand-building, and it was so much fun! Slab pots, coil pots, pinch pots and so on ...

I did try one on the wheel to see if I remembered anything from the previous class several years ago. The result was yet another lopsided pot that I glazed a bright blue. :)



One of my first attempts at making a slab pot was this mug. The glazing left some uncovered spots, and I'm not sure how to fix that. So I won't be drinking tea from it as I'd hoped, but it will make a nice cactus-holder!



This coil pot I made just a couple weeks ago, and I think this is the one that turned out closest to what I wanted to do with it, so I quite like it. I've not quite decided what I'll do with it. It was going to be a fruit holder, but now I'm not sure.

Before glazing -


Glazed and finished, waiting for an identity ...



I have a bunch more that I am finishing up. So parts 2 and 3 will feature more experiments. I'm still very unclear about glazing techniques, and need a lot more practice. So please feel free to give me suggestions and comments.

Take care!

The Texas Capitol

Back to the blog world after more than a month ... thanks to those who sent me notes over this time asking if I was ok and saying I was missed. It was nice to know I have you as blog-friends. :)

It's just been very busy here with various activities. I'm back for now, and am looking forward to visiting my favourite blogs and seeing what you have been up to.

The photo club that I'm a member of is putting together an exhibit for the Austin Airport, which will go up in January. The theme for this exhibit is "Looking Up." For this I wanted to photograph the dome of the State Capitol from below, and so went over to the Capitol building several times. Once I got there I realized what an interesting place it is to photograph. I wandered around taking lots of pictures.

The dome is so beautiful seen from below! It took a lot of tries to get a perfectly symmetric picture of it, and this one was selected for the Airport exhibit.



Here is another angle - not symmetric, but with more depth.



The House of Representatives has a beautiful ceiling, with ornate carvings. This picture was also selected for the Airport exhibit.



Even the stairway is a great subject to photograph!



Walking outside, I turned around for one last shot, looking up, at the building against the blue sky.


In case I'm not able to post again before Thanksgiving, have a wonderful holiday, with your family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

New pots for my cacti?

I have joined a pottery class! I took a class on wheel-thrown pottery some years ago, and learned just enough to know that I have a LOT to learn about this, and to know that I really enjoy it.

That first time around I made a series of lopsided pots that are serving time now as holders for my cactus plants.



This blue-green trio usually sits on my kitchen window sill and adds some crooked cheer to that space.



We learned to make all kinds of pots, using one color of clay and two.



My pots are really thick-walled and quite small. I really like playing with clay though, and have been wanting to get better at it.

So since then I've been looking for a chance to take another class, and finally the stars aligned this semester to allow this chance. I have been making pinch pots and pieces using coils and slabs. None of the pieces is finished yet though.

I will get on the wheel next week and see if I remember anything. Only time will tell if I will end up with more crooked pots for my cacti or if the pieces will find other purposes in life. In the meantime I am having lots of fun with this, and keeping really busy.

Hope all is well with you!

The Texas Mandrone, Some Desert Critters and a Strange Storm

All over the Guadalupe Mountains National Park area in Texas, we found this gorgeous little tree, the Texas Madrone. This tree is a native of Texas, and has the most gorgeous red bark I've ever seen. This particular tree was near the wash area of our campsite, and I spent a lot of time one evening photographing it lit up with light from the setting sun.



It's deep red and orange-brown bark peels off in thin sheets, exposing the light green surface underneath. The contrast of red and green was so beautiful!



I was standing under the tree with my camera, trying my best to hold still to take slow speed shots, when I saw a tiny movement on the branch near my face. It turned out to be this showy little catterpillar. It looked so pretty, its bright green colors blending well with the reds and greens around it.



Later on, on one of the trails we spotted this pair. They were pretty tiny, and so cute and colorful! I have no idea what kind of insects they are. Just haven't had the time to read up on it. Any clues?


On our drive back from this trip to the Guadalupe Mountains, we experienced the wide open Texas skies. It was very hot, but it was also beautiful in a stark and rugged way.


We also had the oddest experience with this tiny little storm. I have never seen anything like it before, though it probably is common in this part of the world. Though it was generally bright and sunny, there was this one cloud to the left of the highway that was darker than the rest. And there were sheets of rain coming down from it on to the ground directly below. It was moving towards the highway, and kicking up a lot of dust too. We could feel the force of the wind, and drove faster to get out of its way.



This wasn't the only one - we saw more small rain clouds like this a couple more times on this 9 hour drive back to East Texas.


As it got dark, I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw this - the sun setting in the West, on the Guadalupe Mountains, as we sped away from it back home to the East.



Have a great week.

Desert Sunrise & the Roof of Texas

It turns out Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone. Just two hours east of there, we get back to Central Time. We didn't know this on our first night there, and set our little watch alarm for 6:30am, hoping to hit the trail early.

When the alarm went off (5:30am locally), it was still pitch dark. So we lay partially awake in the tent and waited. It was very pleasant after the rains of the previous night, and so I wasn't in any hurry to get up.

Soon however, it started getting light and I opened the tent flap and peeped out to see this -



I quickly pulled out my camera and scrambled out of the tent. No one else was up in the campsite, and I watched the fiery red sunrise as light slowly spread through the sky.



After taking these pictures, I quickly went in to wash up. In the short time I was in there, the strong desert sun had come out and all the red was gone from the sky. We could feel the heat rapidly taking over. So after a hurried breakfast, we started on an 8.5 mile RT hike to the roof of Texas - Guadalupe Peak.

There was literally no shade on the trail. It was dry and hot, but at 8:30am there still was a soft breeze that made the walk pleasant.



The trail led steadily uphill via switchbacks, and we quickly got higher up in elevation.



The view got better and better with each turn.



Little lizards darted under rocks as we approached, and desert insects kept up a steady chirping as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Bright red flowers peeped out cheerfully at intervals from the rocky landscape, relieving the monotony.



It took us about two hours to get to the top. Guadalupe Peak, at 8751 feet, is the highest point in Texas. The view from the top was lovely, and it was quiet and serene. We were the first people up there on this day, though we saw a dozen more people heading up as we made our way down.
We didn't stay long though, because it was too hot to sit out there under the sun.



The weekend is here again. Aren't the days just flying by?! Have a good one.

Guadalupe Mountains & the Bookmark Draw

Thanks for your comments and positive words on my previous (and 100th) post. I drew three random numbers today and matched them to the comments. The bookmarks will soon be in the mail to:

1. Blu
2. Celeste Maia
3. Raph G. Neckmann

Thanks for participating!

***
Every summer we try to do a little hiking trip to one of the great National Parks in the US. This year we tried and tried to make plans, but they kept falling through. Finally we decided to just take a few days and drive down to West Texas, to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.



Compared to many other national parks in the US, this one is pretty remote. The only accommodation within the park is in the form of a few campsites, which you cannot reserve in advance. The campgrounds have toilets and potable water, but there are no camp stores where you can buy food or batteries or anything you might have forgotten to bring. No showers, and nothing except the wide skies and open desert with sparsely marked hiking trails.

Rough, stark natural beauty everywhere, and as much solitude as you want.

What I found most fascinating was that this park is an ancient, marine fossilized reef! Apparently, this dry desert was under a vast tropical ocean about 250 million years ago. The tall mountains that jut out into the sky today were part of a reef that stretched over 400 miles of the shoreline! The ocean eventually receded, and slowly the reef emerged, and with erosion over many, many years, the peaks were formed.

Guadalupe Peak within the park is the highest point in Texas, and we hiked to its top one day.

We arrived in the park in the middle of a harsh thunder and lightning storm. We found an open campsite, but sat in our car wondering if the showers would stop at all. The clouds were dark and low, and the lightning was incessant.



After an hour or so, the rain stopped and we could see the clouds slowly moving on. We quickly got out and pitched our tent, so that if it did rain through the night, we'd have a place to stretch out!




So this was home for the next couple days, where we sat every night under the trees, watching the incredibly clear night sky, with billions of stars shimmering like shards of crystal. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is so very far away from any city that it has some of the clearest night skies possible.



Later that evening as we were getting settled in, the rain had almost completely stopped, though bulbous dark clouds still hung from the sky. What made us feel completely welcome though, was this pair of cheerful rainbows that were painted across the sky!



Have a great weekend.

One hundred posts and some bookmarks

It has been a year and two months since I started this blog one hot, hot summer day last year. This summer has been just as hot, and as I sit cooped up in my air-conditioned bubble, avoiding the sun at all costs like a mole in a hole, I am amazed that it has been this long.

I wasn't sure then how long this will last, but this here is my 100th post. A milestone!

To mark this occasion, here is a modest little give-away. Having been bitten by the bookmark bug (see my previous post), I have been making some more bookmarks, painting the designs on paper. Since they are a little flimsy, I thought I would get them printed on better paper, and laminated as well.

I know most of you are avid readers. So if you would like to have this set of three bookmarks, leave me a comment. I will pick three names at random about 10 days from now, and mail these out to those three of you.

Before I show you my bookmarks, here are some from my collection, along with some of my favourite books.


Can you read that? This and the next bookmark are Ilan Shamir's words. Check out more about him here. This one says:

Advice from a Bat

Trust in your Senses
Spend Time just Hanging around with Friends
Get a Grip
Enjoy the Nightlife
Sometimes you've just gotta Wing it
Guano Happens!


This one says:

Advice from a Bear

Live Large
Climb beyond your Limitations
When life gets hairy, Grin and Bear it
Eat Well
Live with the Seasons
Take a Good, Long Nap
Look after your Honey!

This third one was a present from a friend who visited South Africa and wanted to get me something small. I thought it was a very thoughtful gift. Such a simple idea, no?



Now, here are my three bookmarks. Remember - if you leave a comment, you are at risk of being picked to get these in the mail. :)



This past year of blogging has been fun. Through this medium I have found some of your incredibly creative blogs that I find so inspiring. Keep creating, and keep posting!

Chaurasia on the Flute: Sublime!

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a genius on the flute. His name is synonymous with the hindustani classical flute in India, and his music is divine, really!

If you haven't yet heard him, you really must. His music literally lifts you up and transports you to a serene, happy place. I tried to download a video of his from youtube and upload it here, but I got errors from blogger. So here's a link, to a beautiful piece by him, recorded in his youth.

(click on his picture for the link to the video).



He also is one of the many artistes in India who are happy to do fund raising concerts for charitable organizations, and as a result has been on tour in the US several times expressly for fund-raising concerts with specific groups.

While I was still a graduate student about 14 years ago, I got to listen to him live for the first time. It was so utterly magical! After that concert, I was one of the students who escorted him to his host's home. During the drive, he asked me simple questions like what I was studying and what I planned to do after graduation. I don't know what I replied - I was so tongue-tied!

He is older now than in the above video. He is 71, but the music still is as sweet as ever. We listened to him live over the weekend. A part of the proceeds were going to AID (Association for India's Development), my volunteer group.

When he came to the US on tour in 2000, I was a volunteer with Child Relief & You, and I had made these little flute-shaped bookmarks to give away at his concert. But since I did it at the last minute and we didn't have the time to print them, they never got used.



This time, I again remembered these bookmarks on Saturday, and quickly re-made them for AID, in powerpoint. A quick dash to Kinkos for copies, and we were able to hand these out to those who showed interest in our AID table.

I haven't ever taught myself to use better software ... so these aren't perfect, but they worked for the tight deadline, and served the purpose.



Hope you like Chaurasia's music as much as I do!

A package from Shady Grove

Last week I was the lucky winner of a giveaway on Chris' blog. If you haven't been there before, you must visit. She posts beautiful pictures of the Wisconsin countryside, and shares her art and creations as well.

Chris is a quilter and stained glass artist, who makes the most unique and pretty quilt-block earrings. I've never seen anything like them before. So when I got lucky and won her giveaway, I took the chance to request one of her cute earrings.

On Friday last week I received the package in the mail, and it was pretty exciting.



Inside were the earrings I had requested, a card, and an extra snowflake ornament gift too! That was such a neat surprise. Here is her card, and the pretty snowflake. It's transparent glass, but in this picture the glass seems to have captured the sunlight in purple and green hues, making it all the more beautiful.



And here are the earrings that I am really excited to receive. Aren't they pretty?



Please take a moment to go check out Chris' blog and her two etsy stores where she sells beautiful quilt-block jewelery, embroidered handbags, gorgeous hand dyed fabric and more. Here is her card.


This is the first time I have won any give away. Thank you, Chris!