Moon and Jupiter...NICE...

So I was working on some other things this evening when I saw an email from a friend of mine in Albuquerque who commented on how cool the Moon and Jupiter looked rising over the Sandias (thanks Gordon for the heads-up). So I went out into my back yard and took a look at the Moon and Jupiter as it rose over the Organ Mountains (and the trees in my neighbors yard) and it was very cool. I got out the tri-pod and the camera and took some photos.

2011 World Wide Photo Walk...

Join me on Mesilla Plaza on October 1, 2011 for the 4th Annual World Wide Photo Walk. If you would like to participate you can sign up at http://www.worldwidephotowalk.com/ and join me and several others as we enjoy a couple hours of photographing in a very cool place.

Fort Davis and Valentine Texas...

Here are some photos taken with the Holga camera in Fort Davis, TX and Valentine, TX on my way home from TSP this past June. The first photo is the courthouse in Fort Davis then some of the building in downtown Fort Davis, it was a very interesting little town. Next I stopped in Valentine, TX and took photos of an old house that was in the process of collapsing at the edge of town and then the Prada Store at the other end of Valentine, this was an installation from Marfa, TX about 30 miles south of Valentine.



All of the images were taken with a Holga camera and black and white film. I will be taking a lot more photos with the Holga.

Work, Work, Work..

OK, so be jealous of what I do, I think I have the best job ever... Guess what I get to do at my job; I get to draw and color. It is like kindergarten for adults, now if only I could convince my bosses to allow for nap time it would be perfect.

For a couple months now I have been working on the design for a new band and orchestra building at one of the local middle schools here in Las Cruces (Picacho Middle School). The space they currently have is far too small for their needs, and they are missing a lot of the support spaces for these programs so our new building will provide more space and the needed support spaces. We will also be remodeling the existing space to better accommodate their choir and piano programs and we will be remodeling the existing restrooms to bring them up to current accessibility requirements.

A couple of weeks ago we presented the design to Picacho and then to the School Board for design approval, and we got it from both. This is the presentation board I created for the school, look at all the coloring I got to do, I used color pencils and markers to color the drawing for the presentation and I am very pleased with how it came out.

Well now the hard part, earlier this week I met with our structural engineer to discuss how the building is going to stand up...darn engineers and gravity now I have structure that is getting in the way of some of the really cool things I was hoping to do. I am now trying to figure out how to keep the same look to the building and accommodating the structure at the same time. Below is an image of the building before the structure was really considered (it was done in a program called Sketch Up).

Notice the horizontal windows near the top of the two larger areas, these are intended to bring natural light into the orchestra and band rooms, everyone has liked the long expanses of glazing but now we have structural columns that get in the way of the windows so I have been playing with some other ideas for the elevations to maintain the feel of these long narrow elements.

I have been using trace paper and markers to draw the facades and below are two drawings of the north and east elevations, I think I like the idea so it is one of the things we will be considering as we continue to move into the development of construction documents.

I am having so much fun with this project and I know I will be doing a few more of these drawings in the next few days as I continue to work out more of the conflicts with structure and then mechanical.

I have been lucky that my boss has allowed me to basically run with this project and do the design, he has been a great help in working out some of the issues but he is leaving the design decisions up to me. I am looking foreword to seeing this project develop from discussions with the principal and teachers to an actual building that will start construction later this year.

I will keep you informed.

2011 TSP Peoples Choice...

This is a watercolor painting I did of the summer milky way, I entered it into the Astro Art contest at the 2011 Texas Star Party and it won the Peoples Choice award. I am excited about it and was very glad to have a very good friend present me with the award and she even told everyone that this was my first TSP, Becky thank you for talking me into going and for encouraging me to enter something. Now I need to start painting for next years TSP.

Below are some of the pages from my sketch book, even though we only had a few nights of clear skies I managed to get in quite a bit of observing in that time.

And Home From TSP...

I had a great time at the Texas Star Party (TSP), this was my first time there and even though the skies did not cooperate so much I still had fun. I was able to get in some observing the first and second day there and then on the fourth day I was able to get in a few hours of observing before the clouds moved in. I will post some more of the sketches I did soon. I met a lot of people at TSP and made some new friends I am hoping to see again next year when I go again (I am planning on going again). It was amazing to see so many people who all enjoy looking at the stars, some using their eyes and some using their cameras or computers to photograph what they are wanting to see.

On the way home from TSP I stopped in Valentine, TX to take some photos of a couple of buildings I had noticed on the way to TSP. An old abandoned home and windmill...

I like the way buildings decay and change over time, especially when they are abandoned and forgotten about. this building. It seems that Valentine, TX does not have a shortage of these buildings, it is a very small place but I noticed at least a half dozen buildings have collapsed or are in some state of collapse just like this one.

But at the opposite end of town is the Prada Store, it is a "sort-of" art exhibit for Marfa, TX just down the road from Valentine. It is a lonely building in the middle of nowhere (almost) with some Prada shoes and bags on display. I do not think they are real Prada, but they where at one time, quite some time ago the store was broken into and the real stuff was stolen and replaced with replica product, at least that is what I have heard.

Here is the Prada Store in Valentine, TX; I have heard about it and have always wanted to see it imagine my surprise when on the way to TSP I drive right past it. So I made a point to stop and photograph it on my way home from TSP. It is so cool, just sitting there all by itself the Prada Store, I am looking foreword to stopping again next year and seeing how and if it has changed in any way.

Texas Star Party (TSP) 2011...my first time...

So I arrived on Sunday morning at TSP for my first time and so far it has been a very cool experience and I am looking forward to coming again next year. This is a panorama of the upper observing field; there are two other observing fields I will try and photograph them later this week. I am set up on this field at the opposite end of where I took this photo from. There are so many scopes of all shapes and sizes and some fairly large ones. I am impressed and maybe a little frightened by how much effort some observers go to create the perfect observing setup for themselves.

The first night was very clear but the seeing was not really good but I got quite a bit of observing in. Last night (Monday) we had quite a few high thin clouds and spent much of the earlier evening dodging the thin clouds but after about 1:00am things got much better and I was able to do some nice viewing.

These are two of the first sketches I did from my observing log for this trip, I did them on Sunday evening my first night observing. The first sketch is a lower power showing both M81 and M82 in the field, the M82 sketch was done with twice as much magnification and it is one of the object from one of the TSP Observing lists.

I will post more later in the week.

And now I take up Gardening...

So, I found out about 2 months ago that there is a community garden in our neighborhood and there are some plots available if I am interested. So just before Easter I pay the $15 fee for the year and get a key to the garden and go to the store to get some plants and seeds, and the fun begins.

I planted 3 tomato's, green chilies, jalapenos, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, melons, onions, garlic and basil, but it did not grow (or I can not find it in all the rest of the stuff that is growing). I am having a lot of fun and my garden is the envy of everyone, I was one of the first to plant my plants in the garden so it is the fullest bed out there. I planted the tomato's, jalapenos, green chilies and squash from growing plants and all the rest from seed.

Today I was at the garden watering and was visiting with some friends, Josh and Jess, who have a garden there now, next to mine and I got a second garden that we are sharing with just corn in it for now, we planted it last weekend from seed so we have a few more days before we see any growth. We were looking at my bed and decided that I need to thin out the carrots so I am going to have to transplant some of them to the other bed. I decided to check the radishes to see if they need to be thinned out and I find some radishes ready to pick...

We took out 6 of them and washed three of them and tried them out, I brought the others home and used them in the salad I made for lunch tomorrow, and guess what the lettuce is from my garden also, I have been picking it and using it for about a week now it is pretty good...

I am excited for the rest of the garden to ripen and be harvested, I am going to have so many tomatoes and lots of squash and if the melons keep doing as well as they are I will have lots of melons also. I will keep you all posted as I get more food from the garden.

2011 Super Moon Rising...

On Saturday March 19th, there was a pretty special Full Moon, it was a "Supper Moon" this happens when we have a Full Moon at the same time the Moon is at its closest approach to the Earth in its orbit around us. This only happens every 20 years or so, so it made this evening a good night for moon watchers and photographers alike. I had made a decision earlier that week I was going to take the evening and go out and photograph the Moon rising over the mountains here in Las Cruces.

I was talking to my landlord earlier that day and we decided to make a day of it and go out together to photograph the Moon rising and then go have dinner someplace afterwards. We went out and found a good spot and set up our cameras and waited for the moon to rise. Here is one photo of the moon coming up over the peaks of the mountains and then a second image that I created in photoshop, it is more what I was hoping to see when the moon came up but did not so I made it happen.

Bosque Del Apache Sidetracked...

So Max and I where in Albuquerque this past weekend and on the way home Max convinced me to take the more scenic route and drive by the Bosque Del Apache (I guess because he is a BIRD dog). It was a little windy but all and all it was a pretty nice day and this is one of the photos I took along the road.

Future Fruit...

So I was in the back yard a few weeks ago and noticed that there is a pomegranate tree in the neighbors back yard but a bunch of the branches hang over our fence so next year when the fruit is ready I will be picking and eating some yummy pomegranate (is it stealing if it is hanging on my side of the fence?). There are several pomegranates still hanging on the bare tree, all of them are broken like this one and it looks like maybe some birds have been taking some of the seeds from inside some of them.

February 5th Visit to the VLA...

I went up to Socorro this past weekend to visit with my friend Judy and to go out to the VLA to look at the site for a sundial exhibit they are working on. I am going to do some concept sketches for them and I wanted to take some photos of the site to work with. I took lots of photos and also took some panoramas and have put a couple of them together.

I am never disappointed with the vistas in New Mexico, this is such a beautiful state and how amazing to see so much technology (VLA) out in the middle of nothing almost, it is so amazing to see all these radio antennas stretched out along the plains of New Mexico. This truly is a "Land of Enchantment" and I am very glad to live and work in such an amazing place.

If you look closely you will notice quite a few extra antennas in this panorama; I really like the program I am using for these (it came with my camera) but if you are not careful when you select the images to stitch together it will find matches and almost seamlessly add them to the rest of the panorama. It looks like it was able to match up the mountain ranges in the distance. It still came out pretty cool, even if it is not correct.

Working Together...

I am not an extremely political person but...

At the President’s State of the Union Address on January 25, 2011 there was an effort made by our lawmakers to break the tradition of the Democrats and Republicans sitting on opposite sides of the room, divided by an aisle. I also understand that this was nothing more than for show, they were still divided but they were willing, for a short time, to ignore their differences and mix things up and break from long held traditions.


I also understand that the way business is done in Washington was not going to change because of this symbolic show, the ideals and beliefs of the individuals have not changed, at least by much. But, despite my understanding of the divide between different political parties and even between individuals within the parties; there was some hope that maybe this show of cooperation may lead to some actual cooperation and people would start to work together.

I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR this morning and they were talking with two of those who broke from the tradition and sat together, a Republican and a Democrat ignoring the divide for a few moments to sit together. During the interview one of the two made the statement “people should not expect this to occur next year, this was a onetime thing” or something along those lines. I am not sure if it was the Democrat or the Republican that said it but it was very disappointing and disheartening to me. That one statement summed up what I knew to be true; THIS COUNTRY IS DIVIDED!

I was hoping for those few moments, that “we, the people” could set aside our differences and beliefs for a moment and listen to what each other has to say, then work together to come to some understanding that will benefit all. I no longer have much confidence in our elected officials to be able to work together to get things done, it appears that they will continue to sit on separate sides of that isle and are not willing to make an effort to honestly work together to make changes that will make a difference in all of our lives.

I will continue to hope that in the future, hopefully not too distant, we will elect someone; democrat, republican, independent or whatever, who is willing to ignore the “this is the way it is always done” idea and sit on the opposite side of the isle not only for the few moments the President is speaking each year but throughout the year. One of the news people last night explained that there are no assigned seats; well it is time for someone to stand up and say “I will sit where I want” and “talk to who I want to.” Our elected officials will never truly be able to work together until they are willing to make the symbolic seating arrangement at this State of the Union Address permanent and not just something they do for show.

Milky Way in watercolor...

Watercolor painting of the summer Milky Way, completed on January 2, 2011. I am beginning the New Year with a new painting and am going to try and spend time this year painting some of the wonders of the night sky as well as try and complete more sketches of the Messier objects to work on completing the Messier Sketch Poster I decided to start last year.