Jane Goodall

This past March I had the priviledge to meet Jane Goodall who is celebrating 50 years of research at Gombe! She was 26 years old when she first started working with the chimpanzees in Africa. Today,
Dr. Goodall travels the world inspiring people to feel responsible and to be responsible for this great planet of ours; to work and to do their part to preserve the environment for today and tomorrow.

One amazing woman.

The Freedom Writers Diary

An inspiring and eye-opening story about how a young high school teacher and her "at-risk" students used the power of writing to challenge themselves and change their lives into a success story. The book is a series of diary entries from the students anchored by entries from Erin Gruwell, their teacher.

"The Freedom Writers Diary" by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell.

On my "to-read" list is the book that followed as teachers began using Erin's methodology.

"Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers and Erin Gruwell" by the Freedom Writer Teachers with Erin Gruwell

I just realized Paramount has made a movie based on the book, starring Hillary Swank (2007). It's now on my "to-watch" list.

Snowflake Bentley

Dentrite Star


Star Crystal


How is it possible that I don't recall ever hearing about Wilson Bentley?! The most incredible snowflake photographer, born in 1865.

This winter, I'll be sure to check out some snowflakes upclose.

For the kid in everyone - Snowflake Bentley is a wonderful biography written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian. The book is sure to captivate the imagination and curiosity of kids and adults alike!

Bentley's photographs are available in the public domain. I love the collection at the Smithsonian: "There are seven basic shapes of snowflakes: the Star Crystal, the Dendrite Star, Columns, Plates, Capped Columns, Needles, and Irregular Forms."

Photos by Wilson Bentley from the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 31, Box 12, Folder 17, Negative no. 976 & Negative no. 332.

For a modern microphotography spin it's worth checking out Kenneth Liebbreth's book Snowflakes.

The windows in our computer/guest room have been decorated with snowflakes all year round, courtesy of Kaila. Kaila and I love to make the paper cutouts. It was specially fun and 'refreshing' to have them up through the 100-degree Summer days.

The Story of the Orchestra

On my shopping list for the kids - The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Lavine. The book discusses the history of orchestral music, famous composers and instruments of the orchestra. A CD accompanies the book with selected pieces paired to specific pages. Beautifully illustrated by Meredith Hamilton.

Letters and Friendship

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

Felting

I wish I had time to do all the little things that catch my eye here and there at the craft store. A few weeks ago, I spotted on a shelf Laurie Sharp's book "Wool Pets: Making 20 Figures with Wool Roving and a Barbed Needle" and had to page through it. She makes the cutest little felt animals. I hope to find a workshop in town where I can try felting, just for fun.

Click to look inside on Amazon - "Wool Pets".

Old notes

I'm in the process of cleaning my desk and as always I have many small bits of paper with random notes. Things I'd like to eventually look up or read.

One note says "When Nietzche Wept by Irvin Yalom" and "Terroir by Wilson; the role of geology, climate & culture in the making of french wines". The first book I read probably 2 years ago and really liked. The second one on the note is still to be purchased or borrowed...

A second piece of paper has "Quilts of Gee's Bend". I love their quilts and I still have some stamps the U.S. Postal Service released in 2006. The Houston Museum of Fine Arts had a Gee's Bend exhibit with 70 quilts on display in that same year.

A Year in Japan

I've just finished reading
"A Year in Japan"
by Kate T. Williamson.

The book is printed in thick pages with beautiful cursive writing and very nice art work. Kate talks about her experiences and many unique places to visit in Kyoto and around Japan. She describes with grace the intricacies of life in Japan. You'll learn about moon-viewing, wash cloths, Zen meditation, counting tofu, paper cranes origami.

Mirror, mirror...

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying", she said; "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!"

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

e-book

O Poema

My favorite poem from Brazilian poet Mario Quintana published in his book Poesias.

Uma formiguinha atravessa, em diagonal, a página ainda em branco. Mas ele, aquela noite, não escreveu nada. Para quê? Se por ali já havia passado o frêmito e o mistério da vida...

A loose translation

A little ant crosses, in diagonal, the page still blank. But he, that night, didn't write anything. What for? If by there had already passed the essence and mystery of life...

Abbey Road

Winnie, the Pooh, turned 80 in 2005. Old news, I know, but yesterday I came across the book The Art of Winnie the Pooh by Disney celebrating Pooh's birthday. Richard Sherman, the composer/lyricist for The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh, wrote an inspiring foreword describing his adventures with Pooh since the 60's.

Several Disney artists were invited to submit an art piece for the book. One of my favorites was Abbey Bridge by Eric Hutchison inspired by The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover. Hutchison captured the four friends Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet crossing Abbey Bridge. Here is his description: "Tigger displays the same bravado that Lennon made famous. At his heels is Piglet. (Sorry, Ringo!) Behind him is the leader of the pack, Pooh, as Paul McCartney. And last but not least, Eeyore, whose striking similarities to George Harrison are almost eerie."

Sea Shells by Georgia O'Keeffe

A few days ago I finished the O'Keeffe Biography. The first few days I missed being transported into the artist's world. Interestingly enough, today through a few unrelated links, I came across a post on the blog Completely Coastal displaying 3 of O'Keeffe's wonderful seashell paintings.

A Flowers link in the Completely Coastal post sends you to art.com that carries a large line of Georgia O'Keeffe prints. The quote in one of the prints pretty much symbolizes who O'Keeffe was:

"Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we get at the real meaning of things."

O'Keeffe

For the past few weeks, I've been reading A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe - Portrait of an Artist by Laurie Lisle. I've always loved O'Keeffe's bold yet sensitive art. It's been interesting to get a glimpse of her personal life albeit through the story of others.

She was definitely an artist I would've liked to have met.



I visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe about 10 years ago. Seeing her original paintings and Stieglitz's photographs were quite an experience.

I love her 1917 Nude Series watercolors and her 1926/27 large flowers oils. Two of my favorites, the White Rose and the Oriental Poppies.

In 2010, Santa Fe will be celebrating 400 years - great place to visit. Plan ahead!

Picasso's Flashlight Bull

Fortune magazine recently featured this photo in the insert Moments in Time part of The LIFE Picture Collection.

I love this picture - for me it is about the genius and the freedom in the artist that Picasso embraced and that is present in so many artists and in a sense in all of us as unique individuals.

I first ran into this photograph several years ago in the book Talking Pictures by Kismaric and Heiferman. Several people were invited to talk about a picture of their choice that had a lasting impact in their lives. Tony Bennett chose this one by Gjon Mili of Picasso drawing a bull with a flashlight. Mili captured the moment with perfect balance and 'light'.

Stardust

Last week I came across a March 09, 2009 post on Adri Mendes' blog comparing the work of William Blake and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess. http://adrimendes.blogspot.com/

I did a quick search and found interesting articles at ImageTexT Interdisciplinary Comics Studies. Volume 4 number 1 (Summer 2008), The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman.

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archive.shtml

Meredith Collins in the article Fairy and Faerie compares images of Vess and Rackham.

"A particularly strong relationship exists between Rackham's illustrations and Vess's. [...] The mood and content of much of Rackham's art appears in various modified forms throughout Stardust. [...]

Figure 3. Comparison of Rackham's illustration from The Wind in the Willows and Vess's illustration from Stardust, p. 171."

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/collins/

The article of S. A. Reed is also pretty cool on the works of Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos.

http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_1/reed/

An Unquiet Mind

An Unquiet Mind is a great memoir I read a few years back by Kay Redfield Jamieson. She tells her story and personal struggle with manic-depression. She addresses the disease from two perspectives: one as a psychiatrist and the other as a patient.

I have it on my night table again - one of few books I would like to re-read.