Fabulous Friday - with butterflies. :-)

After spending time with all things Star Wars at the exhibit, we decided to also hit the Butterfly House before we left the Science Center -

Butterfly houses are one of my favorite things. Give me a large glass room filled with sunshine, flowers and butterflies... A thing of happy!

Sometimes the flowers are so bright that the butterflies are almost indistinguishable...

There were many many varieties - with new ones being added every day from the collection of cocoons behind another window -

-we could see several emerging from cocoons as we watched (however the reflections on the glass precluded me taking a good photo to show you).

Butterflies were on the flowers, in the air, on the sidewalk, on *people* and on the fruit left out for them to feed on (so fun watching their long proboscis plunging in and out of the banana's core).

In addition to the butterflies, there were large, lovely koi in the ponds...

Felt like you could just reach in and tickle them. :-)

Great day all around.

Star Wars Exhibit - Part Last

Props and models !

I kind of loved all the round, organic, vaguely art-nouveau shapes of the weapons from the last three movies...

Such interesting round shapes - warm tones - kinda steampunky.

And then there were the models! So many! especially of the various ships (the Millennium Falcon model was nearly 5 feet wide!). Lots and lots of surface detailing - mock 'damage', and hand painting...

These walkers (which I always loved!) were about 2 feet tall. Why don't I have this job???

And here was a *full size* hovercraft! (with background video talking about making and filming it). It was like being inside the movies (wish we could have been inside the hovercraft!)... Fun, fun exhibit. Thanks for tagging along. :-)

Star Wars Exhibit - Part IV

This entry is for robots -

It was very fun to be able to examine these up-close. Lots of detailing (some of which is only decorative, it couldn't possibly serve a function!). We did have a time trying to figure out how the actor was able to get inside of this carapace. 

(and here's the 'early version' of C3PO - all his fabulous innards!)

Handsome devil, isn't he?

And here's a close-up of the little droid critter that he's standing next to. It always reminded me of a combination of a spider (all those black eyes!) and a jelly-fish.

And here is the 'interrogation droid' thingy from the first movie. Gave my 13 year old self nightmares upon my first viewings! Someone obviously raided a medical bay to adorn it with (forceps? syringes?)

And, they had life-size battle-droids behind glass! Wondered if they'd really roll up into a ball like in the movie? Wouldn't this be a fun job? Kit-bashing and building this kind of thing?

Star Wars Exhibit - Part III

They had a number of costumes on display - especially from the original three movies -

Han Solo, in all his glory. It was fun to see all the detailing - there were metal boxes on his belt - what they heck were they supposed to be for? they don't open. Lots of pockets (also not used) in the vest. Riding gloves, scuffed boots, embroidered stripe down the side of the pants - fun.

The Princess Leia mannikin and outfit was *tiny* (as I'm sure Carrie Fisher was at that point). It was also amazingly simple - so credos to Fisher for how well she wore it! R2 was awesome.

The iconic Vader outfit! There were pictures of Samurai warrior outfits, which were the inspiration for the flared helmet and cape and some of the detailing. (There were also inexplicable parts - they look cool on screen I guess...?)

Yoda and Obi Wan (and the testing droid). The incredible details on Yoda were lifelike and convincing.

Probably my favorite costumes though were from these nearly incidental characters from the very first movie. At the time, they were so incredibly novel (shadowed monk hoods? glowy eyes??)-

-and reading about the decision making behind the Sand People outfits (they couldn't decide what they should actually look like, and in covering them completely, your imagination can come up with something way better than they could really show on screen) was fun. All those metal thingys on their head-pieces - eerie and memorable for sure!

Music Monday - more Star Wars (music + exhibit)

This one is my son's favorite piece of music from the series -

(And yet another great french horn solo in the beginning).

We had initially planned to go to this exhibit with my son, but long story short - he was not able to come, so these pictures over the next few days are for him -

 One of my favorite elements of the exhibit were the maquettes -this clay one of General Grevious' head -

 Clay maquette of Watto. About a foot tall.

 Full body for General Grevious.Surprisingly detailed.

And here's a tiny version of Luke on his Tauntaun (again - tiny and detailed!)

 And here is a near life-sized Wampa! (aka - the Abominable Snowman! heh). Wicked claws.

And full-sized Wookies! They were impressively statuesque. Each one with its own individual details. Twas really fun seeing it all in person.

More costumes tomorrow! :-)

Sunday Sketching - plus Easter chick(ens)!

Drawings from church today -

 Pen in the teensy purse Moleskine...

 (which makes the pencil look a bit anemic.... but I tired of having to 'look' so hard after awhile.)

In other news - at our critique meeting this past week, our hostess Suzy was incubating some Serama chicks (which are about the cutest tiny bantys you've ever seen! Look at the pictures in the link) in the studio where we gather. We were insanely lucky to be able to watch the last two break out of their shells!

Is that awesome or what???

She has 18 brand new, variously colored babies! Cutest little fuzzy things evar...

(and more - just cause they are darling).

And in a related story - Gertrude (studio chick #2 - the giant, partridge Cochin), has just gone broody.  She now sits in the nesting box all day and night all rumpled and grumpy (she'll hiss and peck if you try to move her to get at all the daily eggs from the other hens (that she steals and sits on. I've given her an egg-shaped rock so that she doesn't feel completely bereft...) Hopefully she'll return to normal in about a month...

Happy Easter to you!

Succulent Saturday - spring garden post!

Sorry for my bloggy absence, but we've had our first sunny *week* in recent memory - and it had to be spent out in the garden.

 After months and months of studio time, it has been pretty neglected and is taking *much* clean-up before I can even attempt re-planting... I have nearly planted 6.5 out of the 8 of these beds here however!

 Need to wait on planting the beans, tomatoes and cucumbers... Not warm enough yet.

 The current and jostaberry (as well as the blueberries, gooseberries and aronia berries) are happily blooming.

 Got my *new* backyard bed rototilled and have roughly laid in the bricks so that I can start planning its contents.

The chickens are very grumpy about all of this. I keep them locked in until all the seedlings are well enough established to withstand their grazing and scratching. They perch and yell at me every chance they get.

You'll have to wait for June, girls!

Music Monday - and the Star Wars exhibit..

Today we ventured into Seattle to see the Star Wars exhibit, amongst other things at the science center.

 To commemorate, I give you my all-time favorite musical snippet from the first Star Wars movie-

(And while there was very little that I liked about the latest three (other than the eye-popping visuals),  the music was worthy....) 

Seattle Center in the ephemeral PNW sunshine....

Pacific Science Center arches....

Area-appropriate sculptures in the surrounding pools...

More sculpture-of-whale -

and more exhibit pics for you tomorrow!

Figure Friday - plus spring sightings...

Despite how chilly and generally overcast and drizzly it's staying, there are some signs that spring is attempting to come..

Finals are close - even our model was multi-tasking by reading while sitting for us.

(Charcoal pencils on Canson paper. Around 2 hours...)

Magnolia blossoms...

...and a definite sign of impending warmer temps - the hotdog/ice cream shop is open!