Hi everyone. Here we are at the middle of another week and May is flying right by. Flowers have bloomed and the trees have all their leaves and the weather has been mostly fantastic.
Today I have a painted page from my Nature Journal to share with you. I am linking up with Jo's challenge at Art Journal Journey. This challenge is Flora and Fauna. Thanks Jo for a great theme this month.
I have a weeping cherry in my garden that we call Al. It's called Al after my dad, as the tree was a gift from my co-workers when he passed. A couple of weeks ago it was blooming and I decided to document it in my Nature Journal.
And it has a very weird shape because one winter in an ice storm the top broke off, so now it grows fat but not tall. But when it blooms in early May, it is really beautiful.
I used paint, stamped images and some sketching to create my page.
I am also going to link up to the latest challenge, More Flowers, at Moo Mania.
Yesterday I went with some of my students on a field trip to Harvard Museum of Natural History.
The pride of the museum is their collection of glass flowers, made between 187-1936 by a father and son Czech glass working team, Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka.
They created some amazing flowers. I went there a couple of years ago with some students also, but they had a few things in the exhibit I don't remember seeing before.
This is view of the back wall of the exhibit looking over 2 of the cases that display the flowers.
Here are some of the glass flowers.They are scientifically correct for study. Everything here is made of glass. It is AMAZING!
Any guess what this is? It's not a plant.
A common fungus-mold.
They also had an exhibit of sea animals made of glass from this samee father and son team. I will show you those another day.
Have a great day!
And thanks for visiting my blog also.
15 comments:
Wonderful journal page, cherry trees are always so beautiful. Great photos from the glass plants and flowers, they are really incredible! Have a lovely day, enjoy your good weather - it's a bit stormy over here. Hugs, Valerie
Al is beautiful. I've never seen a weeping cherry before. It is awesome. Yu certainly painted it beautifully and it is simply perfect for Jo's theme at AJJ. I like the shape, because it actually reminds me of a weeping willow I had at my home in MO (actually, I planted two of them). Thanks for sharing yet another beautiful entry with us at Art Journal Journey.
I remember your trip to the museum. These are incredible. Almost too beautiful for words.
I bet you wished you lived in KS. The kids got out of school last week and there were numerous graduation ceremonies all over the city over the weekend.
You asked about the doll clothes. It was a dress project one year. The host provided a doll dress via her blog and most people made theirs out of paper only AND on one side only. I had to be different and make mine on both sides. I often used both fabric and paper. I didn't use the pattern every month, either. If you want to see the project, please go to my previous collaborations page, scroll down to 2010 and you will see all 12 months.
As for Wendy, that is NOT embroidery, but stencils! My machine sews straight, zig zag, and not so straight, and that's about it!
What a lovely memory of you dad and your journal spread is beautiful. The glass flowers at Harvard are amazing. You really have to see the to believe they are made of glass. Enjoy the sunshine today!
I’ve been to this museum with our daughter, and I was completely amazed as well! Thanks for the photos!
I am so happy you showed those fabulous exhibit pieces! I can remember the first time you introduced those fantatic things from the Czech glass working team.
Simply AMAZING again!
And your page with your DAD - tree is amazing! I simply adore it and am really happy to see it linked to AJJ and MM& M! My week is super so far - thank you - hope the same for you -have a happy rest of your work week dear Erika - time flies and you will see how soon the holidays will start.I am sure!
Thank you for joining the challenges dear Erika
Hugs, Susi
Woww Erika !!!! Your page is so gorgeous !! Love your tree, it´s radiant, wonderful, love the colours, and the little birds, great art !! :D
It´s amazing to see these glass flowers , incredible !! Thank you very much for sharing these fabulous photos with us.
I wish you a very nice afternoon, big hugss, Caty
An amazing post
Thank you for joining us at MOO MANIA & MORE
Your cherry tree is beautiful and I'm so glad you captured Al on your page for AJJ! It must make you smile when it blossoms in May and what a lovely way to remember your dear dad - perfect 😁. Wow, the museum is amazing! The plants and flowers are stunning, did I read it right that they are made from glass? Wow, that takes my breath away, they are so beautiful! Thanks so much for joining us at Art Journal Journey and for also sharing your fabulous field trip! J 😊 x
First of all I have to say that you shared some amazing photos from your visit to the museum. Those glass flowers look gorgeous.
I loved your journal page and the beautiful weeping cherry tree, the pair of birds look sweet as well.
Yvonne xx
The glass-flowers are amazing!
I like your blooming tree too. What a beautiful colour and a special memory.
This is a museum I would love with all my heart. Fascinating (as are your photos.) Thanks for alerting me to this one.
Love your cherry! Reminds me of my neighbor's!
I love your cherry tree page - a lovely reminder for you! The glass flowers are a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Hugs, Chrisx
WOW, this painted pink of blooms from the weeping cherry in your garden is gorgeous! And it's a nice story about this tree.
What an amazing collection of glass flowers in that museum! I especially admired the fine roots made from glass!
Hugs-Rike
What a lovely tree in memory of your dad. I would like to see a real photo of it too if you have one. (when it flowers).
The Harvard museum exhibition is amazing. It is almost unbelievable that those flowers are all made of glass. I'm looking at the roots of that fern. Can that be glass I ask you? So fine! Really stunning.
We are leaving on Sunday morning for our road trip through Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark. We will be away for about a month and I will be blogging and commenting minimally as we will only have wifi in the evenings at a hotel (if we're lucky) and I will be using my iPad which, to me, is not as user friendly as a PC. I just have to remember to take some pictures with the ipad so I can put something on my blog.
Have a good week,
Keep smiling,
Hugs,
Lisca
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