Weekend Adventure

Last weekend we traveled to a neat new place and explored with nothing more than a spectacular packed lunch, a few bucks, and a camera.

Is spring here yet?

The lunch was homemade tuna salad wraps, red grapes, pistachios, yogurt with fruit and granola, and chocolate milk!

Here are some things we saw:

Some of the tallest trees I've ever seen

Beautiful and tall

This little old squirrel was very squinty and slow-moving

Cold water

 I also had the chance to see the artwork of Lenny Lyons Bruno.

The pictures of her work in the link above cannot compare to the warm and intricate layers I saw up close in the gallery.  Her interesting use of antique found objects had me peering into each chunky and complex three-dimensional piece like my favorite hidden object puzzles.  Each part of her Coal Camp Series had a really neat narrative that could only be recognized after lingering for several minutes at each piece.  I found this thoughtful article about her in Virginia Living.

I hope you are able to squeeze in a special adventure of your own soon.  I felt like my internal well of imagery had been sufficiently refilled and I was creatively inspired by the time we got home that afternoon.  I've found that when you work from home and you live out in the middle of nowhere, it's so easy to become a hermit.  Planning these weekend adventures is my way of making sure that doesn't happen.  :)

Meet the Artist: Daniel Mullendore

Today's post is part of my new blog series called "Meet the Artist."  Each month I will be interviewing a different artist and featuring several examples of their work.  This month I chose Daniel Mullendore, of Pullman, Washington.  Daniel studies plant biology at Washington State University and creates the vivid micrographs you see here.  Scroll down to read the full interview below. 

Pink Corn Root by Daniel Mullendore

"The aesthetic value of plant anatomy is often overlooked in the course of scientific inquiry. Light microscopy, with the aid of dyes, yields images of hidden landscapes imbued with color and symmetry. These beautiful microscopic structures are eclipsed by more easily observable botanical features, such as foliage and inflorescences. All of my images are micrographs of plant anatomical features that may be dyed to accentuate differing cell wall features."

 (Daniel Mullendore)

Bass Wood by Daniel Mullendore

Merriam-Webster defines a micrograph as "a graphic reproduction (as a photograph) of the image of an object formed by a microscope"

Black Pepper Stem by Daniel Mullendore

 Daniel took the time to answer a few questions about his work:

I like how your titles read like ingredients for a potion that might allow one to talk to unicorns for six minutes ... all we're missing is hoof root and dire wolf hair.  What is your favorite micrograph you've taken so far?

 "My favorite micrograph so far is Crystal Creek Stream Bed because the entire micrograph is one cell layer thick, which is extremely difficult to preform because parenchyma cells average 50 microns in diameter."

Crystal Creek Stream Bed by Daniel Mullendore

Big Banana Root by Daniel Mullendore

What inspired you to pursue a degree in plant biology?

 "My Grandma is my biggest inspiration because she would always let me help gardening in the summers and make jelly from wild picked berries."

 I like that your grandma is your biggest inspiration.  My grandma has inspired me too.  Have you had any formal training as an artist or are you self-taught?

"I completed a one semester course in beginning sculpture during my undergraduate degree but besides that I guess I am self taught."

Orchid Root by Daniel Mullendore

Where do you hope to see yourself 5 years from now?

"In five years, I hope to be running my own lab, teaching students microscopy and perhaps traveling a bit to exhibit my artwork for public outreach." 

 What is one of your favorite cities you've lived in or visited?

 "I have two favorite cities, Paris, France and San Francisco, CA because of the food, art and culture."

Time-lapse of Salmon Run by Daniel Mullendore

What was the last album or song you listened to?

"The last album I listened to was Greatest Hits of Waylon Jennings (I love old time country)."

Ah, yes.  I find Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Sr. are both relaxing to sketch by. What was the last book you read? 

"The last book I have read is Taiz and Zeiger's "Plant Physiology". Boring, I know, but my prelims are in three weeks."

I bet it has a lot of interesting illustrations!  Good luck with your prelims and thanks for sharing your work!

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Find Daniel's unique shop (called MicroscopicArt) over on Etsy HERE.

It snowed

 One magical afternoon or two ago, it snowed here in our corner of Kentucky.

Listening to the snow fall was calming after a hectic but nice holiday.  I hope you all had a nice holiday and are all feeling as inspired as I am to start some new goals this year.  One of my goals is to get my photography shop up and running.  I hope to be able to announce that pretty soon. 

Anyone else making any noble or crazy goals to see accomplished this year?  I would love to hear about them.

Today in the home office

Some shots from around the home office today. 

The view out my window today.

My colleague, the quiet writer, is tapping away contentedly on his keyboard.

Little did I know, just before I took this picture he was in the other room digging through the garbage.

And my administrative assistant is always busy.

It's shaping up to be a productive Wednesday around here.  We are excited to be receiving visitors soon for Christmas and New Year's!

What are you doing this weekend?

Things I wanted to get done:

{ paint my nails some pretty pink color } (Done!)

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{ go to the TC Makers Market } (exciting blog post forthcoming)

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{ catch up on some laundry } (Almost Done!)

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{ take some pictures } (Done!)

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{ catch up on Project Runway } (Done!)

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{ go for a walk } (Done!)

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{ work on getting new photography shop opened } (not done...)

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Things I didn't know I was going to do:

{ try a new restaurant } 

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{ go thrift shopping with my grandma and my partner } (found an interesting vintage crochet booklet)

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{ play a really hard hidden object computer game for way too long }

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And in case you were not already aware:

I learned this from my dad and my grandma at a very young age.  My older sister (working on her PhD) is aware of the magic of computer games as well.

What did you find yourself doing this weekend?

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Busy Month

  October has been a busy month.  I've been tinkering with a couple different projects, enjoying the fall weather, trying out some new recipes, and watching movies!  Which doesn't leave much time for the blog.  I hope to have a new shop for my photography opened by the end of the month.


Things I've been up to:

We went to see the new Guillermo del Toro film: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.
It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.  Which was okay with me.  I'm not that into the scary ones.  This one had almost cute little fairy creatures (think of a miniature Gollum, as a crotchety hairy old man) and it was one of those horror movies where you find yourself wondering why they didn't just kick the little things away.  Being the size of hamsters, they somehow brought down full-grown adults.  I will admit though, it was a whole swarm of them, most of the time, that over-powered the adults.

Went walking down by the river and around town:

Looking at the sky and eating good food:

Hiking around by the old state hospital:

I'm looking forward to the Traverse City Maker's Market next weekend.  I think it's going to be a neat group of sellers.  I'll have some photos to share I'm sure.

What have you been up to during this blustery October?