Second Space Ship Flyover

Wednesday Night Flyover

9 x 12"

watercolors

Wednesday night, we had the best view of the space shuttle Endeavor and the International Space Station that we have ever had as they flew over us. We had watched it fly over in a lighter blue evening sky just south of us on Tuesday night. Bob French on KBTX tv told us that we would have a second chance on Wednesday night. Usually, when those things are announced, the first night is the time that the best views are available. Later viewings are often further away or dimmer.

Wednesday night's time was at 6:19 p.m., an hour later than on Tuesday, so it was darker. On top of that, the outside light didn't come on at dusk as it always does, but delayed until the space craft had passed. So we had a very dark night to watch the skies.

We had been advised that it would come more from the west, so we walked out into the street, away from trees.

"Is that it?" I asked Ashton as I spotted some orange lights in the west, just over the oak tree . It looked a bit like the shape of the craft we viewed the night before, only much smaller. I couldn't tell if it was moving. It was near what we decided was a planet, but looked, to me, like the Texas Longhorn symbol with rays coming out of it.

That shape didn't move, but, soon, Ashton directed me to look over the pasture to the north, just above the pale glow from the sunset. Here came a steady moving group of orange lights that appeared to be connected by a slim orange tube. There were lights on it, some extensions, and orange rays coming out of it.

"That's it!" I shouted as it moved to almost overhead.

As I said it, there were echos up and down our country lane of "That's it!" from neighbors who were also out watching the space crafts passing over.

"It looks so close!" "Wow!" "Isn't that amazing!" "Just think! There are people up there!"

Just as it got over us, it turned a bright white. So bright that I had to look away.

As it moved on to the east, it seemed to be orange again, then disappeared into the darkness over Bryan.

Later, on the news, we heard that one of the astronauts had lost her tool belt while working outside the space station. We couldn't help but wonder if that happened while they were flying over us.

The stars that were so bright in the west are actually Jupiter and Venus.

We came in and I sketched out the shapes of the space craft as it appeared at different points over the pasture. I also added the planets as they appear to me. Later, I added color with Winsor Newton watercolors with a bit of white acrylic for the white rays on the center object. This is in a sketchbook on white acid free drawing paper, and not on watercolor paper. You can't get that kind of paper as wet as the watercolor paper, so the color doesn't blend and flow as well. It's okay, but you just can't get the same effects.

Tonight, at the George Bush Library, an astronomy group from A&M is going to have telescopes set up so that the public can view the planets. It starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m.

It's going to be a bit cool, though. But, bundle up, and go out, if you can. It isn't something that we have an opportunity to do very often.

After watching the space ships, Ashton wants a telescope, as most kids do. However, we have had terrible luck with telescopes and microscopes. ( He was excited about that, too.) The things never work. The microscope set he got last year, even the science teachers couldn't work it. It looked to me like the hole to let light through didn't line up with the hole that you looked through.

Telescopes didn't work, either. We bought what seemed to be a really nice telescope for Christopher. Never could get it in focus to see anything through. We had better views just with the old Cannon camera with the zoom lense.

Enjoy sky watching with bright stars and gorgeous sunsets while we have these clear skies. I know, it may not be that way everywhere. But, here, it has been really outstanding, lately.

The featured exhibit at the George Bush Library has to do with space exploration, and is being coordinated with a similar exhibit at the LBJ Library in Austin. So, you may want to check it out, if you are interested in space.

Here's a trivia question.

Do you know who the astronauts are on board the space station and the Endeavor? And what countries they are from?

************

Calvert will be having their Christmas Homes Tour December 6 and 7. You can click on my photo of the bandstand at the top of my sidebar and that will take you to the brochure that tells more about the Tour.

There is one old home on the tour that I haven't been in. And that is the one that looks like the house on the opening of the tv program, "Designing Women".

*******************

Be sure to check out the events that I have in my sidebar.

Those of you who have been waiting for the slideshow of the Plein Aire Painting workshop with Virginia Vaughan in Calvert, it's coming! The tech people are still trying to help me get it to work. The guy said that he will put it on here for me. So, I am going to let him do that. I still am getting an error message when I try to do it, but it works for him. I need to figure out the problem, though, so I can do it myself in the future. I haven't forgotten!

*********

Brazos Valley Art League members need to get your entries ready for the upcoming juried show. The dates on that are December 1-19.

*********

I know that sketching, drawing, observing, practicing, experimenting, studying, researching, are all so important in being able to produce art. But, sometimes, I think that maybe I am doing too much practicing and sketching and not working enough on more finished things. However, at this stage of my vision problem, I am having to figure out some adjustments and directions.

I'm just having trouble getting things to connect and, sometimes, after a while, in seeing anything at all. What others see as straight lines may look wavey, curved, disconnected, or blurry to me. Just the physical act of bringing lines together or putting a brush into paint or water is difficult. I miss, often, and have to keep repeating until I finally hit something.

At the plein aire painting workshop, I felt like a bumbling idot at times because I just couldn't see things right to connect them, whether that was lines or picking up paint, or cleaning a brush, or packing or latching and unlatching hooks on equipment. Vaughan was demonstrating and while we painted, I thought I could see when she seemed to paint a nice curved line. So, I did that. When she came over to me, she pointed out that this was a straight line. I was surprised, because it looked like a big curve, to me. We fixed that. But, my rooster still looked like a cartoon character! (Most of my animals and people end up that way-cartoons!)

The other day, I made some tomato soup for lunch. The Campells Kids soup mug (which is white with pictures of the kids on it) that I usually use got broken, so I was using another cup that is black. I rinsed the cup and put it beside the stove. When my soup was hot, I proceeded to ladle my soup into my cup, or so I thought. Soup went all over the counter because I had my cup upside down. I was pouring it all over the bottom of the cup, and not inside. But, I couldn't tell the difference. Another mess to clean up, but, at least, this time, I didn't drop something on the floor instead of putting it on the counter because the edge of the counter disappeared into a purple fog.

I'm kind of slow and careful in doing things, anyway, but this eye problem (Macular Degeneration with cataracts) makes things take even longer.

A lot of people have this. I guess that I am actually lucky because I only have AMD in one eye. I just hope that the other one doesn't get it. As it is, I can get closer to things, close the bad eye, and see things. Not as they should be, but it isn't all just a big purple spot or dark, where I am trying to look. I can't imagine how terrible it must be for people who have this in both eyes. I guess that you have to adjust, but I have heard that some people are never able to adjust to losing their central vision.

**************

Get well wishes go out to Linda M., Vin, Carole P., and Gwen. And a special get well wish to Christopher. I hope that everyone will recover and get some relief, soon.

*************

Keep warm! It looks like summer and hurricane season are finally about over.

*************

Good Luck to everyone who will be participating in UIL tomorrow!

Vision-Space Shuttle and Station Flyover

See my latest slide show in the post below.
The forecast called for clear skies, cool temperatures, and a full moon just after 7 p.m. Thursday evening. My youngest grandson and I moved our supper plates and went out to the road in front of our house to watch the skies. It was supposed to come from the northwest, fly over, and exit to our southeast. The open field across the street provided perfect viewing of the skies.
The trees have grown up, but we still have a good view, away from city lights, if we go out to the driveway and the narrow country road.
The sky was clear and blue, with an orange glow to the west. A pinkish cloud with a swash of purple made a soft roll across the top of the glow. Green trees in the woods at the edge of the field were growing dark. The "pumper" and oil well across the street were changing from their normal rust color to a silhouette.
"We may see a lot of spectacular sunsets, with the fires in California," I told my grandson. "We always have gorgeous sunsets when there are fires or volcanic eruptions somewhere."
He looked for rocks and I leaned on my cane as we waited.
"I think I see it! Is that it?" he pointed to the north.
"Where? " I asked. "You sure have good eyes. But, then, you know I can't see a bloomin' thing!"
I could hear people in the yards beside and behind us. Others were out looking, too.
After all, Bob French, the weather man on tv, had been telling us about this historic event. The space shuttle and station had docked, with two women in command of the vessels, and would be passing right over us. We would be able to see them for about 5 minutes. We were told to look for something like a white dot that would pass over us. He had hoped that we would see both space crafts, separately, and the full moon on this clear night. But, they had already docked. Still, just to think of people, way up there, in things that we see on sci fi movies, flying by so fast, is exciting enough.
But, no. Not me! I thought that I may not be able to see anything. But this, well, it was different, for sure! What I saw looked more like a white, swept wing bomber from outer space. It seemed to have circles or lights spread from end to end.
"Three, two, one, Blast Off!" A child shouted from another yard as the space crafts passed over.
"I guess that really must be it."
"What do you see?" I asked my grandson as the space craft passed over our back yard.
"It's just a white dot," he answered.
I laughed. "You will have to draw me a picture of what it looked like. You won't believe how it looks, to me! Wow! What a thing I saw!" It seemed to be more like a large, detailed craft, with all the posts, or whatever they are, that connect the parts, and even lights that might be on the station.
When the crafts were out of sight, we came inside and I handed my grandson paper and pencil. We both sketched what we saw. It was almost a little disappointing to see that he only saw a white dot as it passed over.
"Sometimes, I think that you must just be making these things up," my daughter is not very understanding about my Macular Degeneration and cataracts. She is nearsighted, but I'm sure that she doesn't "enjoy" the abstract art that I get to see, especially from a distance. I guess the only people who really can believe me are those who have similar experiences. It is very strange.
Previously, when a group went outside to see one of the shuttles pass over in a night sky, it was very quiet . One of the women in the group insisted that she could hear a whoosh as the shuttle glided overhead. I did listen for a noise Thursday, but all I heard was a rustling in the grass. My grandson said it was a dog.
After he went to bed, I scanned our drawings, then drew mine onto a sheet of watercolor paper.
I wanted to get it done in color, then scanned and put on my blog. But, the paint wasn't dry enough. And I hesitated because I drew my space craft too large. Still, the shape that I saw is there, along with the scene. I just had to play around a little with the oil well shapes, the sunset, and the trees. Streaks of white were placed on the craft with white acrylic paint.
I've spent a while, trying to make the three pictures into a slide show. Finally, I got it done. For some reason, I first made it so that the pictures were flying around and overlapping. I don't know how I did that still! But, I finally got it to do a straight slide show by clicking on the one I had done before of "Deco Street".
I thought it would be nice to show the way the space crafts looked through my eyes, and then show what it really looked like, through my grandson's eyes.
Picture 1 My pencil sketch looking northwest
Picture 2 My watercolor looking northwest
Picture 3 My grandson's pencil drawing looking southeast
(He added an arrow to show where the space crafts are in his picture)
The drawings are 8.5" x 11" in pencil. The painting was done with Winsor Newton watercolors and is 5.5" x 9.5".
One little note. I got a notice of acceptance into the Downtown Art Auction November 2 in Bryan, Texas. More information later. So, if you are in the area, go downtown and enjoy the art, and buy something!
Be sure to check out the links on my sidebar. And let me know if you see something that is of interest to you.
If you are a newswatcher, or have an interest in the subject of breast cancer, check out www.gretawire.com . Monday night, on Fox news, Greta Von Susteran is going to have a special at 9:00 p.m. central time, and 10:00 p.m. eastern time. She has been on a tour with Laura Bush to the Middle East, to raise awareness about breast cancer. They just returned to Washington D.C. Friday night. Greta has an excellent blog called Greta Wire, and she has been blogging and sending pictures and videos all during the trip. She has room for comments with her posts, and she does read them. It has been really great to be able to "travel" with Greta and the First Lady via the blog. Something that I would never get to do otherwise. Greta has a wonderful job! Anyway, just wanted to spread the word so that everyone who can, will tune in and learn more. Greta's program is "On The Record" and it is on Fox News.
The weekend is upon us, so I hope that you can get out and enjoy the fall beauty and have "good golf, good tennis, good painting, or whatever makes you happy." (As Marvin Zindler always said when he signed off for the weekend on his segment of the news program from Houston.)