DC: Spy Museum

I visited the Spy Museum in Washington, DC this past November. The artifacts from a long history of spying were quite interesting. Tiny cameras in watches and hairbrushes and even in the buttons of a wool coat! Secret messages written on the cloth of hankies! * Visité el Spy Museum en Washington, DC el noviembre pasado. Los artefactos de una historia larga del acto de espiar eran bastante interesantes. ¡Cámaras minúsculas escondidas en relojes, en cepillas, y hasta en los botones de un abrigo! ¡Mensajes secretos escritas en la tela de un pañuelo!

Tiny guns hidden in lipstick tubes, gloves, and cigarettes! Radio transmitters hidden in fake dog poop! * ¡Pistolas pequeñas escondidas en un tubo de lápiz labial, en guantes, y en cigarillos! ¡Transmisores de radio escondidos en una imitación de caca de perro!

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Spy cameras strapped to the bellies of pigeons! Cyanide capsules that you activate by chewing on the end of your glasses! * ¡Una cámera grande atada a la barriga de una paloma! ¡Pílulas de cianuro escondidas en los anteojos!

The Spy Museum doesn't allow you to use cameras, though there are a couple of station where you can take a photo of yourself scattered among the exhibits. There is no rule against sketching, though! Scribbling down notes on stealthy weapons and recording devices really augmented the flavor of the exhibits. * El museo no permite fotographía, aunque hay algunos lugares donde puedes sacar un autoretrato entre las exhibiciones. ¡Pero no hay regla contra dibujar! Capturando con mis bosquejos información sobre armas secretas y grabadores de espionaje realmente aumentó el sabor de la exhibición.

DC: White House and Navy Memorial

The presidential inauguration is happening on Monday! I should get my last sketches from the trip to DC posted in time for that, huh? * ¡La inaguración presidential toma lugar este lunes! Debo compartir el resto de mis dibujos de mi visita a Washington, DC, ¿no?

White pencil on black paper. *

Lápiz blanco en papel negro.

Our first night in town was actually election night. Fast sketch the White House, all lit up while votes were being tallied around the nation. * La primera noche del viaje fue la noche de la elección. Este dibujo rápido de la Casa Blanca iluminada de noche captura el momento en que estaban contantdo las votas por toda la nación.

White pencil on black paper. *

Lápiz blanco en papel negro.

DC is a town full of memorials. One of the favorites we found on this trip was noteworthy for its simplicity--the Navy memorial features a lone dude with his bag, bundled up against the cold wind, waiting to depart on his ship. Tells a heck of a story with very little "pomp." * DC es una ciudad llena de momumentos comemorativos. El monumento del Navy era uno de nuestros favoritos. Hay un chavo solito, con mochila, abrigado contra el viento frío, esperando salir en su barco. Presenta un cuento muy emotivo sin mucha pompa.

 

Pillars

Washington DC is a monumental city. I packed my black-paper sketchbook for last month's trip because I knew the dramatic marble would call out to be sketched. * Washington DC es una ciudad monumental. Llevé el libro de dibujar con el papel negro durante mi visita la mes pasada, porque supe que había un montón de edificios de mármol para dibujar.

 
Drawing all these giant pillars by daylight is certainly fun... *Claro que es divertido dibujar las columnas en la luz del día...

...but trying to capture the way they are illuminated after dark is an even more interesting challenge. * ...pero después de anochecer, con las luces prendidas en ángulos dramáticos--dibujando ésto es un reto aún más interesante.

Lincoln

Washington DC last month. We had to pay a visit to the Lincoln monument. (And it's beautiful at night.) * La mez pasada, durante nuestra visita a Washington DC, tuvimos que hacer la peregrinación al monumento de Lincoln. (Es tan bello por la noche.)

I started off drawing in white pencil on black paper. * Empecé dibujando con un lápiz blanco en papel negro.

Then I switched to watercolor.* Entonces cambié a acuarela.

There's a lot of warmth and color in a stark white marble statue, after all. * Hay mucho color y afecto en una estatua blanca de marmol, al fin y al cabo.

National Museum of the American Indian

I had never seen the National Museum of the American Indian before. It was still under construction when I was last in DC. The curving form of the building was so striking that I had to to a sketch before we went in. * Nunca había visitado el Museo Nacional del Indio Americano antes; todavía estaban construyéndolo cuando estaba en DC hace 10 años. Las formas ondulantes del edificio son muy impresionantes- tuve que pintarla rapidamente antes de entrar.

I love the mix of ancient and modern in this museum. It really gives the sense of cultures that are active and relevant today, and that have very deep roots. *  Me encanta la mezcla de lo anciano y lo moderno en este museo--tenemos un sentido verdadero de culturas que son vivas y relevantes hoy en día, que tienen raices muy profundas.

I am a sucker for sculptures of animals, and they had a wonderful display of them on the top floor. There was a school group that came to that area shortly after I did, and they were so engaged that even with all my sketching time, I moved on earlier than they did! * Me encantan las esculturas de animales, y hay una colección de estas muy encantadora. Un groupo de estudiantes jovenes llegó a verlos un poco después de mi, y estaban tan fascinadas que--aunque yo pasé bastante tiempo en dibujar--todavía estaban charlando y discutiendo cuando yo fuí a ver la próxima cosa. 

The day before, I'd learned all about botanical illustration in the Americas, as done by European artists. I was terribly excited to find an example of botanical illustration by the Cherokee--how to identify medicinal plants. * El día antes, había aprendido much sobre ilustración botánico en las Americas, hecho por artistas europeas. Me emocioné tanto a encontrar un ejemplar de ilustración botánico hecho por el tribu Cherokee--cómo identificar plantas medicinales.

I was really impressed by the sculptures of Abraham Anghik Ruben: a mix of traditional Inuit legends with Norse viking influences, looking at the interplay of those cultures across the arctic region. Beautiful and very evocative work. * Me quede muy impresionada por las esculturas de Abraham Anghik Ruben. Mezcla imágenes de las leyendas inuit tradicionales con influencias de los vikingos nórdicos, explorando la dinámica entre las culturas del Ártico. Elegante y muy evocativo. 

National Musem of Natural History

On this recent visit to the Smithsonian Institute, most of my time at the Natural History museum was spent in the lectures about Mark Catesby. But we did get a chance to scamper through the fossil displays at the lunch break. * Cuando visité el museo de historia natural del instituto Smithsonian, pasé la mayoría de mi tiempo en el simposio sobre Mark Catesby. Pero sí logramos una visita muy rápida a los fósiles enormes, durante el almuerzo.

Fossils of a glyptodont, an ancient antelope, and a nautilus. White pencil on black paper, 2012. * Fosiles de un gliptodóntido, un antílope anciano, y un nautilino. Lapiz blanco en papel negro, 2012. 

Skull of Xiphiacetus, an ancient dolphin. White pencil on black paper, 2012. * Cráneo de Xiphiacetus, un delfín anciano. Lapiz blanco en papel negro, 2012.

 
In 2002, I spent part of the summer among these exhibits: the microscope I needed to draw tiny details of fossil leaves was located in the "Fossil Lab" exhibition space, so hordes of tourists watched me through a big glass wall as I worked! It was neat to relive all the memories of working in that museum. (Looks like the same microscope is still in the same place, too.) * En el año 2002, pasé la mitad del verano trabajando entre estos fosiles: el microscopio que usaba para dibujar hojas de arboles ancianos estaba en la exhibición del "Laboratorio de Fosiles." Así que miles de turistas me miraban mientras que estaba dibujando, tan fijamente como miraban a los restos de los animales extintos. Era lindo visitar mi microscopio otra vez--¡todavia esta en el mismo lugar! 

Sketch of my old NMNH staff ID card. Pen and colored pencil on blue paper, 2002. * Dibujo de mi tarjeta de identificación para el Museo Nacional de Historia Natural. Tinta negra y lapices de color en papel azul, 2002.

300 Years of Mark Catesby

My recent trip to Washington DC was triggered by an interesting day of free lectures. Mark Catesby was a scientist and an artist who published one of the first books about plants and animals of North America, Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, starting in 1729. As it turns out, he was heavily influenced by another favorite illustrator of mine, Maria Sybilla Merian--no wonder I like his work so much.

I met up with my wonderful friend Ikumi Kayama for the day of lectures at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The topics included techniques for drawing, printing, bookbinding, and self-publishing in the 18th century, as well as the science behind the plants and animals depicted in Catesby's amazing two-volume work.

It was eye-opening to learn that after 4 years of gathering research, the book itself took 20 years for Catesby to produce. He didn't have funds to hire a professional engraver, so he engraved all the plates and hand-painted them each afterwards.

We were entertained by some of the strange myths that other science books of the time were publishing about wildlife in North America: the idea that turtles can hunt by slamming shut their carapaces on neck of a snake to chop its head off; or the idea that rattlesnakes can hypnotize a squirrel and make it run down a tree right into the snake's mouth, for example.

We were thrilled to look at an actual copy of one of the original books after the lectures wrapped up. A very exciting day for me, all told!