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.

 

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.

Library of Congress

Have I mentioned the fact that I love libraries? I love them so much. It was delightful to get back and visit the Library of Congress during our DC trip. * Debo mencionar que a mí me encantan la bibiotecas. Me fascinan, en realidad. Así que estaba muy entusiamada a visitar el Library of Congress durante nuesto viaje a Washington DC.

The Library of Congress tour guide flat-out described the place as a "Temple of Knowledge." I love being able to enjoy such decadently ornate and monumental architecture outside of the context of a church. Books, education, learning--worth every mural, every inch of gleaming marble. * El voluntario que nos guió por la biblioteca declaró que es un "templo de sabiduría." Me encanta poder gozar arcitectura tan monumental y elegante fuera del contexto de una iglesia. Libros, educación, conocimiento--cada pulgada de marmol brillante, cada mural coloroso, es testigo al valor de aprender.

Of course, one often does learn that our history is flawed and problematic. Some epic murals from the 1890s can be fraught with sexism and colonial ugliness to my modern sensibilities. But perhaps that's just further proof of the fact that we are still learning, as we roll forward into the future?  * Claro que un parte importante de aprender, es darse cuenta que tenemos una historia problematica y difícil. Las murales de la decada 1890 pueden tener aspectos sexistas y colonialistas que me dan asco hoy en día. Pero ojalá esto signifique que vamos aprendiendo más a proceder adelente, ¿no?

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. 

Wooden Sculptures

Visited the Portland Art Museum recently, and was impressed by the carved wooden figurines by John Frame. Originally designed as stop-motion figurines for a film, they are astoundingly intricate objects independently of the film project.

The magic, for me, is in the details. The figures are fairly small--maybe a foot high?--but they have astonishingly detailed joints carved in the wooden hands. The facial expressions carved into the wood are also astonishing in their subtlety and power. I gawked, I really did.

But these beautiful and distinctly surreal figures are even more amazing when you catch a glimpse of how they are animated for Frame's film. Tiny glass eyeballs, like you would see in dolls or taxidermy projects, are already pretty fascinating when they are sewed into this character's overcoat. (I was torn when I saw this--I simultaneously really want to make myself a coat covered with glass eyes, and really don't want to, because it's just too creepy!)

But, in the film, not only do the long thin wooden dowels sticking out of this character's head give its own eyeballs the power to move...but the eyes sewn into the cloth of its coat will nonchalantly blink throughout the scene. Yes. It is the most beautiful, and also the most deeply unnerving, thing I've seen in a long time.

There's a snippet of the blinking eyeball coat here. All I can say is, wow. (And, isn't it interesting that both of my recent visits to PAM have left me obsessed with the sewing technique wherein you slash open the outer layer of a jacket so the lining can show through?)