New Cover + New Techniques

It's time for another album cover!! It's been now quite a while since the last one. And this is the second album cover for my very talented sister, Ashia Grzesik.  Here is the work-in-progress of the first cover that we collaborated on.

For this new album, named "Diesel vs. Lungs", I decided to try two "new" techniques. The first was watercolor painting. I'd always been an acrylic girl, but wasn't getting the results that I needed with certain techniques. I wanted to do washes, and washes on washes on washes, and using acrylics for this was borderline dumb. I'd like to say that the adjustment to using watercolors was totally easy, but there was a bit of a learning curve, as you have to approach the layering in a different way, and get accustomed to the translucency and the malleability (or lack of it) once it's on paper. 

Here is a snippet of the background, pre-processing:

The inspiration for the background, as given to me by Ashia, was the city of Ostrava in the Czech Republic. It has earned the nickname “steel heart of the republic”, due to heavy industry there, and it remains one of the most polluted cities in the EU.

I also couldn't help but realize that after I had finished it, it reminded me - albeit loosely - of the hand-painted backgrounds of my all-time favorite children's cartoon, Krtek*, which hails from the Czech Republic (!)  Specifically, my all-time favorite episode of dear little Krteček, "Little Mole on the Town", which shows the transformation of a beautiful forest filled with adorable wildlife into a dirty, polluted city (!!!) 

Here is the entire 28-minute episode, which is totally worth your time to watch to the end.  But if you're ADD like me, just watch the first 5-6 minutes, which shows the adorable woodland creatures helplessly watch their forest home being torn down...so intense! {Please note: It may take a few minutes to load and currently, it won't upload with sound. Standby and pretend it's a silent movie for now and thanks for your patience!}
 
This isn't the first time that Czech cintematic talent has been featured by me...hmmm.


On to another element of the cover, a snippet of a spray of poppies:

The final watercolor painting was outlined by a dark brown pen, roughly à la Alfons Mucha (see a pattern here? ha!)  I felt like I was still reverting to old acrylic techniques while painting this, though, so looks like I have to keep working on my watercolor technique. Apparently, using watercolor pencils for years and years wasn't as big of a help as I thought it would be! And oh yeah, should have anticipated the paper buckling as much as it did with so much water on it ;)

More on the second "new" technique in a later post...

 * Have I talked yet of the genius of Krtek?? I smell a doozy of a great post idea.

The Cutest Thing on the Planet

This handsome bugger's back story.

Final Photo Roundup

Oh my, did it take me forever... But I finally uploaded the last of the Great Gull Island photos.  I have split them up into three sets.... You can see them below as slideshows, or you can visit here.

2 Great Articles

...both from the NYT.

The first is an interview with the wonderful Helen Hays, director of the Great Gull Island Project.  She believed in a little ol' sound engineer and allowed her to pretend she was an ornithologist for a week.  She has asked me to help her sort through the data that was collected, at the AMNH in the fall (fingers crossed!!); which may sound silly, but is a great honor.

The second is an article in which Bridget Stutchbury is interviewed in regards to birds reacting to climate change.  Dr. Stutchbury is also a great writer and has written several books including The Private Lives of Birds, which I'm currently reading.

Great Gull Island - Living Among Thousands of Birds

The island is home to thousands of terns.  There are so many that you can't walk anywhere without being only a few inches or feet from a nest, usually guarded by a very territorial adult tern.  This video shows the short walk that I had to do several times a day from the building where my room was to headquarters.  I had to wear a hat at all times to prevent the possibility of being pecked at (and pooped on) by the terns.

One of the really neat things about walking this trail repeatedly over a week, was watching the chicks along it grow bigger.  A favorite was a chick I dubbed "Pie" (short for "Sweety Pie"), who quickly became my muse.

Every morning I was sent out to trap adult terns to gather data on them.  I stopped for a moment to capture the morning sun hitting the west end of the island from my "trapping territory" on the east end.

Great Gull Island - Bird Life

I'm still sorting through tons of photos and videos and am having a hard time narrowing them down to just a few.  Some of the photos I've combined into GIFs so that I don't end up posting five times as many pictures.

One of the great things about my time spent on GGI was having a window onto the world of the terns...watching them do their thing.  The first series below illustrates a favorite pastime of mine: watching the "elephants" act like spoiled, greedy, obese teenagers.  Their appetites seem insatiable, as they don't ever stop squawking in their parents' faces, pulling their tail feathers, and constantly pestering them for more food.  This comical pair lived right outside the door of the building I slept in.

Below was definitely a "right place - right time" moment.  I managed to capture this scolding tern protecting her newly-hatched chick (underneath her) and another young chick behind her.

I managed to be lucky enough to catch a few common tern chicks hatching on my rounds. I paused to catch this one on camera. Unfortunately, it became obvious to me that it was going to take a long time before he was going to be fully hatched, so I could only catch a minute of it before having to move on (and also wanted to keep my disturbance to a minimum).  You can see his "egg tooth": the white calcareous point on the end of the bill that helps the chick break the shell.

Great Gull Island - Day 6 & 7

The past week has exposed me to experiences that were either new, or dormant and waiting to be exposed. The kind that you forget about and need a reminder of every now and then; that somehow manage to turn up at the eleventh hour. Sometimes you get kicked in the shin (or pooped on) and you realize that you've been waiting for that to happen for a long time.

It is amazing to be able to be an observer of the delicate world that is around us. It is always there, and perpetuates whether we pay attention to it or not, and in our day-to-day modern world, it is definitely easy to forget it's there. But sometimes you are given the opportunity, rather the privilege, to be an observer - to look through a window onto this now-disconnected parallel universe that we were once a part of. Suddenly all of the randomness doesn't seem so random and enigmatic anymore. For maybe a nanosecond, everything has its place, including you. You see the tiny working parts and intricate puzzle pieces. 

What brought on this introspection? Well I've always viewed things this way to some degree, but I got a healthy reminder of it this past week. 


I spent hours "out in the field" interacting with and observing the common terns, as I've been rambling on about the last few days. 

I've felt the excitement of watching chicks hatch in the early morning dew; feeling honored to be present as they start breathing in the oxygen that I, too, am breathing...their wet feathers starting to dry to downy fluff. 

I've also held a freshly hatched chick, barely hours old, that was cold and distressed and heaving, covered in dirt, with no parent in sight. I knew that his breaths would be few in number, and after watching from afar, found that he was indeed abandoned. I've also had to watch chicks that had made it to 25 days, wander drowsily with drooped wings, finally face-planting into the ground, to likely not get up again. They make no attempt to flee or protest when I scoop them up.

On the other end of the island, its peer stretches out his wings and hops, a couple inches off the ground at a time, flapping madly...building up muscle and coordination to, in a few days time, soar over the water in search of food.

And yet somehow even the morbid and ugly is beautiful, because there is comfort in that it is part of the larger, onward, unyielding, churning of nature, like heavenly geometry.

Okay, so I did have a glass or two of wine before boarding the train back to New York...and I'm not quite sure how to wrap up this rambling monologue. It just felt good to be very present and very aware.  We each occupy a very tiny mass of cells in this unimaginably large universe, and sometimes, you really feel like it - in a good way.

Stay tuned for more pictures and videos.  I have over 600 to sort through.

♥

Great Gull Island - Day 5

I'm already starting to get bummed about the fact that tomorrow will be my last full day here. It has gone by very quickly, and I'm just now starting to adjust to the sleep schedule. In addition to all of the action of the last five days, I've also had the opportunity to see every sunrise and sunset; draw and journal; relax with new friends; and generally enjoy living in the rough on a 19-acre island with very limited electricity and no running water.

And also, stuff like this happens...

I was walking down a narrow path through the only stand of trees on the island, when I noticed a tiny fuzzy brown thing that blended in with the carpet of dead pine needles on the path. I quickly realized a) that I should stop walking, and b) it was a tiny chick, considerably smaller than the tern chicks. When I lifted it up, I was taken aback by its crazy long legs and comical big feet. It was a spotted sandpiper! I could not believe my luck. I brought it back to headquarters for banding. His striking and painfully adorable looks quickly turned him into a celebrity on the island. But alas, he only got his five minutes of fame, as we had to release him back to the pine grove after the banding.

Great Gull Island - Day 4

The last few days have felt like an intensive course in bird handling and processing for research. I've never been able to handle so many birds before. I've banded close to 70 common tern chicks of all sizes in just four days, and trapped and processed about 20 adults. To while away the hot afternoon hours, for "fun" we attempt to trap and band some of the other resident birds that toil around headquarters. This gave us the opportunity to learn how to color-band songbirds. Below I'm holding a gray catbird that we lured with raisins, and a song sparrow gets new band flair in blue.

This morning I was sent off to do trapping on my own on the east end of the island, which felt like a great honor since everyone else was in groups. Three of the nests were ones that I had found and flagged on yesterday's Chick Check (see earlier blog entry), and a few others I had to find based on rough directions from Helen Hays*, the director of the program here. I caught an adult in each of the six traps I set, and even caught the mate of one right after I reset the trap. All in all, I caught four breeding pairs, which is considered a great haul!

Below, I also have some pics of me holding "Orvilles": "elephants" that have lost some weight and have learned how to fly; these are likely around 25 to 30 days old. I've stretched out their wings to show how their primary flight feathers have grown in. You can also see their black caps starting to come in.

* I later found out that Helen had a hand in banning PCB production in the US!

Great Gull Island - Day 3

First thing in the morning (6:30am!) and late afternoon, we do "pairing". We attempt to harmlessly trap the parents of a given common tern nest in a metal cage...it sounds worse than it is in reality.

We pick a nest that has just-hatched young (so that they can't wander), and place a cage over it that has a trap door. The door closes on the tern when it goes to the nest to feed its young. We do one round to try to catch the first parent, then another right after to attempt to get the other. To be able to track a breeding couple is very helpful, especially if they breed on the island each year.

Handling the larger adults does require a bit more muscle and finesse than the chicks, but somehow they still manage to look elegant even when they're not cooperating.

They are then taken to headquarters for processing.

Note that the first one below has some white speckling above its bill; that tells us that it is not yet a fully mature adult and is likely two to three years old. More on processing later...

Great Gull Island - Day 2

Chick Check

Every morning we do a "chick check". We comb the island for common tern chicks that haven't been banded already. They get a band if they haven't had one put on yet, and we record which nest or area they came from. I got to handle birds that ranged from being only a couple minutes old to what we call "elephants": the awkward teenagers that are actually bigger in size than their parents and are up to 45-48 days old. Here are just a couple I snapped pics of, showing the range of ages, from just out of the egg to almost fledging.

Great Gull Island - Day 1

I'm spending a week volunteering on a tiny island in Long Island Sound. Once a military fort, it is now an important breeding ground for thousands of terns; most are common terns, but there is also a decent population of the endangered roseate tern. The American Museum of Natural History has been running a project here to keep track of the terns for the past few decades. I will have the opportunity to take part in collecting and recording data for the project over the course of a week.

Here is the view from my room. Although there is very limited electricity (I'm currently running my iPhone on a solar charger) and the digs are quite rustic, the view and surroundings can't be beat! Stay tuned for more updates...

Adventures in Bird Banding

 

This morning I had the pleasure of joining Tait Johansson and the Bedford Audubon Society for bird banding at their study plot near Katonah, NY. The study is a part of the continent-wide MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) program. This entails placing a small metal band around the leg of each bird that is caught, and recording its weight, sex, condition, age, and measurements.  The information is used to find out how many birds return each year to breeding grounds, and will allow biologists to see if specific bird populations are declining and, if so, what the causes may be.

Since I was coming from Brooklyn, I had to be up at 3:15AM (ouch!), and by the time we reached the study plot, it was already light out.

We set about opening the ten mist nets (that look like huge, almost-invisible badminton nets), and then every hour we would check them for birds that would fly into them and harmlessly get caught in the netting.  I had the opportunity to untangle some of the birds out of the nets, which was way more challenging than I thought it would be, but it was amazing to be able to handle them.  

                          

I got to help free this adorable juvenile Tufted Titmouse. Of all the bird species we dealt with, these were among the smallest, but by far the noisiest and feistiest. I now know what it feels like to be repeatedly pecked at and bit by a bird! Those tiny beaks have quite a grip.

Tait wrangles a Common Yellowthroat, a tiny warbler that breeds in the area.

                 

Kristen bands an Ovenbird...

                 

...and then shows off its pretty crown for the camera.

A Wood Thrush gets his wing measured.

I was taught how to properly handle and hold the birds.  

My new Wood Thrush buddy sporting his new bracelet.  Doesn't he look pleased?

Other birds species banded or recaptured:  Veery, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird.

Snowy Owl Sighting

This afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to take a trip to the beach.  Not to go for a swim, but to spot a Snowy Owl, rumored to have taken up residence recently at Jones Beach.  After wandering around the dunes for a while unsuccessfully, I spotted a semi-circle of about a dozen photogs with huge telephoto lenses on tripods.  Bingo!

I was probably the only one there without a fancy camera, so unfortunately my pics are a bit lo-res, despite the fact that we were able to get pretty close without fazing him.  Male Snowies start out with dark brown barring on their feathers when young and grow whiter with age.  So I'm going to assume this owl is quite old and, therefore, wise :)

Day Trip to the Woods

Barn Swallows filmed at Harriman State Park

...Accompanied by music from one of my favorite symphonies.  Note the descending fourth in the woodwinds that mimics a bird's call :)
A better quality version can be seen here.

Hike to Little Dam Lake, a section of the Appalachian Trail.

(If you know what the blooming bushes are called, I would love to know.  I can only guess that they are in the azalea/rhododendron family)

 Wildlife seen:

Beaver

Chipmunk

White-tailed Deer

Red-winged Blackbird

Ovenbird

Veery

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Gray Catbird

Yellow Warbler

Eastern Phoebe

Great Blue Heron

Brown-headed Cowbird

Turkey Vulture

Geometricity: New Embroidery Project

Ok, so I've always been a bit of a math nerd.  I had a knack for the numbers, but I think it all came down to the alluring elegant solutions.  When the puzzle pieces fit just right, when there can only be one possibility for x... Tessellations, the golden mean, fractals, and just simply geometric patterns...  Where math becomes beautiful.  In the end, all art is made up of molecules and atoms and is constantly vibrating and falling into patterns that might not be immediately apparent.  It can be soothing and pleasing to the eye even if it appears to have no tangible structure.  It's no wonder that I ended up becoming a sound engineer (my "day" job): it combines the technical with the creative.

I recently picked up The Geometry of Art and Life by Matila Ghyka, and can't wait to crack it open.  I won't let myself until I finish this current read.






I have rough sketches inspired by this train of thought: nautiluses, schematics...still waiting to get polished.  A recent one that I've finished is this geometric pattern:

I have a deep fuscia/purple skirt that is currently being rehabbed that I've been planning to embroider and its day has now come.  Here's the design being imprinted on the skirt with carbon paper.

I decided it would look most striking in my new favorite color combo: turquoise, silver/gray, and yellow.   So on the hoop the skirt goes...

And finally, Random Photo of the Day:

Went to the Leu Gardens yesterday.  Was surprised to find that yams grow on trees.  Someone please tell me what the f@¢k I'm looking at, please.  Thanks.