Butterflies for my birthday!

This year on my birthday, I decided to spend some time with the butterflies at the Sophia M. Sacks Butterfly House in St Louis. Boy did I have a lovely time! The butterflies were very active and it was a great opportunity to learn how to use my camera a little faster. I didn't get nearly as many or as good shots as my time at the Butterfly Pavilion - did I mention these little guys were very active? - but I had a great time walking among them! Here were some of my favorite shots - and some of the only ones that ended up being in focus:

 The Owl Butterfly - Caligo memnon

 The Postman - Heliconius melpomene stichelli

 The Paper Kite - Idea leuconoe

 The Metallic Blue Wave (I think...it was not listed on their brochure)

 Orange Shoemaker - Catonephele orites (I think)

 A female Great Egg Fly - Hypolimnas bolina

 The Cloudless Sulpher (again, I think) - Phoebis sennae

 The Orange Julia - Dryas julia - or this might be the Orange Tiger - Dryadula phaetusa

 The Paper Kite - Idea leuconoe

 The Great Mormon - Papilio memnon

 The Common Blue Morpho - Morpho peleides

 Scarlet Peacock (I think) - Anartia amathea

A Ruby Lacewing - Cethosia hypsea

I also got some neat video footage, but that'll take me a little longer to put together...

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

The Smithsonian Art History Museum - Washington DC

Below are some of my favorite pieces from the Smithsonian Art History Museum:

 I think I like how wacky "Ratapoil" is, but was surprised it's so small. By Honore Daumier

I certainly could not escape Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen - Wax Statuette", especially when there were two facing each other. So exciting!

 "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin

and of course I couldn't resist all the landscapes:

 "The Shipwreck" by Claude Joseph Vernet

 "Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight" by Joseph Mallord and William Turner

  "Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight" by Joseph Mallord and William Turner (detail)

 "Autumn-On the Hudson River" by Jasper Francis Cropsey

 "Lake Lucerne" by Albert Bierstadt

 "Street in Venice" by John Singer Sargent

 "El Rio de Luz" by Frederic Edwin Church

"The Fall of Phaeton" by Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Washington DC - the National Mall

The national mall is a deceiving in it's size. We certainly got our exercise enjoying the scenery and visiting the museums.

 View from the National Mall nearing sunset

 The US Capitol

 The Lincoln Memorial

The World War II Memorial and the Lincoln in the background, after sunset

We were grateful to have our friends join us for two days of sightseeing and museum touring. We enjoyed the Air and Space, Natural History, American History, Art History (I visited this one on my own and will post photos of my favorite pieces next), and the Air and Space Udvar-Hazy Center.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Washington DC - part 3

Another night in DC...another stroll. This time we were in search of a good spot to watch the sunset before it actually set. So we headed toward the nearest water and didn't have much time. I think we caught the last few seconds and then it was below the horizon.

We ended up heading to the Jefferson Memorial and since neither of us had been there before, we figured it was worth a walk. There's one thing about DC that you should know - things always look closer than they really are! Once we got there we realized why we'd never been there before - because whomever we were with (parents when we were kids) knew that it was a long trek for little ones to make. Well, it was worth it. The crowds were fewer than at the Lincoln Memorial, it's a beautiful place, and at dusk it was ... well, dusky.

Of course that hike wasn't enough for us, so once we passed the Washington Monument, we continued to walk the streets of DC.

 We had dinner a few blocks from Ford's Theatre, and my husband being a bit of a history buff, was keen enough to realize this. So, we had to see that and of course the house across the street where President Lincoln died.

 And since we were headed in that direction anyway, and Mike wanted to see it, we dropped over to Chinatown. I have to say the chintzy arch looks chintzy even at night, but it photographed pretty well.

 Oh how I enjoy skyscraper cities all lit up at night...brings back fond memories of Chicago, my favorite big city.

Well, stay tuned for more pictures...

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Halloween in DC

Not that Halloween is usually an exciting occasion for me, but I have to admit I was disappointed by how few costumes and how little Halloween spirit we saw in DC. After work we went for a walk in the hopes of seeing people dressed in fun costumes. It was not to be. However, I had fun trying out some night shooting with my new camera and found a few "creepy" things to commemorate the evening. And we finished things off with fantastic burgers and beer at the Post Pub (where the last photo was taken).

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Washington DC - part 1

The week of Halloween this year we traveled to our nation's capital for work. Two days before setting off, I got a new camera!! Of course, along the way, I had to learn how to use it and what better way than to attempt to get photos of passing scenery. In particular, on the morning of October 30th, after the Northeastern US got pummeled with snow, the sun came out in all its glory, shining through the foggy, cloudy sky. Boy was it beautiful!! Thankfully, some of my pictures came out in focus:

These were all taken somewhere between Morgantown WV and Washington DC.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

The Necessity of dyeing

It has been many weeks since I've had more than a few hours to spend in the studio, designing, dyeing, thinking, or really doing anything more than what one can get accomplished when the brain is rushed and split. So this past weekend, though I had many other family obligations, I played hooky and spent my time in the basement. Not feeling inspired to work on the pattern, I was more energized for some dye time. After looking through samples of green fabrics I've done in the past, I opted to do a light to dark gradation with avocado.

I was not pleased with the lightness of the first three that I've decided to over-dye them with old mixes of lemon yellow and avocado.
My favorite piece had the most black and it led to a tangent of sorts...

To me, this reminds me a bit of stained glass, and it reminds my husband of x-rays. Either way, I like the results so much I decided to attempt to replicate it in other colors, though I don't expect to use them in the project I'm currently working on. If they come out, perhaps I'll share those later.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles