Digging in the Dirt

-
Today was a great day --- FIELD TRIP!!

25 students and 5 teachers armed with picks, chisels, hammers, goggles, and gloves headed into some rock walls that contained Herkimer diamonds and trilobite and other fossils.  The rain held out, and the temps stayed cool for a few hours of searching, exploring, and enjoying nature.

I find that the best learning comes from hands-on  outdoor exploration with kids.  It forces them to slow down and look, ask questions, discover, and enjoy the world they live in.  For the most part, they were focused and excited, and some became experts on looking for vugs in the dolostone.

A few of the girls and I headed to a huge area that contained many rocks with fossils. We climbed up and down huge boulders,  looking at the fossils from millions of years ago.  We also found the skeletal remains of things that I did not recognize but took back with me anyway.

At the end after lunch, we got a tour of the cement factory, complete with nerdy protective eye wear and hard hats. The rain held off until the end of the trip, and the ride home was eerily quiet.  Guess everyone was worn out from a full day of adventure!

Photo is the inside of the cement plant and one of the large fossil rocks.  Two sets of batteries crapped out on me but not before I got a few photos.

Back soon for the report on the Encaustic Painting trip on Thursday!

patti o fossil

PS photos taken in Cementon, NY, a bit north of Saugerties. We got special permission, thanks to  Cheryl, the plant manager at Lehigh Cement Company.   It takes a lot of work to pull this off...but it was so worth it!

PPS-the cement company is on the far shore to the left in the photo that is the trademark of my blog and many of my paintings.  

Comments

priscilla said…
I literally live about a mile from there in West Camp. Thanks for a look inside a place I pass all the time.
5:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Cucina

-
Image
Tonight my house had the aroma of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and candles. Keith Jarret was playing in the background, and I had just opened a nice bottle of reasonable red wine. (Osborne Solaz, 2004 Temranillo/Cab- 7.00) I needed it for the sauce, so why not have some while cooking! I took good care of myself all weekend, and felt like cooking for the first time in what seems forever. I am an excellent cook. A collage cook one might say, or better yet, a bricollage cook. I take what is in the house and make a dinner out of it. I think about flavor, texture, color and variety. Most of the time I would rather put this creative energy into visual arts, but on occasion I will push my fine art aside, and the art of the evening is cooking. Candles, music, wine, and a lovely table. I must think more like Monet, and not only make the meal art, but somehow make it my visual art too. The best I could do was a photo of the beginning of the sauce. It looks rather bizarre if you ask me,
Read more

Cape Painting

-
Image
My framing blogs will continue when I’m back in the studio next week. In the mean time, I am enjoying adventures on the Cape. Again I opted to not bring oils as the place I am staying is not conducive to oil painting, so I bought watercolors and my acrylics, although I have not used the acrylics yet. I have a small messenger type bag, that I can put in a few palettes of my Kramer watercolors, several water brushes, a few paper towels, a 6x6 watercolor pad, and a watercolor postcards. This time I bought watercolor greeting cards to paint on too. I can wear this light bag across my body, and hike for miles, plopping myself down on a bench, rock, or table, and paint the scene at hand in an instant. I got to experience the tail end of hurricane Dorian too, the roiling ocean and wind captured on camera and paper, etched in my dna now. I will be bringing home new ideas, new small pieces, hundreds of photographs, ready to settle in for a fall of painting and design work for m
Read more

Framing: Sources for Frames

-
Image
When I was primarily showing fine art collages, and framing antique prints, I collected a wide variety of frames for my work- rarely were two frames were ever the same. But over the years, I have whittled down that collection, as I find myself  using either white (for abstract work) or black floater frames for my paintings. It is more professional to have a "even" look in framing one's work, especially if you are showing several works, or having a solo show. On occasion you can find frames in places like Ikea, or the Christmas Tree Shop, or other such venues. If I find good ones, I will buy them up and keep them for future work. But most of the times I either buy them at Michael's , or American Frame .  On occasion if I am flush, or need a specialty frame, or it needs special care, I will gladly go to the local art supply or framing store. But I usually don't have the money to do that...so I order and frame myself. Michael's has their sales and 40%
Read more