Hanukah Candles and Snowflakes

The 8 Candles of Hanukah

Everyone should learn something new every day, and these December projects have kept me on track.

After trying several approaches to the 8 Candles of Hanukah, I decided to paint a menorah and then paint a new candle for each night.  After I published the first one, a friend pointed out that I had started the candles on the left and not on the right. Ooops.

Photoshop to the rescue with "Flip Horizontal." A miracle.

Snowflakes 1 through 6

After the 8 Candles of Hanukah, and before the Minnesota Blizzard, I decided to paint 23 Snowflakes for the rest of December.  Unable to locate my collection of snowflake cookie cutters, I looked carefully at the wonderful Little Book of Snowflakes by Kenneth Libbrecht.  He used a photo-microscope, and you can see every part of these beautiful crystals, including their flaws.  We are deceived by commercial snowflake designs into believing that they are always symmetrical. Not so.

I photocopied some of the flakes into Photoshop, sized and adjusted them, cut them out, and traced the shapes onto watercolor paper.  About half are in the Blue Snowflake Family, which is the traditional way in which people look at snowflakes which aren't shiny white.  The others are true nanoscapes snowflakes and celebrate all color, pattern, and more color.

Upcoming:  The 31 Lost Gloves of January, and a a series of nanoscapes-of-the-states that I have visited with Pass the Baton.  First two up: Nebraska's Farm Fields and Iowa's Silos.