Turning the linear circular

Purple is the simultaneous perception of blue and red electromagnetic radiation, not to be confused with Violet which is its own wavelength nearer to the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. Purple is in a way an illusion and it makes an unexpectedly useful circle (color wheel) out of our linear perceivable spectrum. If that's not an example of circular thinking synthesizing the macro and the micro, I don't know what is.

for the next 100 days and nights

Classes are back on and I'm not sure how much I'll be getting around to keeping up on this. I should have some good stuff to post from classes soon. But if I'm as busy as I was last semester, I probably wont have anything ready until after its all over. But I am getting a little better at managing my time so who knows. I probably won't be getting around to much more location painting, however that doesn't mean I won't be getting in the practice elsewhere. This couscous, for example, was malleable and delicious while warm.

bridge garden

this began as a color "rough" but as i realized classes start on monday and i probably won't have time to pick this up again for a more finished look, so i decided to see just how far i could push it yesterday and got in some pretty good brushstrokes in the foreground around the bridge/garden thing. took a second look this morning and after a few more touchups i scanned it and chopped it up and added the clouds. it could probably stand a few more trees also.

isometric explanation

hopefully this is a clearer description.
(the next task is figuring how this contraption sits atop a tower)
also
sent out some rough figures to the "lab" to calculate some estimates of forces involved. the numbers will give me a sense of if i'm even designing on the right scale.
like
how much horsepower can a single piston in a stationary steam engine produce and how does that relate to the torque down a series of gears?
and
how much how much energy is going to be needed to rotate a 5-10 ton disk around a centered pivot?
something tells me the stationary steam engine is going to need to be larger, but even a few horsepower could be all that is needed.
we'll see what the numbers say, when they come back.

telescope

i'm reading the Discoveres by Daniel J. Boorstin right now and it made me realize that telescopes are rad. this book is going to be awesome.