Andromeda Galaxy

My desktop wallpaper at the moment, Hubble shot of the Andromeda Galaxy- click to open up in full resolution for download

Lead Us Up the (Blue) Mountain…. Trek to the Peak

In one of our weekends off we decided to make the most of it and hike up Blue Mountain to the highest point in Jamaica, Blue Mountain Peak. We caught the public bus from Montego Bay to Kingston which was crazy even before it began. Drivers from all the buses shout and do their best to persuade you to get on their bus and not anyone elses, once on the bus the driver does his best to fill every part of the bus with a person so he can get the most amount of money per trip possible.

When we got to Kingston we caught a taxi from there to a small village a quarter of the way up the mountain. The scenery was breathtaking as the taxi drove up the winding hills at incredible speeds. Most of the time there were no barriers between us and a sheer drop where we would have plenty of time to think about the bottom before we hit!

From the small village a quarter of the way up we caught a 4×4 up deep into the forests of the mountain to our lodge half way up.  We realised why we needed the 4×4 and could not take a normal taxi, we went through rivers up, dirt track roads; incredible experience. By this time it was night and looking down we could see the lights of Kingston far off in the night. Was incredile to drive through little village and hamlet communities so far and deep up in the forests of the mountains.  It was strange to see in these little communities in the middle of nowhere hat they had massive stacks of speakers pumping out the jamaican rhythms. We arrived around 11ish at a little lodge lit by only oil lamps in the rooms. We set our alarms for 1:30 to get up and make the peak in time for some rise. We managed to leave the lodge by 2am and made it to the peak by sunrise at around 6am. The sunrise, colours and scenery is something I could never forget. We were so high up some clouds rush over the mountains and many are below you as you stand on the peak. We watched the sun rise slowly from behind the clouds, was so perfect. Reminded me of the film ‘City of Angels’ where the Angels come every morning to watch and see the song of the sunrise as it peaks up from behind the horizon.

We stayed for about an hour before beginning the 3 hour hike down. On the way down we met a very strange donkey called Jordan with an obvious multiple personality disorder. We arrived back at the lodge around 10am after 7 hours of hiking in total.

Amazing what you can do when you wake up early.

The Creator of Creativity

Nebula in Orion

One of the advantages of living in such a remote location is the lack of light pollution. On clear nights the starscape is breathtaking.. and thats an understatement.

When I look up I see God’s art, an artistic masterpiece far surpassing anything we could ever create, it always inspires me, fills me with wonder and reminds me of how amazing, powerful, imaginative and creative God is.

In addition God gives each of us creative abilities which when used glorify the creativity giver who is the origin of all our imaginings, music, dreams, poetry and art.

Lets find and use our creative talents for His glory.

Artist repairs spiderwebs

Quite amazing how Nina’s done this. “The Mended Spiderweb series came about during a six-week period in June and July in 1998 which I spent on Pörtö. In the forest and around the house where I was living, I searched for broken spiderwebs which I repaired using red sewing thread. All of the patches were made by inserting segments one at a time directly into the web. Sometimes the thread was starched, which made it stiffer and easier to work with. The short threads were held in place by the stickiness of the spider web itself; longer threads were reinforced by dipping the tips into white glue. I fixed the holes in the web until it was fully repaired, or until it could no longer bear the weight of the thread. In the process, I often caused further damage when the tweezers got tangled in the web or when my hands brushed up against it by accident.

The morning after the first patch job, I discovered a pile of red threads lying on the ground below the web. At first I assumed the wind had blown them out; on closer inspection it became clear that the spider had repaired the web to perfect condition using its own methods, throwing the threads out in the process. My repairs were always rejected by the spider and discarded, usually during the course of the night, even in webs which looked abandoned. The larger, more complicated patches where the threads were held together with glue often retained their form after being thrown out, although in a somewhat “wilted” condition without the rest of the web to suspend and stretch them. Each “Rejected Patch” is shown next to the photograph showing the web with the patch as it looked on site.”

To view more photos and visit her site click here .

Invisible Clothing

Daily Mail on Desiree Palmen‘s “Invisible clothing”:

“She makes cotton suits and paints the camouflage on by hand, painstakingly matching it to the chosen background. Either she or a model then poses in the suit in the chosen place.The scenes are photographed and filmed and then put on display.

“People always react strongly when they see my work,” she said.

“They have mixed reactions: confusion, surprise and interest.”

She added: “Mostly people like the idea of wearing garments that make them invisible.”

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It takes hours for her to paint the suits. First she takes photographs of the scene then, back in the studio, she meticulously transfers the detail on to the cotton suit with acrylic paints.

The match of colour, texture, light and hue is extraordinarily accurate but the artist remains modest.

“It’s never perfect,” she said. “But when it works that’s enough for me. I like the fact people can see it’s a real person in a suit and not a fake digital image.”

She regularly displays her works on the streets of Jerusalem, Rotterdam and Berlin.

She has produced exterior and interior shots – in the latter she blends in with a bookcase, a desk and a flight of stairs.

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She got the idea for her unusual art from the increasing use of “Big Brother” surveillance.

She said: “I’d like people to consider what it means to let the government control our daily lives.

“When we are controlled we hand over our individual responsibilities to the state. I wanted to make a suit for the non-criminal citizen whose house is being watched 24 hours by street surveillance cameras. I’m also responding to a wish to disappear.”

Miss Palmen, who studied sculpture at The Academy of Art in Maastricht, sells her pictures for around £1,500.

She has enjoyed success at dozens of exhibitions around Europe but has yet to bring her work to Britain.

She finds that children are often fascinated by her work.

“There was one little boy in Jerusalem who kept coming back to the camouflaged figure over and over again,” she said.”

To see more of Desiree’s work click here