Beehive 1 of 2, started from a nuc of locally raised bees in Spring of 2014. Video was shot in early June 2014 (through the smaller, rear entrance).
The Queen of hive 2 of 2
Various images of frames in my new hives, both 1 and 2. Beautiful!
inspiration: arthur young /
A 56-minute documentary about the life and work of Arthur Young. Contains rare early helicopter footage, interviews with Young and his associates, an illustrated narrative introduction to the Theory of Process and much wit and wisdom. Producer/director: Arthur Bloch Associate producer/camera: Michael Shedlin
wild card: the great stalacpipe organ /
This is the first ever composition for The Great Stalacpipe Organ, the largest musical instrument in the world, located deep in the caverns of Luray, Virginia. The Organ consists of hand-tuned ancient stalactites of varying sizes that are hit with solenoid-actuated rubber mallets. The mallets are controlled by a custom made pipe organ console.
Leland W. Sprinkle designed and implemented the organ during a 3-year period around 1956.
From Wikipedia:
"Two accounts of Sprinkle's conception of the instrument are known. From the discovery of Luray Caverns in 1878 onward, the favorable attributes of the formations for creating musical tones were well known. One of the earliest references to performances of lithophone music in Luray Caverns comes from the tour led by co-discoverer Andrew Campbell for a group sent by the Smithsonian Institution in 1880. According to a summary of the report incorporated into the earliest printed guides to Luray Caverns, Campbell surprised the group by playing a tune on a formation, probably the one that came to be known as the Organ. By the early 20th century, performances of folk tunes, hymns, and other well-known pieces were a regular part of guided tours. According to the modern guided tour, Sprinkle is said to have conceived the idea for the Great Stalacpipe Organ during one of these performances when he toured Luray Caverns on his son's birthday in 1954.
A variation of the story of the instrument's conception is that Sprinkle's son Robert hit his head on a stalactite, producing a tone that inspired Sprinkle to invent the instrument. This account is the one published in a Meccano Magazine article from 1961 and in an article in the 1959 Rosicrucian Digest."
open studio: wedding tree /
Pastel drawing and watercolor painting of the old pear tree, beneath which I married Samuel David Burns in 2010. Kelly Heaton, work-in-progress (2013 - 2014)
spirit world: listen to space /
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/emfisis-chorus.html
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/sound-of-deep-space-revealed-for-first-time/article5360824.ece
The Dawn Chorus: long wave radio signals recorded by the Cluster II satellite (plus an overlay of shamanic drumming). Via artist John Scott
The Sounds of the Universe - Professor Carolin Crawford
food: lentil salad /
Lentil Salad
1 cup French green lentils*
2 1/2 cups homemade chicken broth
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 - 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 - 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
Generous handful of chopped fresh herbs, such as: marjoram, arugula, basil, etc.
Juice and grated rind of one lemon
3 Tbs good quality olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Ground pepper to taste
In a saucepan, bring the broth and lentils to a boil for 3 minutes. If the broth is unsalted, add salt as you would for pasta water. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 - 30 minutes (until lentils are tender). Drain the cooked lentils. In a large bowl, mix the lentils, tomatoes, feta cheese, garlic, herbs, lemon rind, lemon juice and olive oil. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. Note that the fresh garlic and lemon can be strong in the beginning, but will mellow within about 30 minutes.
Best served at room temperature.
* Brown lentils don’t work (they get mushy). The green ones can be found in the gourmet or health food sections of most grocery stores, or purchased online.
garden: my perennials /
electricity: breathing motor /
An astable multivibrator controls a Darlington amplifier to drive a small pager motor. The gently rising and falling motor speed simulates breathing or other natural undulations. The addition of other control stages could add complexity, if that's what you want.
Circuit design by Kelly Heaton, 2014. If you try to build this and it does not work, I'm sorry… I am more artist than engineer. I sometimes struggle to reproduce my own circuit diagrams, but I have learned that tinkering with frustrating electronics is a great way to make new art.
This analog circuit is comprised of two parts: an astable multivibrator that creates a low-frequency square wave (left side) to switch on/off a Darlington amplifier (right side) that drives the pager motor. I have added various capacitors and a resistor to the amplifier stage. These affect the quality of the motor speed, making it turn on and off more naturally. The video shows me removing / replacing the pull-up resistor on the emitter of the second NPN transistor, illustrating its function (to provide a baseline motor speed so that the motor does not come to a complete stop, but instead undulates between a faster and a slower speed).