Tuesday, August 19, 2008

WATERCOLOR CLASSES, one monday at a time...

In Sept. on Mondays....I am starting a 10 week watercolor class at the local museum. I need to be shown, I have concluded......I have checked out many books on watercolors from the library, but I think I need to go and learn, and practice, and be committed. I know I haven't fulfilled my promise here, to create....to *speak with pencil*....I really do hope to change that. I find that I am pretty good at purchasing supplies. Tho, once assembled, I find it difficult to create, sometimes I think my creativity revolves around assembling and setting up....Once I get my mind on doing something, I will research it, decide what I need, seek it out, buy it.....and then.....I am satisfied, and on to another quest. Its just that I have so many interests, so much to discover, and so little time....I am taking time.....one Monday at a time, for me....to learn....I am really hoping I will have something to post. Maybe each week to show my progress....stayed tuned!! A special Thanks (and my first masterpiece) to my boss for allowing me to arrange my schedual to allow this class...

Friday, August 1, 2008

LIGHTHOUSES AND BEACHSTONES


These two pictures were taken on a recent vacation..below is a little history on the Point Iroquois Light...

Location:
Whitefish Bay, Michigan
CoordinatesWGS-84 (GPS)
46°29.021′N 84°37.541′W / 46.483683, -84.625683
Year first lit:
1870
Deactivated:
1963
Foundation:
Cement
Construction:
Brick
Tower shape:
Conical
Markings/Pattern:
White tower/Black parapet & Lantern
Height:
Tower - 65 feet (20 m)
Elevation:
Focal plane - 72 feet (22 m)
Original lens:
Fourth Order Fresnel lens
Current lens:
None
Range:
15 miles (24 km)
Characteristic:
flash every 30 seconds
Point Iroquois Light is a lighthouse on a bluff in the U.S. state of Michigan above Whitefish Bay that marks entrance to the St. Marys River, the connection between Lake Superior and other Great Lakes.
Point Iroquois includes a larger geographic area than the lightstation site. It was named for the Iroquois warriors massacred there by the Ojibwe in 1662. Native Algonkians called the point "Nadouenigoning," composed of the words "Nadone" (Iroquois) and "Akron" (bone).
In 1855 a wood and rubble stone lighthouse was built and commenced operations on Jun 18, 1856. It was a 45 foot tall rubble stone tower with a wooden lantern deck, outfitted with a flashing white Fourth Order Fresnel lens. Being built on the Point's highest ground, it had a 63-foot focal plane, and a range of visibility of 10 nautical miles. It was then torn down in 1870.[1][2]
Following the Civil War, the United States Lighthouse Board went into a lighthouse (and life saving station) building boom on the Great Lakes.[3]
In 1870, the first lighthouse was torn down; the present Cape Cod style white brick lighthouse was built and ran continuously for 93 years, guiding ships in and out of the Soo Locks. It has a 65 foot tower height, and a focal plane that is variously reported as 68 feet or 72 feet.[4]
In 1885, a bell tower was erected, which incorporated a Stevens automatic bell striking machine.[5] In 1890, the bell tower was torn down,