MIA

Whoa! I can't believe how crazy fast time flies.

I have a lot to catch everyone up on....

So, I finished my internship in Panama on January 4th. In an effort to fit 2 months of time lapsed into a nutshell, I'll curate this post down to the bare minimum.

Out of all the work I've done at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, I'm somehow attached to this painting I did of a greenbanded goby (top) and a red-cheeked goby (bottom) for fish expert, Dr. Ross Robertson. It is a comparison of the two very visually similar species. The red-cheeked is a new species discovered in the waters of Honduras. The genetic difference of the two is about 11%. It was just so cool to put the fish side by side. Thus far, a comparison such as this doesn't exist.


Another project that I worked on with Ross is an app for an identification guide. Below is the opening page for this.

Panama was an unforgettable experience. It was mixed with excitement for experiencing something new with the difficulty of being so far from my loved ones. I found all of my projects very fascinating and gratifying. I hope that the very special friendships I made will be lasting. They made all the difference in the world and the Panama I know is largely due to them.

So what now?

I was back in San Francisco for a couple of weeks. My sister just had a baby!!! That makes me a first time aunt. Her name is Lelu Kim Schmidt. I can't tell you how special meeting her for the first time was. I was so happy to paint a piece for her to hang over the crib. Not to worry, it's painted on loose canvas so there is no harm in a heavy painting falling on her. It's 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 feet. We thought a sea scape would be perfect for her. She now has a space rug, animal curtains and an ocean scene over her crib. :)


Now it's the second week of February and where am I now? I have the month of February to myself before I begin my final internship at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology so I decided to drive from SF to Miami to spend some much needed time with my boyfriend who is currently here for work. I took a fun road trip with my friend Hannah Berman. For those of you who don't know her, Hannah is an amazingly talented designer. She specializes in letter pressed cards and her line is sold all over the country in various stores. It was great because the route we took was unfamiliar territory. I had never been to any of our major destination points--Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon, Albuquerque, Austin, New Orleans, Tallahassee along with a very special place in Florida called Cassadaga. We've affectionately named it "Psychic Town." It is a tiny town with a population of about 100. Of those 100, 40 of them are psychics. In the center of town, is a bookstore. In this incensed and crystal filled bookstore is a large white board with many names and phone numbers. As you look at the board, a name should stand out. This is the psychic that you should call in order to get the best reading. I can't actually even remember who my guy was, but what an experience. I didn't come away from it feeling worse or better about things, so I suppose that's the best I could hope for. I did end up with a puffy paint Rorschach butterfly used to analyze my person through chakra colors. That was fun.

Hannah also visited me in Panama. Below are some pics from the visit and the road trip. All of these pictures were taken by Hannah.

CASCO VIEJO

CATS ON A SIGN IN CASCO VIEJO

EVERY BUS IN PANAMA IS UNIQUE PAINTED IN THIS MANNER

One of the common themes of her photos was painted signage. I'm glad that it was documented. That was one of my favorite things in Panama--hand painted signs, murals on buildings and custom painted buses.

Okay....I lied. I'll be attaching pics from the road trip in a separate post. I was looking through them and there are too many that I want to tell you about. I'll try not to let 2 months pass before these go up!