Baby Ducks, Orange-Rumped Bumbles , and Olmec Art Blog, New Digital Art and Photography
Baby Ducks, Orange-rumped Bumbles, and Olmec Art
I took these shots a couple weeks ago while walking through Stanley Park. The babies are out of the nest, and mama is keeping a watchful eye.
The bees too are out and about. This gorgeous orange-rumped bumble was slurping up its fair share of pollen and nectar. Bumble bees really are the teddy bears of the insect world.
It was another nice day but a little colder than it has been. We braved the sea breeze ... I know we are verging the littlest violin opus material ... and went swimming mid day at the Second Beach pool. It was lovely enough as long as you stayed submerged but as soon as you stuck a toe our of the water, it was toesicles time.
We also had a wonderful morning of homeschooling, as we close in on the end of our official school year. We study year round and do shorter days through the whole year. Real life doesn't take the summers off.
We finished up the Olmec unit and wrote a quiz and then studied a poem about the loss of native voice to colonialization.
In math, we stared a review of the coordinate graphing. Minime did very well and had remembered a lot.
From our studies ...
Much of the Olmec art is naturalistic. It looks real, but they also show surreal combinations of human-animal hybrids for religious meaning and to represent gods. Down-turned mouths, almond-shaped eyes, and cleft heads are common motifs. To many people the style of Olmec is modern,simple and realistic; however what are often called masks could never have been worn as such.
The masks had no eye or mouth holes, and they could never be worn as a mask at least not by a living person. They are however life size and may have included inlays in the eyes and mouth. Corn motifs were also included around the mouth and chin. The mouth itself appears to be one of an infant. The green jade may have signified fertility. Perhaps we are looking at the representation of a Spring or agricultural deities
The Olmec are most famous for seventeen huge, carved basalt heads, dating back to around 900 BCE. Each head is unique and a realistic depiction of a human male with features typical of the region. They may have been rulers. The stones came from far away and were hard to transport, so they likely represent someone important. They were arranged carefully and in a line and were buried. If we compare why monumental statues and structures were made in Egypt it was for and often of kings. Everyday people don’t have or command the resources to accomplish the task.
In the above video written by Mark Cartwright, he tells us that the nature of the giant heads is both mysterious and debated. We don’t know why they were made and who they represent, but most scholars agree that they are most likely kings. Cartwright tells us that they were probably transported by huge balsa river rafts and log rollers on land, sometimes as much as a hundred miles. They were nearly three meters high, four and a half meters around, and around 8 tonnes. They were very difficult to transport with known technologies of the time. They were carved with stone tools and may have been painted. Their helmets were used in battle and sport. Sometimes they appear to be wearing a jaguar pelt, a sign of membership in the elite class. I agree that the Olmecs made the heads to honour kings.
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Extraordinary, possible and chromatic combiations accross your original poetry.
There is always a reason behind the things people do. I guess that meant a lot to them in their days just as we build aircrafts, railways in our days. Beautiful art and oh the duck and ducklins look awesome.
Thank you for reading. I find it all so intriguing:)
She also takes care of her children in the same way so that no one can harm her children. Duck kids looks so cute. Purple colour flowers are my favorite. Thanks for sharing.
Great photos!
Mother duck and her ducklings are just adorable!
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Or it was aliens. Very possibly it was aliens.
Or it was the result of Kings demanding it be done. There could be some truth to that, too. Human ingenuity really knows no bounds. Ancient peoples were nothing if not clever engineers.
It would be fun if it were aliens or even visiting Egyptians:)