Lunar Eclipse = Pacman
So, on Wednesday there was the Total Lunar Eclipse. It also snowed in Baltimore. Now, triath and martian687 both received hints as to a plan of mine that I was waiting for, but I refused to tell them anything... in fact they didn't really know that I had a plan. Seema only knew to "Remember that (Federal) Hill" and Marcy only knew that I had something I was planning, but it was possible that it wouldn't happen and that some of that possibility was completely out of my control.
My plan was to take Federal Hill Park (the giant hill where the neighborhood gets its name from) and, the next time it snowed, turn the face into a giant canvas for some artwork. I knew this project was way bigger than anything I could do by myself, so I got my two friends involved... who happen to be in a grad program at MICA for community art. We couldn't agree on everything, but we decided that we needed to at least start with something very simple. I thought that 8-bit art would be simple and suggested doing a large Mario, but then realized that was still going to be too difficult and eventually decided on just doing Pacman. The method was going to be to roll the snow (like we were going to make a snowman) which would hopefully reveal the dirt underneath and reveal our pattern.
Well, we missed a few snows because of bad weather and other problems, but we decided we were going to do the next snow no matter what. That snow happened to fall on the night of the Lunar Eclipse, so it was even better because Federal Hill was a great place to see it. The snow stopped just minuted before the eclipse here and the sky turned crystal clear. I'd never been up on the hill at night, so I was equally enthralled by the downtown at night in the clear winter air. I had also brought a top for a storage container for us to try sledding with, and a Thermos filled with hot chocolate.
Unfortunately, only Sarah could make it out as Kursten had a meeting and a really rough week anyway (I was hoping it would be a nice break for her, but when she showed up she looked miserable and we sent her home to sleep). Also unfortunately, the snow was too dry to roll up, and it left too much of it on the ground to pack at all. Even more unfortunately, I severely underestimated how steep the face of Federal Hill is. Is was pretty scary (at the bottom is about a five foot drop and a busy street). We balked for a while, but finally I decided I was going to try and I started climbing up the hill and using my feet to sweep away the outline of Pacman. Sarah was much less inclined to risk injury, so she sat back and helped guide me. Below are some pictures of my exploits.
I tried to get a picture at night but, obviously, it turned out dark. The best one is below when I was halfway done. The next day I drove out and took pictures, but it had already started to melt. It still turned out great and the best part was that you could clearly see it from across the harbor, in the heart of the Inner Harbor (about 2000 ft away). I hope people noticed it and that they enjoyed it. I really wanted to do something that people would see and would bring a smile to their face.
Snow Angel
This snow angel was made by my friend Sarah.
Inner Harbor
Here's a nighttime view of the Inner Harbor and downtown as taken from the top of Federal Hill.
Pacman, unfinished
This is the Pacman picture I made in the snow... only halfway complete.
Pacman Complete
Here's my Pacman the next day.
Pacman Complete view from across the harbor
Those boats are a bad reference scale as there's a road and a park in between the boats and the hill. I'd say the distance from the boats to the hill is about 600 feet.
Pacman Complete view from across the Harbor 2
This is without my zoom, and getting a picture of the boat cruising past. Now that you can see the entire hill, it's about 600 feet wide at the base.
My plan was to take Federal Hill Park (the giant hill where the neighborhood gets its name from) and, the next time it snowed, turn the face into a giant canvas for some artwork. I knew this project was way bigger than anything I could do by myself, so I got my two friends involved... who happen to be in a grad program at MICA for community art. We couldn't agree on everything, but we decided that we needed to at least start with something very simple. I thought that 8-bit art would be simple and suggested doing a large Mario, but then realized that was still going to be too difficult and eventually decided on just doing Pacman. The method was going to be to roll the snow (like we were going to make a snowman) which would hopefully reveal the dirt underneath and reveal our pattern.
Well, we missed a few snows because of bad weather and other problems, but we decided we were going to do the next snow no matter what. That snow happened to fall on the night of the Lunar Eclipse, so it was even better because Federal Hill was a great place to see it. The snow stopped just minuted before the eclipse here and the sky turned crystal clear. I'd never been up on the hill at night, so I was equally enthralled by the downtown at night in the clear winter air. I had also brought a top for a storage container for us to try sledding with, and a Thermos filled with hot chocolate.
Unfortunately, only Sarah could make it out as Kursten had a meeting and a really rough week anyway (I was hoping it would be a nice break for her, but when she showed up she looked miserable and we sent her home to sleep). Also unfortunately, the snow was too dry to roll up, and it left too much of it on the ground to pack at all. Even more unfortunately, I severely underestimated how steep the face of Federal Hill is. Is was pretty scary (at the bottom is about a five foot drop and a busy street). We balked for a while, but finally I decided I was going to try and I started climbing up the hill and using my feet to sweep away the outline of Pacman. Sarah was much less inclined to risk injury, so she sat back and helped guide me. Below are some pictures of my exploits.
I tried to get a picture at night but, obviously, it turned out dark. The best one is below when I was halfway done. The next day I drove out and took pictures, but it had already started to melt. It still turned out great and the best part was that you could clearly see it from across the harbor, in the heart of the Inner Harbor (about 2000 ft away). I hope people noticed it and that they enjoyed it. I really wanted to do something that people would see and would bring a smile to their face.
Snow Angel
This snow angel was made by my friend Sarah.
Inner Harbor
Here's a nighttime view of the Inner Harbor and downtown as taken from the top of Federal Hill.
Pacman, unfinished
This is the Pacman picture I made in the snow... only halfway complete.
Pacman Complete
Here's my Pacman the next day.
Pacman Complete view from across the harbor
Those boats are a bad reference scale as there's a road and a park in between the boats and the hill. I'd say the distance from the boats to the hill is about 600 feet.
Pacman Complete view from across the Harbor 2
This is without my zoom, and getting a picture of the boat cruising past. Now that you can see the entire hill, it's about 600 feet wide at the base.