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The Brandywine River Museum of Art and the Seattle Art Museum mark the 100th anniversary of Andrew Wyeth’s birth with an exhibition “Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect” which opens June 24th and runs till September 17th.
Suchat Pederson/The News Journal

Specks of paint can still be seen splattered across the banister in the crow’s nest at Painter’s Folly in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where Andrew Wyeth painted owner Helen Sipala as a nun. It’s only one sign that the American master, whose 100th birthday would have been Wednesday, used Helen and George Sipala and their home — which once belonged to illustrator Howard Pyle — as subjects for 20 years starting in the 1980s. 

The Sipalas also have the painter’s apron Wyeth wore while working, complete with a napkin still folded up in the pocket, and a pair of black velvet slippers that Wyeth gave them after depicting them in one work.

“I don’t have size 10 feet,” George Sipala told Wyeth. But he kept the shoes.

The Sipalas are among dozens of people in the Chadds Ford area who posed as models for Wyeth, who died Jan. 16, 2009.

“I still miss him,” says Dee Parker, an elementary

Article source: http://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2017/07/07/posing-andrew-wyeth-area-models-remember-master/448049001/

By: John Carlson—

So the other day I have an eye exam and the doctor finds a splotchy, whitish, non-serious anomaly in the depths of one eyeball which, nonetheless, shocks me in its diagnosis.

“It’s probably just a bit of histoplasmosis,” he says.

“Just?” I think.

Indeed, this diagnosis sort of stuns me, since I know full well that histoplasmosis is caused by contact with guano, which is polite society’s word for “bird poop.”

“Bird po … I mean, guano!” I exclaim in a panic, before the doctor goes on to assure me it is quite common. Histoplasmosis, that is. Well, bird poop, too, for that matter. Anyway, what really gets me is that for years I have dedicated my life to having as little contact with bird poop as possible. Now, somehow, it’s caught up with me.

“How could this be?” I demanded, my thoughts all jumbled. Then, just that suddenly, my mind flashed on a long-forgotten memory from when I was a mere lad of nine years old.

Chirpy.

That’s right. Chirpy was my pet parakeet nearly sixty years ago. I fed Chirpy, watered him, stroked him behind what passed for his tiny little parakeet ears each night, then greeted him with a smile and a loving nuzzle on the beak each morning before I trotted off to grade school. He seemed happy, moving into my bedroom after weeks spent staring morosely at passing shoppers in some stupid Woolworth’s pet department. After all, mine was a cool room full of crumpled Hostess Cupcake wrappers, comic books

Article source: http://www.munciejournal.com/2017/07/carlson-feathered-friend-nope/

Prey Veng Province, Cambodia – In March, after a year of hard work, Paen Long’s creation, an eye-catching machine that he built from scratch, stood facing down a long straight dirt road, wider than most in rural Cambodia.

On the sidelines, dozens of neighbours from the nearby villages waited in ever-growing expectation, to see a handmade plane, built by a Cambodian car mechanic, fly.

It was a chance for Paen Long to prove that he could build a plane that could fly and also, fulfil a childhood dream, the pursuit of which has permeated the lives of those around him.

At his house in Prey Veng province, east of the capital Phnom Penh, after entering a metal sheet garage where old engines, pistons, and chains coexist with chickens, dogs and his second son’s baby walker, the 30-year-old mechanic talks about his background and the series of events which led to this important day.

Paen Long was born in Svay Rieng province, in a village close to the eastern border with Vietnam. The third of six children, Paen Long started herding his neighbours’ cattle at the age of seven to earn money for his family. 

Paen Long poses with the aircraft, a seaplane, he is currently building in one of his garages in Prey Veng province, Cambodia [Ricardo Perez-Solero/Al Jazeera]

READ MORE: Then and now – Finding love during the Khmer Rouge

Fascination for building planes

Shortly after he started,

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/cambodian-making-airplanes-youtube-tutorials-170531081629338.html

The popularity of drones is skyrocketing. According to market research company Gartner:

Production of drones for personal and commercial use is growing rapidly, with global market revenue expected to increase 34 percent to reach more than $6 billion in 2017 and grow to more than $11.2 billion by 2020. Almost three million drones will be produced in 2017, 39 percent more than in 2016.

Among the companies making drones, there’s one behemoth that’s selling a majority to personal consumers: DJI, a Chinese company, offers a range of models costing from a few hundred dollars to nearly $2000. DJI was founded in 2009 by an engineer, Frank Wang, who as a child, used to play with radio-controlled model airplanes.

While most Chinese companies begin by building low-cost copies of existing products, DJI is one of the first Chinese companies in the consumer electronics space to create their products from scratch. The company has done an exceptional job in engineering and marketing, creating drones in many sizes and shapes.

Many companies have discovered how difficult drones are to design. They’re one of the most complex consumer products, requiring expertise in numerous technologies that all need to work reliably and in harmony. A failure of any part of a drone system could lead to a crash or even an injury. It requires expertise in mechanical design, electronics, optics, power management, radios, and especially software.

Drones need to be as light as possible so that their flight times

Article source: https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2017/07/05/american-drone-start-up-hopes-to-challenge-chinese-owned-dji-for-share-of-market/

Richard E. “Dick” Orr Jr. died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Boise on Sunday, July 2, only four days before his 71st birthday.

Dick was the second of seven children born to Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Orr, born July 6, 1946, in New York City. After living in Chicago and Denver, Dick settled with his family in Cottonwood, where his father, Dr. Richard Orr, went into medical practice with Dick’s grandfather, Dr. Wesley Orr. Dick spent most of his childhood in the Cottonwood area, attending St. Joseph’s Elementary School and St. Gertrude’s High School.

Dick developed a deep love of flying at a very early age, prompted largely by flying with his father as a child. He grew in his knowledge of aviation by reading and building many model airplanes as a youth. This love of flying and aviation stayed with him all throughout his life.

After graduating from high school, Dick entered the U.S. Air Force and was trained and served as a pilot of the FAC 0-2 Observation Aircraft during the Vietnam War. He served his country for many years and then joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve while living in California and Oregon.

The last several years of his life, Dick lived in Boise to be close to the Boise Veterans Affairs and to several of his friends who also are retired veterans. They would often meet for meals and coffee to reminisce and tell and retell the many stories of military life and flying in the

Article source: http://lmtribune.com/obituaries/richard-e-dick-orr-jr/article_ce4dbe6c-c22e-55a6-96aa-540c58f44442.html

John Freckman spent his early life staring at airplanes.

“Even in Little League, I was always staring at airplanes,” Freckman said. “I ran into the fence once doing that, my eyes on the plane instead of the ball. I’ve been interested in planes since I was very little.”

Freckman has been flying since 1980. Since then, he has owned three different airplanes, including the Nanchang CJ-6 he currently flies. Freckman’s plane is painted like those of the 325th Fighter Group, which flew in World War II and later in the Korean war.

The group had 27 Ace pilots over the course of its operations. Freckman is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran. He placed decals of the five rescues he was involved with the same as a fighter pilot would for enemy planes taken down.

Freckman is one off the 60 to 80 pilots who are involved in the Nevada County AirFest, held every year since the event took off in 1996. Before AirFest there was a fly-by done every year by the Golden Empire Flying Association, which currently runs the AirFest since its creation in 1968. The AirFest alternates between the Auburn Airport and Nevada County Airport yearly.

The Nanchang CJ-6 that Freckman flies is a Chinese air force trainer plane. He owns one of around 300 in the U.S. The airshow will include three others flying in formation, with Freckman flying behind.

This Saturday, the AirFest will be returning with the

Article source: http://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/airfest-set-to-take-flight-friday-at-saturday-at-nevada-county-airport/