look out covergirl-- Mona Lisa beats those luscious lashes (& brows!)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/17/monalisa.mystery/index.html

"...a French engineer and inventor says he's uncovered part of the enigma.
Pascal Cotte announced at a press conference Wednesday that he has found definitive proof that when Leonardo da Vinci painted the original portrait he included "Mona Lisa's" lashes and brows.
Cotte examined the world's most famous painting using a high-definition camera of his own design. The device scanned a 240-million pixel image using 13 light spectrums, including ultra-violet and infrared.
The resulting ultra-high resolution photograph of 150,000 dots per inch yielded a reproduction of the "Mona Lisa's" face magnified 24 times. And there Cotte found the evidence he sought -- a single brushstroke of a single hair above the left brow. "

Pretty crazy stuff- read the article (it's not very long!)

Botanical art depicts Dalai Lama's garden, Chaska, MN

If you have a chance sometime this fall (now through Jan. 6th), go see Dianne Aigaki's beautiful botanical paintings of Indian and Tibetan plants from the Dalai Lama's garden! The picture is one of her paintings on display at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska (SW suburb of the Twin Cities). I've seen other paintings like this at the Botanical Gardens Archives in St. Louis, so I will probably go see this exhibit when I come home for winter break in December.

The name of the exhibit is: "Dream of the Turquoise Bee: The Search for Wildflowers in Tibet." And, here is an informational website published by MPR: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/15/botanicalpainter/

Let me know if anyone wants to go with me!