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Sunday, November 4th, 2007
Gold In The Mountains 01, finished – 20H x 16W inches acrylics on canvas. Has 28H x 24W inches dark-stained antique frame with gold trim
Started late in 2005, Gold In The Mountains 01 has evolved through many changes to achieve the finished painting above. The first thumbnail shows the painting at a stage where I thought it finished so entered it into Artjury.com’s 2006 Spring/Summer online exhibition. It was accepted, and at the time I liked the larger areas of flat orange-gold, but about six months later I thought the work needed more depth, and the dark branch across the upper portion stood out, so I began a long process of scrubbing off, building back up, scraping and layering paint, repainting, etc. The piece reached a few different stages where it could have been called finished, but I was not entirely pleased, so kept searching. Here are a few stages in the transformation of Gold In The Mountains 01:
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City Streets
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Three Photos will be on exhibit and available for sale at the City Streets Exhibition at Studio 333, Sausalito, California October 25 – December 6, 2007
Burnt Offerings 01 – From Burnt Offerings the photographic series consisting of ten images of the devastating results after an explosion that rocked downtown Dallas on July 25, 2007, in an acetylene and propane warehouse. In the distance: the famous Reunion Tower.
Grey Phase – Dallas, Texas. With a history and reputation for competing with Houston to attract visitors to stay in a beautiful, safe, and interesting downtown area, Dallas makes room for new buildings and upgrades existing ones. This photo: Demolition on the corner of Commerce and S. St. Paul Street, across from the infamous Dallas Grand Hotel which has been vacant and in a serious state of disrepair for many years, now planned to also receive extensive renovations.
True Colors 63 – An original photo of one of the digitally manipulated images in the True Colors website series. A cow wanders the streets of San Antonio, Mexico. Nonchalantly meandering through the neighborhood, tether rope dragging on the road beside her, it’s as if this cow has simply left for a short walk and no one, even the owner, ought to worry about her finding her way home.
North Carolina
Monday, October 1st, 2007
Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days ( a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it!) We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington (NC) through old, old towns (it takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass!) …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.
There is a lot of history in NC – fossil, human/settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed – too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.
Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses.
On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal.
Great fun to watch the behavior for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.
Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.
NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia.
Part of the huge controversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and irreparable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snow geese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDmC1LD1Kc
Milkweed Melody
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
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Milkweed Melody finished. Oh, the joy of color! 27H x 33W inches Oil Pastels on 140 lb cold pressed premium on WC paper. Has brassy-gold frame painted with an extension of the drawing, frame detail images above. Below: work as it was in progress.
Rude Awakening
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
Three quaint old apartment buildings in the Strathcona District on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta were demolished to make way for a large condominium complex — a shame, considering all the new windows that were just replaced a few years ago. To remove them beforehand would not be financially viable for the new builder, but it’s not the way things are done in oil-rich Alberta these days. Everything: fridges, furnaces… someone’s home the week before — smashed and crushed within 36 hours.
Individuals would gladly use these second-hand materials, even volunteer to take them out. China would kill for that wood. The trip to Mexico is still fresh in my mind, and of how they utilize everything, even wire frames of old mattresses as fence material. This destruction was wasteful, almost painful.
On the other hand, it was very interesting to watch! It’s these sorts of extremes that conjure up perplexing conflicting emotions, and all the travel this year leaves me with so much revitalized energy to draw upon for a long time. I haven’t been painting, but these kinds of experiences are where all worthwhile art originates.
Summer Storms
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Evening storm clouds accumulating at about 5:30 p.pm. mid July in Stony Plain, Alberta
Sky appears to be falling, Airdrie Alberta, July 2007
Train and storm, Montana in July
So how was your Flight?
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Flying is not the thrill it used to be, and not necessarily because of unpredictable weather. Above, barely noticeable amidst the wide, beautiful, stormy cloud cover, is a plane, upper right.
I would much rather drive anywhere than fly, partly because of the extra time it takes crossing through customs since 9/11 and some of the ridiculous restrictions. Crossing the border into the U.S. at Calgary Alberta, Customs officers took away my dangerous tube of toothpaste. Lighters OK, but toothpaste?
Damselflies
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
… just returned from Alberta, where this summer’s hot temperatures have maintained high numbers of dragonflies and damselflies. These ones will have offspring born in Airdrie, just outside of Calgary.
Travel
Monday, July 30th, 2007
Morrill, Nebraska
Driving up through Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, then Montana to Alberta. Awesome, awesome. Back to Dallas August 8th.
Lisco, Nebraska – The Lazy U Motel
Southeastern Montana, sunset
Southeastern Montana
Yellow Poplar
Saturday, July 7th, 2007
This week: organizing photos and material for The Majesty of Trees solo exhibition, here are the unusual flowers of Yellow Poplar – Niagara Falls, NY, U.S.A.