103119: More From the Quarry

Posted on October 31, 2019 by artandfossils

I must admit that I have been captured by the random beauty resulting from the mineral oxidation of shale at my local quarry.

It’s pretty easy to spot the colors amidst the blue grays and blacks of the piles of broken shale.

Generally, the red, orange, and yellow stains clearly stand out. And, like most anything else, some of the stains are pretty ordinary.

But, upon closer inspection and with some discrimination, some of the stains create visual delights!

I keep saying to myself that I’ve found enough and may have played this one out.

But then, as I review some of the recent images, I look out the window, notice that the sun is shining, and I’m out the door for yet another trip to the quarry. We are already in mid Autumn and there will be fewer opportunities before winter sets in.

And, when the colors begin to fade along with the onset of dreary gray winter days, I’ll go back to picking fossils from the other layers where they primarily reside.

*****

I’ll close for today with a shot from my perch in the quarry. Piles of rock everywhere, fall colors and the Eastern Escarpment of the Catskills.

Thanks for the visit.

102419: Fall Colors

Posted on October 24, 2019 by artandfossils

I drove up on the mountaintop the other day to take in the fall colors. Ended up visiting friends and found myself more interested in their “local sights” than the leaves!

*****

First and foremost was the barn.

Two views of the same window – from the outside, and from the inside at the tool bench.

*****

A blurred treestump above and white birch with clothespins below.

_______________

Back here outside my studio, falling leaves are hiding the many fossils that lay about. I did, though, find enough to occupy myself on a fine fall afternoon!

*****

Thanks for the visit.

092018: A Devonian Sampler

Posted on September 20, 2018 by artandfossils

For today’s post I have gathered together a selection of images of fossils found in the vicinity of my studio in Catskill, NY. Those viewers familiar with the subject will, I hope, enjoy these images, some new, some reworked.

For those new to this blog, perhaps a brief explanation of the subject matter is in order. The Devonian is a period in geological time that ran from app. 420 to 359 million years ago. In my “neighborhood” one can find fossils from the Middle Devonian (app. 387 mya). And this mix here is all marine invertebrates, mostly coral and brachiopods. One more note – at the time these animals existed this land resided well south of the equator. Thank the enormity of the time frame and land movement due to plate tectonics for that.

*****

Thanks for the visit.

091318: Nature!

Posted on September 13, 2018 by artandfossils

A few years ago, our neighbors, Dorian and Jim, gave to me two rather large hornet nests. They had been hanging in their barn for years and thought they might be good subjects for me – a very kind gesture that I much appreciated.

Over time I photographed them enough (on the outside) and finally decided to take a look inside. These first five images were taken as I slowly broke the nests down to the honeycomb.

*****

Fascinating structures they are! The hexagonal pattern that defines the honeycomb is a pattern found throughout nature (See “Why Nature Prefers Hexagons.”). And it has been around for a long time.

The image above is not an old or even fossilized honeycomb. It is, rather, a favosite, more commonly known as honeycomb coral. This fossil coral is approximately 387 million years old (during the Devonian Period) and was something I dug up locally.

Brachiopod and Mollusc

“Geometry in nature” seems to be a good segue into more of nature’s designs – an image sampler of fossils, all locally founded and all as old as the honeycomb coral.

Brachiopod

Cephalopods and Brachiopods

Gastropod

Brachiopods

Tabulate Coral

I’m closing today with three mixed media drawings. I had trilobites on my mind so I created some generic versions – each one app. 36″ x 48″.

*****

Thanks for the visit.

080218: August

Posted on August 2, 2018 by artandfossils

Seems like summer has barely begun and all of a sudden it is August, to me at least. I’ve been so busy in my studio that I’ve barely been outdoors. I thought of that as I was putting this post together. I started off with some fresh fossil images but soon veered away toward images from past forays in the car and on foot – simply put, I needed to remind myself that there is a world beyond the studio!

*****

_______________

So here we go outdoors – from an old locomotive to a hummingbird et al.

*****

Thanks for the visit.

053118: A Rediscovered Folder

Posted on May 31, 2018 by artandfossils

A year ago, as we prepared a party for the opening of my new studio, I threw a few hundred image into a slide show that looped on my computer screen throughout the afternoon.

Yesterday I ran across that folder – hadn’t seen it since then. I took some time to look through it and took a liking to this seemingly unlikely mix. I guess it’s an indication of the things I found interesting at the time – all things natural, I suppose.

Some things local and some things from far away, including “natural” objects from the Natural History Museum in Florence, Italy.

*****

Thanks for the visit.

042618: Finally Spring

Posted on April 26, 2018 by artandfossils

I think it’s finally safe to say that we’ve seen the last of the snow for the season here in the Northeast. And that has allowed me to get out and dig around and familiarize myself with the many fossils surrounding my studio.

So today I have some fresh new fossil images intertwined with a handful of images from my recent infatuation with some interesting paperweights.

*****

Thanks for the visit.

041218: Nature in Abstract

Posted on April 12, 2018 by artandfossils

Today’s mix of images reflect, to me at least, a simple beauty in the world that surrounds us. Sometimes it takes a moment to stop and look a bit closer. These images speak to a series of those moments that I wish to share.

*****

A fine endnote for today – our first flower of the spring!

Thanks for the visit.

031518: Waiting for Spring

Posted on March 15, 2018 by artandfossils

As I was reworking this fossil image I realized a desperate need for some color in my life. Three nor’easters in the first two weeks of March have tested my resolve as I (and many others) await the first real signs of Spring.

Drab, colorless days have forced me back into my libraries in search of colorful signs of life. So the rest of today’s post is a riot of colors that (hopefully) will soon be upon us – personally well needed given that snow is falling once again as I write this!

*****

Thanks for the visit.

030848: March Diversion

Posted on March 8, 2018 by artandfossils

Before the snow hit I managed to visit the local beaver pond for today’s opening image – a bit of ice on the surface late in the day. The remainder of today’s post consists of older images, some fresh some reworked – all with a much heavier hand than usual.