060117: My Antidote

The crazier current events become the more I find ways to dig further into my fossils. They don’t endanger the world order. They don’t infuriate with their madness. At the very least they do nothing more than allow for a pleasant diversion from all that “other” stuff.

More than that though, they remind me that, in the long stretch of time that they represent, our current moment of political madness will eventually pass (as all things do). The obvious follow-up question then becomes “At what cost?”

We’ll save that question for another day. In the meantime, these 387 million year old objects wish to speak! A lot of coral today with a sprinkle of brachiopods and a few trilobites for good measure!

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This strange little self-portrait of mine was accepted into the upcoming Small Works Show at the Woodstock Artist Association and Museum (WAAM). And the piece below entitled “Requiem” from my ongoing Galileo series was selected for the show in the main gallery. WAAM is in the heart of Woodstock (NY) and the opening is set for Saturday 4-6pm. If you are in the neighborhood please drop by.

I’ll close today with another orb – a recent full moon.

Thanks for the visit.

052517: Details

I want to thank the many friends who came to our Studio Open House last Saturday. We had a fine time on a beautiful Spring day. It took a full year to go from first thoughts about it until completion and it was certainly worth the effort and the wait.

I kept it as clean as possible for the open house. And now that that’s done it’s already looking more like a messy workplace! I did, though, have the good sense to take some pictures for the record before paint and chalk began to fly around. A few of those pics appear at the end of this post (for those who couldn’t make it that day).

Many of the guests got to see my many fossils – something they might not have ever seen in person. And they were delighted to see the many fascinating details when given the opportunity for a close up look.

Showing them and talking about them seemed to reignite in me a desire to look a lot closer. And that became the basis for these images I am sharing today. I hope you enjoy them.

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Steve Dunn, local contractor and master craftsman, built the studio all by himself and built it so sturdy that I do believe it can withstand a nuclear blast!!

Thanks again to Steve and to all our friends who attended.

Thank you for the visit. More to come next week.

051817: Respite

These headboards make for a very nice composition – but, unfortunately, not enough of a distraction for me from the events of the day. In times like these I turn to my fossils for respite. Nearly four hundred million years separate us and yet their mere existence gives me comfort and hope for the future.

Our current crises can overwhelm us as the latest wave of news hits before we have even digested the previous abomination du jour. The venality, the lies, the greed and underhandedness we are witnessing rise to the fore when we all grow too complacent.

What we all need to do is act up. Phone calls don’t cost anything anymore. Call your representatives – daily – it takes only a few minutes to express your concerns.

Be a pain in the ass. Let the politicians know that you are watching and, yes, your vote needs to be earned!

For now, let’s take a break and enjoy the images.

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Break’s over! Listen to Rep. Maxine Waters and get mad. Grab the phone and let your representative or senator know your feelings. If they are fighting the good fight then praise them and thank them. If they are getting in the way or too afraid to act then chastise them.

Better days are ahead. But only if we act now!

022317: Objects

Definitely an odd assortment this week.

What unites today’s selections is that the subjects are all objects found in my studio.

As a little exercise, I decided to focus on some of these most familiar things that I see every day.

Over the years much of this has become background “wallpaper.”

So, with the impending move to my new studio, I thought I’d record some of these impressions (before all is packed up).

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This last image is a wonderful example of the beauty and order of nature. On top is a contemporary sea urchin. On the bottom is a piece of honeycomb coral that is almost 400 million years old.

Thanks for the visit.

011917: The Fog

Several days of fog allowed for these opening images. There is a deepening and long lasting fog setting in that will require a sharpening of the senses. It starts tomorrow. All I can say is “Eyes wide open.” Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors.

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I continue to move my seemingly endless piles of fossil rocks to the location of my new studio. And, in doing so, the only thing that slows me down is rediscovering so many worthy subjects for exploration.

I set these pieces aside to provide some fresh fossil images for this week’s post.

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My thanks to the folks at the GCCA Gallery in Catskill for putting on a wonderful show last Saturday. It looked great and was well attended. For those who were unable to attend I include here the remaining three pieces that I contributed.

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Thanks for the visit.

092216: Goodbye Summer

Thanks to the world of moss and lichen some otherwise bland looking fossils take on a whole new appearance. Today’s opening image shows a shard of coarse sandstone filled with broken pieces of brachiopods, coral, and other denizens of that inland sea that covered this area 387 million ears ago. Moss has grown thick on parts of the rocks while some strange little (I believe) lichen appear like some bright blue pinheads.

This extreme close-up gives a better sense of them. If anyone can confirm just what they are I would be grateful to hear back.

Here are several more images of the moss creeping up on some soon to be covered marine invertebrates.

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Those images got me back into my routine. I haven’t had much time for fresh shooting lately, being sidetracked with other matters. So I continued aiming the camera at other fossils nearby and found my groove again. Here is what was near at hand.

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Goodbye to Summer and all that goes with it, including butterflies.

I’ll close with these two variations on circles! Above is a nest within a nest. The large one came from a visit last Autumn to Paradox Lake in the Adirondacks. The small one, found by Cindy this Summer, we believe to have come from a ruby-throated hummingbird.

And below – the  second piece of my Galileo series. The first one, which was posted a month ago, is currently on view through this weekend at the Woodstock Artist Assn. and Museum (WAAM).

Thanks for the visit.

061616: Tools

Lately, most of my time has been taken up printing and framing for an upcoming show. As a result, my camera has been idle more than usual. But the need to explore with my camera is always there for me. So I had to get in a little shooting time. Subject or concept didn’t really matter. That often gets worked out during the process.

For whatever reason, an old favorite book came to mind – a book of prints and drawings by Jim Dine. While I have always loved so much about his work I particularly appreciate the subject matter he often chose – common objects – things that he used, things that he lived with, be it a bathrobe or his tools of the trade.

And that led me to my rock toolbag and this simple little series. Nothing earth shattering, didn’t solve any problems with it, just a simple execise.

I carry these with me on every foray into the woods, quarries, and creekbeds.

And, of course, my camera is always with me as well.

The following images are from the “digital vault” – some of my earlier fossil images –  several of which were uncovered for the first time in almost 400 million years thanks to the hammer and chisels seen above.

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Here’s something I recently dragged out of the woods – 3 views.

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Thanks for the visit.