Happy Birthday!!

Crossing the street....

This little guy was crossing Judson, at Main St., the other day. Nice contrast of the bright yellow and dark gray of the asphalt. He actually did make it across safely. I always wonder what bugs think when they are crossing a stretch of sidewalk or a street; do they feel like they are in some wasteland, being out of their normal green environment?

I saw a fox on the way to work this morning...

He was so beautiful and very casual about being photographed.

Here he is playing with an old tennis ball.

I am powerless and in the face of this powerlessness there is prayer.

O Thou most glorious Lord! Make this little maidservant of Thine blessed and happy; cause her to be cherished at the threshold of Thy oneness, and let her drink deep from the cup of Thy love so that she may be filled with rapture and ecstasy and diffuse sweet-smelling fragrance. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful, and Thou art the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Eleanor, 1947
Harry Callahan

Maori tattoo

I came across the book, Mau Moko, by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, et al., with new photography by Becky Nunes, University of Hawai'i Press, 2007, while at work the other day. It is a about Maori tattoo in the past and present. I have always loved to draw faces and the additional lines of the tattoos adds a very different dimension to the face. What especially intrigues me is the dark lips.

Above: Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero, the Second c. 1885 and Pare Watene of Ngati Maru, c. 1878; both paintings by Gorrfried Lindauer.

Another oldie...

Here is another old print from years ago...I love print making because you work on a plate or block and then when you pull the print it looks completely new because it comes out 'backwards'. You can also feel very prolific printing, making multiples of the work you did just once!

Blue Scarf

A few years ago, my sister brought me a blue scarf back from Provence. I thought I would take a photo of myself wearing it and send it to her, however I didn't expect these results! The refection of the camera flash at first was surprising, but then I liked it and did a series of these.

Another from the same exhibit...fantastic!

Garry Winogrand
Untitled
[An American Gallery]
1958 (ca, print) 2007 (publication)

Annie Oakley, 1860-1926, was a great favorite of one of my sister's. Annie was a heroine, and the subject of a t.v. show back in the 1950s. She may have been one of the first woman superstars of American popular culture. How far does a personality reach into our lives...?

Mid-1950s, we are at the grocery store with my mother shopping. Nothing seems out of the ordinary until a voice comes over the store intercom,

"Will Annie Oakley's mother please come to the office and pick her up?"

After hearing this announcement a couple of times, my mother turns around and notices one child is missing! Heading over to the office we find my sister there, waiting to be claimed.