New...

Well, I need to update more recent drawings, but I haven't scanned them yet. In the meantime, I have just created some photo things. The images are uncropped and unchanged, but they are repeated 4 times in each piece. Would love any feedback...

Strange fluke...

I was in the studio this morning and glanced toward the back door, to see the silhouette of a figure just outside. For some reason this week I've been a bit jumpy and so at first this startled me to see someone sitting or standing literally just outside the back door. How long had they been there? Anyway - just as soon, I noticed a pattern in the window. There are two sheets of bubble wrap hanging in the door window to obscure the view inside, and all of a sudden I saw it. The pattern in the bubbles. This was a young man sitting in the chair I had set outside, and there was just the right amount of dark silhouette against which to make out this pattern. What a pleasant surprise! It seems to fit right into this work I've been doing, so here is what it looked like.




(Rather than startle the person by opening the door right behind him, I waited till he had gotten up and walked away to go outside and speak to him. He needed a light for his cigarette. He usually sits at the Texaco/Info hut, but it's so hot and sunny today, he was seeking shade here. Still is...)



Anyway - this happening is in confluence with many realizations about dreams and waking notions of late....

Good to see an old friend...

I went up to Ferne Clyffe Park today, in southern Illinois. I had happened upon this place one time on my way to St. Louis from Atlanta when I was in college. It was such a gift to find it. And today I found a new trail there that also had gifts. It was probably the only time I have ever taken rain gear with me on a hike and I was glad. About a half mile in there was a fierce downpour, so I pulled out my poncho and made sure my camera was under there with me and walked on, slushing in my river shoes (good choice). Luckily, after a while I found a wonderful rock overhang under which to sit (or stand) out the rest of the shower. After the rain let up and the sun peeked out, the most wonderful thing happened on the other side of this great big rock wall...
This place is so incredibly beautiful it can bring one to tears. I have been going up and down the Trail of Tears a lot lately (and yes, it came through this place, too, I now know). I have been shedding tears of joy, though, in these places of great spirit and beauty. Each place seems to be chock full of Jack in the Pulpit and Paw Paws, among other beauties...

It doesn't look that big in this photo, but it was under this rock that I was standing...










That beautiful color is not a play of light, but color in the stone...

Today...

I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I headed back toward the confluence. I thought I would explore the area that I didn't get to yesterday and see what else I might find. I meandered down beautiful, windy roads through rolling hills and farmland and what looked like more mounds, but who knows... Then stopped by a state park with a great overlook high above the Mississippi, then back north past Wickliffe and on across the Ohio then the Mississippi. I had hoped to explore a bit between the two, but there was a state park there that had been closed down and gated and I didn't see a good access. Instead I pulled on down a road that led under the bridge over the Mississippi on the Missouri side. I didn't take many photos today. Saw some turkeys and a couple deer along the roads, and more birds. Photos are just from the shore of the Mighty Mississippi. May she carry strong medicine down to the gulf...


No idea what kinds of fish these are, but found them visually interesting anyway...




These snakes had just hatched out, as I could see their squiggles in the sand, and actually saw one slinking away....

Yesterday's outing...

Yesterday, I set out in a different direction from where I had gone before (Millstone Bluff). This time I happened upon Wickliffe Mounds (you can find online). There was surprising (to me, anyway) artistic rendering of some of the Mississippian imagery there and a self-guided walk through buildings that were built over top of the partially excavated mounds. I had mixed feelings about how this was done, but was happy for the opportunity to visit and see the artifacs and the site. Then I headed toward the bridge across the Ohio and then the Mississippi. But I turned off onto an unmarked road just before the bridge. It ended up being a long road through a WMA wetland area around the river's overflow area. More Indigo Buntings (beautiful against the orange rock in the roads) and open fields and mud and water. It was so hot and muggy and slow, but it felt just right to me to wander there. The first thing I saw was a couple of turtles who had emerged from the river and were seeking sun and green food (I guessed). This one below had a strange little hitchhiker on his/her back - anyone know what this is?


I am intrigued by what looks like a doorway to the light on the water in this one...

In this one, there is a light falling on the area at the top far left in the image that interests me, in combination with the trees and shadow on the far right, opposite the light...

Some others....

For the sake of continuity, these are the good, the bad and the ugly (not necessarily in that order). The experimentation continues....
Enjoy!
June 10

June 9

June 8

June 7

June 6

June5

June 2

Of the Gods...

Lucy came to visit me in KY and today we went on an adventure toward Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest. Along the way, we happened upon a place called Millstone Bluff, where there is an undisturbed (mostly) prehistoric Mississipian village - complete with petroglyphs and sunken areas where homes and cemetery had been. There were so many May Apples and Jack in the Pulpit plants up there - but even way more poison ivy. Then we did make it to Garden of the Gods, which was as beautiful as I remember it from 9 years ago when I camped there with another friend. On the way back, I spotted a great big bald eagle in the middle of a field and watched him awhile until he flew off. Then we saw the sign for Kincaid Mounds, so detoured that way before crossing back over the Ohio on a scary steel bridge that made the car swerve back and forth. It was a good day. I didn't paint much, but enjoyed great conversations, took a few snapshots and was inspired by the landscape and the spirit/s of the places we visited. Oh, and crossed the Trail of Tears...

Garden of the Gods

Lucyinthesky


Rockman

Rockrose

Lichen me

Baldie in the field