Cicada Killer

Sometimes life is rough.

Hanging Around

Olivia and I took advantage of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's pay what you wish first Saturday of the month. We also took the trolley over to the Pearlman building for our first visit there. "Hanging Around: Modern and Contemporary Lighting from the Permanent Collection" was fun to photograph.

Other People

These literally ARE photos of other peoples babies...I mean plants.

Proud Gardener

This may be about as interesting as other people's baby photos. (By the way, I love other people's baby photos.) So if you don't want to see INCREDIBLY exciting photos of my garden produce then avert your eyes.

Sunrise at the garden.

My garden.

Cayenne

Edamame

Eggplant

Tomatillo

Tomato

Exploring

I love the beach but I can't sit out there all day. So during our stay in Emerald Isle, NC we went on a few expeditions of sorts. I would call them hikes except that we didn't actually get to hike a few of them. The Great Dismal Swamp, for example, turned out to be difficult to access. We spent at least an hour driving around closed roads and other obstacles (like closed gates) before we found a small hike. At that point we didn't have much time anyway but you get the idea.

So one morning in Emerald Isle I decided I wanted to explore the area around "Great Lake" in the Croatan Forest. The Croatan Forest is home to bears, alligators, and five kinds of poisonous snakes. For some reason Matt didn't want to camp there. Anyway, we drove on towards the lake. Not easy to do if you miss the tiny little sign pointing you towards the lake since none of our maps agreed on the roads. We passed several signs with towing information. That did give me pause as we headed off the paved road and onto the dirt one. I had visions of last years hour of digging the car out of the sand on the Navajo reservation but this time with cougars (I forgot those in the list), alligators, and bears offering assistance. Not to mention the diamond back rattlers. And FOUS. (Flies of Unusual Size)

We made it safely to the lake which would have been great if we'd had a boat. Couldn't see a thing but what looked like lots of great places for an alligator to hide. This is the last thing we saw before we realized we might not have enough gas to get back out.

Look Quick

This is part of a larger work. I love this part but it's really not working. I thought about cutting it out and saving it. In the end I decided I need it's texture to be there underneath. I've been working on this painting for a month and a half now. It would be nice to finish it...sometime.
In the mean time I read a great book. "An Anthropology of Everyday Life" by Edward T. Hall. It's a very interesting account of how all the things Hall experienced in life lent themselves to his understanding of the world. It was inspiring in many ways. He explores some of the varieties in the ways cultures function including Navajo, Hopi, Artists, Hispanic, Military, Government, University, French, German, and basically every culture he encountered in his unusual, complex life. Also, how those differences create communication problems between people. But my favorite of all is the way he used all that he experienced and learned to create his life's work which is after all what an artist does.

Love the Garden

It's time for some garden shots again. I'm not sure what this first plant is. My neighbor is growing it and I love the yellow, not to mention those green crispy leaves. I could grow a whole garden just for the shape of the plants! But then I'd miss out on the tomatoes whose plants are a big huge mess. (Partly because I planted them too close together and partly because I don't have big metal cages to contain them.) I pulled my first ripe tomatoes today. Saturday I couldn't wait any longer and fried up some green ones-yum! This whole tomato thing is very exciting (to me anyway) because last year they all rotted and died.


This big monster is in my garden. It's a volunteer from ancient times. Seriously the stem (at what point is it considered a trunk?) is at least 3" in diameter. A woodpecker was hiding in this one when I arrived but he flew off before I got a good shot.

Chincoteague Nature Trail

Driving around a path on Chincoteague Island I discovered these beautiful silver branches among waves of delicate lime green grass.

American Holly

Hiking around North Carolina last week I took some photos of beautiful trees. These American Holly trees were on the nature trail at the North Carolina Aquarium on Emerald Isle. They have wonderfully colored fungus growing up and down their long lanky trunks.

Garden Envy

I thought my garden looked very professional until I strolled around to look at these. Um, yeah, my plants were still about 5" high at this point. So... I downgraded myself to competent amateur. haha.

Thomas Vance

Last week I got the opportunity to visit Thomas Vance in his Philadelphia studio. His latest work includes some wonderful sculptures which you can see on his website. I love these drawings as well. They will be included in an exhibition at Seraphin Gallery opening this Friday.

Facebook Inspires- Salvation Mountain

Photos by Maura Meyers.

I am very lucky to have some fantastic facebook friends who post amazing photos. These are from Maura Meyers. She took these photos on a visit to Salvation Mountain. Now this is the kind of religious dedication I can get into. Completely amazing!!

Garden Textures

Dinner

I was taking photos of the rocks at Ocean City, NJ when I caught this action.

Ocean City

Flowers in the City

Texture and Color

Sarah Gamble

One of my favorite Philadelphia artists has finally updated her website. It was a real treat to flip through the images. Check out Sarah Gamble's website here.

Details

I think it's done but I'm going to keep it a secret for now. I'll just share this sneak peek. I'm getting things ready for a big show in January. I don't know if this piece will make the cut. But just in case I'll keep it to myself. I'd like as many people as possible to have their first view of the work be in person. This is contrary to my usual "show everybody everything" attitude. We'll see how well I pull it off.

Who knows what the heck this is...

This painting is annoying the crap out of me. It may all end up in the scrap heap. But in the mean time I took a few close-up shots of things I actually LIKE about it. Here's one.

Caroline Lathan-Stiefel at Tiger Strikes Asteroid

Caroline Lanthan-Stiefel has a great show up at Tiger Strikes Asteroid. The intimate space really shows off her work allowing you to be fully surrounded by the quirky and beautiful installation.

More Crane Roses

Inspiring Textures & Beautiful Flowers

I took a few photos out in the rain today. The roses are out in Nick Kripal's garden in the Crane courtyard. They are absolutely stunning. Nick is starting a new garden across from the Crane which is already looking promising. Today the light rain really brought out the texture in the walls. And since I have what my sister calls "texture issues" I couldn't resist posting a photo of that as well.