A bundle of dried Baby’s Breath fallen in a bowl of milk.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged flowers, Inspiration, nature, Photography, photos, pictures | 3 Comments »
Well, one day, I was helping a young friend print a musical score. We were using her laptop and my printer and we kept hitting print and all sorts of buttons but nothing would happen except occasionally a blank sheet of paper would emerge. We chalked our failure up to bad software-hardware communication. Days later I realized that one of the printer’s cables had been improperly connected. I fixed it and began printing documents that I needed for work. The printer chugged out a page but on the page was not the text I was trying to edit, instead I saw musical notes. Now you may have picked up from this and other posts that I am not an especially technical person. I knew I needed to clear the printer queue but I had no idea where to start. Eventually, I figured it out. By then, I had many pages of music. What to do? Hmm…
I still have three sheets left which I think I will save for a future “musical moment.”
Posted in Inspiration, Music | Tagged collage, Inspiration, music, paper crafts, photograpy, visual art | 1 Comment »
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged black and white, Charles River, Inspiration, landscape, nature, Photography, photos, pictures | 4 Comments »
Just a couple of quick updates. First, you may remember the series of posts late last month about storytelling through paper crafts and collage. Well I turned some of the artwork into postcards. Printed on high quality paper, they are bright and beautiful and I hope images that will make people smile as they pull them out of their mailboxes. If you’re interested in purchase, just send me a note and I’ll let you know how you can obtain them.
Second, you may remember previous posts about my continuing adventures with a very young friend about colors. Our most recent discourse revolved around the color white. She may just be four years old and I … considerably older … but she does gently nudge me to push at colorful boundaries in unexpected ways. As I wrote about in this post, for her I’ve tried to pull together a sampling of my favorite “white” images.
I’m quite pleased with the result. I hope she will be too. If you have an interest in this little magazine, it is available here as a print copy or for download. Ah, technology. 😉
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, Postcards, Publication Updates | Tagged Inspiration, magazine, nature, Photography, Postcards, visual art | Leave a Comment »
I was recently lucky enough to attend a fancy restaurant where I sat at the bar watching the chef prepare her culinary masterpieces. They were all quite frankly little bite size works of art. Well, with a lot of undirected energy this afternoon, I decided to play around with the leftovers in Steve’s kitchen using the chef as my creative inspiration. First up, a few radishes sliced thin, arranged on a simple plate, then each slice either topped with quarter teaspoon of guacamole or quarter teaspoon of Steve’s homemade pesto.
Then I found some tomatoes, sliced up a couple, and then paired the slices on a long glass tray. The slices were drizzled with basil-infused olive oil, and I’m considering topping them with some finely chopped garlic.
I dug around the refrigerator and came across a tub of roasted pine nut hummus. Scooped some into a tiny white ceramic ramekin and then mixed the hummus with a drizzle of hot sesame oil to add a bit of kick. Final garnish is a couple of fresh peeled carrot sticks.
In progress are the mushrooms. I’m of a mixed mind about mushrooms. Sometimes I like them and sometimes I don’t. I’m contemplating taking three small mushrooms and stuffing them with bacon, cheddar cheese, and fresh parsley. So far the mushrooms have been selected. What do you think? 😉
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations | Tagged food, Inspiration, life, Photography, photos, pictures, recipes | 1 Comment »
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged colors, Inspiration, landscape, nature, Photography, photos, pictures, reflections | 1 Comment »
Imagine if Van Gogh had experienced light pollution comparable to what is experienced in many urban cities today. Most likely, he would never have painted Starry Starry Night. Mention “Milky Way” to a teenager living in New York City or Los Angeles. Given the young people I’ve spoken with, they know the candy bar and they remember the term from science class. But they really have had no experience of looking up into black velvet night and seeing the milky sweep of the galaxy that is ours. So many of us write about inspiration, but what source of inspiration has been lost as we have, often by necessity, dimmed the heavenly lights so that we may brighten the light upon land?
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged blue, butterfly, colors, light, musings, Photography, photos, pictures, stars | 1 Comment »
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations | Tagged basil, colors, food, Inspiration, Photography, photos, pictures, tomatoes | 1 Comment »
I am now used to going to the store and spying some cool vegetable, bringing it home to photograph and then turning to a startled Steve and saying, “Okay, you can cook it now.” In our time together, I have come to greatly respect both the aesthetics and the flavor of his off-the-cuff culinary expressions. What I’m not used to is walking through the door and him saying, “Wait until you see what I picked up at the market. You have to photograph it before we eat it!” It quickly became clear why this edible excited a science guy. 😉
I’ve seen exotic cauliflowers before but never one quite like this. A Romanesco. “Reminds me of the Mandlebrot set,” Steve said matter of factly. “See how each little sprig is self-referential?” Well … while I did have to look up a few terms later, I do understand what he was saying about the fractal nature of this little guy. It was fun to photograph, and more fun to eat.
In the end, Steve chopped it up then sauteed it in olive oil with minced garlic, a little chopped red onion and a small handful of chanterelle mushrooms. I can’t wait to see what he picks up at the farmer’s market this weekend!
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations | Tagged color, cooking, food, Inspiration, Photography, photos, pictures, taste, texture | 3 Comments »
For my friend Melissa, I trek through bogs to photograph frogs, all the while hoping they don’t hop down my shirt. For Emily, I keep an eye out for owls in the wild though mostly right now I just buy her owl stationery. There’s a young woman in NY who loves squirrels and for her I have even roped Steve into carrying around nuts so we can thank the squirrels for their time in front of my camera. And for Yves, I find bears, not yet in the wild, though I did come across bear tracks while blueberry picking in Maine.
This fellow I found in the bottom of a bargain bin soon to be tossed out for trash. Somehow a light sparkled in his eye so that I grabbed him with a triumphant shout. For seventy-five cents I carried him out the door and one day I’m sure he’ll make his way to his new home. If I don’t forget to send him on his way. You see, sometimes I do. If you were to visit my place, in nooks and crannies and especially on the window sills, you’ll find caches of ceramic frogs, paper owls and bears in so many different forms.
These fellows, comprising a 2011 calendar, I found in a shop in Japan late last year. It was a joy to find them once again, just in time, to send my dear friend the months still valid … ahem, just December. As for the bear in the boat at the opening of this post?
Well he and his friends I found at a fair, made of cedar I think and meant to tuck into drawers. Now I’m sure my young friend has many a drawer and I sure should have sent these to him by now. And I will. One day. Meanwhile I hope that he likes these few photos until he can hold these wee bears for himself.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged bears, friends, humor, Inspiration, nature, Photography, photos, pictures | 3 Comments »
Words + Images 