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Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration’

works in progress — artist zoe langosy

Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2013| 1 Comment »

work in progress by artist Zoe Langosy with characters Coyote, Columbine and Harlequin

work in progress by artist Zoe Langosy with characters Coyote, Columbine and Harlequin

Standing silent in the presence of others, while a friend describes the essence of your work?  It can be an illuminating, humbling experience.  That is what happened to me as collage artist Zoe Langosy described what she saw in some of my photographs.  “There are notes of nostalgia.  I am attracted to cut up stuff that has that dark edge. Through her photography Cynthia captures those parts of nature many people don’t see likes cracks in the ice on a frozen pond or the beauty of a dying flower.  Her images can make you stop, feel and reflect.  In her work, as in my own, there is a reminder that there are two sides to life.  That in order to find balance, we sometimes have to suffer.  The sun rises but it also sets and as a part of that arc there’s the dark beauty to be found at twilight.”  Zoe is currently at work on new pieces for upcoming shows.  As always, I’m honored that she has selected one of my images to use in a collage, in this case birch trees photographed near sunset at the Blue Hills Reservation.  The sun-touched bark will help to create the light in Harlequin’s outfit.

Harlequin, Columbine and Coyote are recurring characters in Zoe’s portfolio, androgynous, melancholic and hauntingly beautiful.  The patchwork of Harlequin’s outfit will also include bits of Japanese paper in dark blue with silver details that reminds Zoe of “a moonlit field at night.”  In the end her patchwork will convey a sense that Harlequin is outfitted in nature.

work in progress by artist Zoe Langosy

work in progress by artist Zoe Langosy

Learn more about Zoe’s works in progress and upcoming exhibits by following her on Facebook.  FYI, she will have several of her original pieces on display during NYC Fashion Week in just a few weeks.  Prints of her work (and her father’s) are available on Etsy.  Enjoy.

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the human voice

Posted in Inspiration, tagged , , , , , , , on August 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

That first time he pulled me over after the library alarm had sounded, I actually put my hands on my hips and said, “Come on! You’ve got to be kidding.  I’ve been coming to this library for years.  Do you really think I’d steal a book?”  All he said was, “This way, ma’am.”  Together we walked over to the machine.  He had me empty my pack of all books and together we discovered which one I’d improperly demagnetized while doing self checkout.  During the whole procedure his face never changed.  Aside from the initial pull over, and then a statement about “it’s the rules,” his lips never moved.  He could have been a Nubian statue.  I became determined to make him smile.  Years later, I’ve yet to succeed.  Our relationship has progressed.  Now when I race by to drop off and pick up books, I make eye contact, smile and wave.  He blinks once or twice and then nods in acknowledgement.  Sometimes there’s a subtle bow.  One day, I’m tempted to dance a jig just to see what he does.  Bet he has a great laugh.  Meanwhile, my interactions with this guard and others this summer have had me musing about both silence and the human voice.  Not sure what will become of such thoughts but they have led me to the following lovely little video.  It’s less than 3min long, but if you’d prefer to simply listen to the original recording, click here.  Hope you find time to view and/or to listen. Have a good weekend.

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in light and shadow, a layering of trees

Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2013| 4 Comments »

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fragile mysteries

Posted in Inspiration, Music, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2013| 6 Comments »

Neither of us remembers purchasing it or even receiving it as a gift. So if you did give it to one of us, we both apologize for not remembering. The wind chimes are quite beautiful and the craftsmanship superb.

It surfaced this weekend, found in a bag of “stuff for review,” a bag which then got buried by other bags and dust and such. Someone had carefully wrapped the chimes in a Boston Globe newspaper dated 2008.

It now hangs at the kitchen window. On the inside, not the outside.  Just enough wind comes through so that there is the occasional gentle tinkle.

I am tempted to hang it outside on the oak tree.  I wonder what the red bird would think? 😉

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“wait! i have to wash the frog off my hands first.”

Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2013| 3 Comments »

Steve has a ritual.  When he buys chicken or steak at the grocery store, he returns home to immediately separate the meat into smaller portions, prepares a marinade of red wine, soy sauce, garlic and black pepper that he then pours over the meat which he then freezes.  And that’s what happened yesterday.  After a short hike in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, we stopped by the grocery store on the way home.  As he was about to prepare the meat, he shouted, “Wait! I have to wash the frog off my hands first.”  Why would he shout such a thing?  Well, because he was helping me corral frogs in the Fells.  Not to keep for cooking or anything, just to photograph for Melissa.

Melissa loves frogs.  For years, I’ve sent her all things frog related.  Stickers, stamps, charms, etc.  Rarely photographs. Though I’m glad frogs are in the world, normally I don’t feel a need to get close to them and rarely have I had an opportunity to photograph them like this weekend.  They were popping up everywhere!  As Steve and I chased the little critters around the woods, I kept telling him, “I’m doing this for Melissa. Only for Melissa would I be getting this close to this creature.”  But when I spoke with Melissa this morning she reminded me that I apparently sparked her interest in frogs in college over twenty years ago.

“It’s true,” she said.  “We were walking from Central Campus to the Quad, cutting through Duke Gardens.  It was summertime and I remarked about the sound of the loudest crickets I’d ever heard in my life.  You told me those weren’t crickets but frogs singing.  Then you pointed them out to me, sitting by the edge of the pond.  And then you went off on this lovely discourse about frogs, why they’re important in the world and how through song they were trying to  … you know … get together and make babies. I’ve loved frogs ever since.”

Steve did manage to pick up this fellow and hold him in the palm of his hands, and thus the need to wash the frog off his hands.  I don’t know if there will be anymore impromptu frog photography shoots, but I will try to remember to step more carefully through the Fells and I will treasure a lost memory regained.

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no picture but i can share that …

Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2013| 4 Comments »

in the garden below

chamomile grows

white petals bright

in the light of the setting sun

spreading profusely

wonderfully

wildly

soon to be cut I’m sure

but not yet

not yet

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can you find the bee (it’s really there!)

Posted in Inspiration, tagged , , , , , , , on August 8, 2013| 6 Comments »

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“like a dandelion without light”

Posted in Inspiration, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2013| 4 Comments »

As soon as my brother uttered the words, I smiled and shook my head.  Once again I was proven right.  I may feel compelled to put my words out into the world, but it is my brothers who are the poets in my family.  In this case, my youngest brother was simply sharing his growing understanding of what it means to be a father — the ups and downs and everything in between.  And with this understanding he was able to look into the past from a different perspective.  “I remember,” he said, “walking towards Pop.  He was sitting in that chair, lost in thought, tilted over, looking like a dandelion without light.  I don’t know which of us he was worried about that day or if he was sitting there wishing he’d done some things differently in life or maybe he was just missing Ma.  But then he saw me and he straightened up and he smiled.  It was like the sun had come out.  I was his light.  That is what my son is like for me.”

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“shells, please.”

Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2013| 11 Comments »

That has been my refrain of late when friends ask what they can bring me back from their travels.  Since many of the locales included beaches, I figured it would be okay to ask for shells.  Just reach down and stick a shell in your pocket.  I am quite honored that my friend D. engaged friends and family in the task.  After she showed me pictures of the black beaches of Puerto Rico, I thought it would be fun to photograph some of her shells against fields of black.

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can you find the red bird?

Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged , , , , , , on August 6, 2013| 7 Comments »

In the end, neither could I, but that is what I was searching for amidst the oak tree leaves.  I’d watched it dance along the branches all morning.  But as soon as I raised the camera … poof! It was gone.  Not even one red feather.  Just an empty hole.

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