a new york magpie's eye

early morning digital

2012-01-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

elements from the reanimation library
as well as my own stash, scanned & layered

back at MoMA

2012-01-27T18:29:00.000-05:00

i had errands to run
and the weather was awful.
i fully expected to go right home
yet there i was at 12:45
tearing it up at MoMA
once again...

too much of a good thing?

2012-01-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

are the resources available at
reanimated library: mid manhattan branch
at MoMA (see previous post)
overwhelming my collage making?

and what's with my fingerprint obsession?

made at MoMA

2012-01-26T08:25:00.000-05:00

until march 9 between noon and four there's a good chance
you'll find me tearing and gluing at the
museum of modern art's print/studio.
it's a space in the education center that offers a series
of drop-in programs and workshops designed
in conjunction with the print/out exhibition
that opens next month.

yesterday i discovered the remarkable reanimation library.
usually based in brooklyn (where else?) and transported
to MoMA until march. this small,independent library
of outdated and discarded books
is a visual resource like no other and the museum
supplies scanners and copiers and computers
with which to exploit it. in addition there's
paper, glue and scissors, feathers, stencils and rubber stamps
and a space in which to play.
a very cold space, by the way: you've been warned.

and it's free - no museum admission required.

so at the moment i can say i have three pieces
hanging at MoMA.

kind of blue

2012-01-25T09:56:00.000-05:00

life

2012-01-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

snowment

2012-01-21T12:16:00.003-05:00

what befell the city
this morning
hardly dare call itself
a snowstorm. a moment
of snow: a snowment.

i felt no urge to rush out
and document it
and when i did, at last, venture out
there was little to inspire me
other than, collage like,
the textures of snow
on garbage bags.

three

2012-01-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

2012-01-19T20:10:00.000-05:00

torn again

2012-01-19T11:01:00.002-05:00

skychart

2012-01-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

i've cancelled my nytimes subscription.
anyone out there who can send me
the skychart that appears on sundays?

no blame

2012-01-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

winter blues

2012-01-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

taos

2012-01-14T09:30:00.000-05:00

caffe tazza, morning light
listening to talk of gypsies
on the road.
birdsong in the quiet

watching green, wistful boys
their silent posture

wednesday
remembering lotus opening in a dream,
me, open to the wind
in the willow and fruit trees.
the acequia dry.

drinking cheap white wine
with salsa & chips,
silly, me, imagining your footfall
on the steps
to find me posed, curled
on the black bedspread
in the ganado red room.

collageapalooza continues

2012-01-13T13:53:00.002-05:00

2012-01-12T12:31:00.000-05:00

hercules saffron bedroom

paperwork

2012-01-11T17:53:00.000-05:00

the irony of that word:
paperwork
considering
that what i create
so often involves
paper.

i spent most of today on the phone
and/or the computer
filling in forms and printing them out.
and printing out forms and filling them in.

now i must wait
for other forms
that i've generated
to arrive in the mail
so i can fill them in
and return them.

would that i could cover them all with
layers of gesso and paint, slap them
together and be done with them.

thanks for listening.

on not reading the news

2012-01-11T08:23:00.000-05:00

inspired by a bit of this profoundly inspiring post

i find myself thumbing through
the paper, drawn only to the
eccentric or amusing, the
trivial or delightful.
which is to say: none of
the news.

i use it mainly, now, for collage:
torn pieces of sky chart.
errant fragments of word.
i swipe medium on the back of scraps
and use squares of newspaper
as backing.

more or less landscape collage

2012-01-09T10:45:00.001-05:00

amnesia

2012-01-08T09:12:00.002-05:00

and...

2012-01-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

on a tear

2012-01-06T18:40:00.000-05:00

the collage revelry continues...

squares and scraps

2012-01-04T17:58:00.000-05:00

art and pain

2012-01-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

not necessarily in that order.
the year begins with a breath of
artistic energy and
licks of excruciating pain
that may or may not be
sciatica.

once again i realize
how i take for granted
feeling good and pain free.
with luck the doctor will see me
today although the day after
a holiday weekend....
wish me luck.

found pieces, new year's day

collage

2012-01-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

i try not to resolve
and yet...

i'd like to create more

twenty twelve has a nice
productive
ring.

and so,
last night,
i begin anew

on the third day after christmas...

2011-12-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

the perfect charlie brown tree
found at houston and mercer

a wish for joy

2011-12-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

(and snow)

in this and the coming seasons

material witness at pavel zoubok

2011-12-13T18:22:00.000-05:00

hannelore baron

vanessa german

there are only a few days left
to see this show which i've been
meaning to see since it opened
almost a month ago. it closes on december 17.
or you can see it here

hannelore baron

i went because i've only ever seen the work
of hannelore baron in reproduction.

i expected to be moved by baron's work
and was not disappointed but it was
the figures by vanessa german that were revelatory.
contructed of all manner of found object
attached by different means to black doll figures
they are more than the sum of their disparate parts:
beautiful, moving, troubling.

there are also a series of rose-window like
fabric constructions by donna sharrett.
these are lovely but did not move as the other work did.
it can be viewed on the gallery website.

the altered page/women in the arts

2011-12-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

i'm delighted to be participating in
the latest installment of seth apter's 'pulse'.

the question posed was
'if you could take a class from one artist
from anytime in history, including the present,
who would it be and why?'
and the first chapter of responses is
women in the arts.

fond as i am of o'keeffe's work, the thought
of being in her presence was too intimidating.

i chose agnes martin, probably my most inspiring
artistic hero. seth linked to this wonderful interview
which i had never seen.

Agnes Martin Interview (20:00 version, 1997) from Chuck Smith on Vimeo.

the sublime x2

2011-12-03T15:10:00.000-05:00

conversations in clay - west meets east: a collector's perspective,
at the joan b mirviss gallery in new york
features pairings of ceramic works by western and japanese
artists. i had never visited this gallery dedicated
to japanese art and went after reading a brief writeup
in the new york times. the space is serene and the work is wonderfully displayed. you can see the work on the website

best treat for me, though, was a gorgeous scroll
by watanable seitei featuring two magpies in a pine branch.

if only i had $7500 lying around i would find an empty wall for it.

then i went to view the private collection of robert rauschenberg
at gagosian on madison avenue. no photos allowed. sigh.
the man had an eye and a number of genius friends.
a must see if you're in town between now and december 23.

shows like these make everything
afterwards alive with beautiful possibility,
whether the dirty window of a newspaper box

or a napkin on the sidewalk...

but maybe that's just me...

happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:44:00.003-05:00

snow farm indeed

2011-11-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

i have been to snow farm
in spring and summer and autumn.
there are no weeklong classes in
winter and the eccentric october snow
was a rare and wonderful gift.

in my haste to shoot in the snow
i didn't notice that the resolution setting
on the camera had slipped. hence,
to my chagrin,
the smaller images.

museums and a cold

2011-11-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

how can a cold hit full blown -
without a warning scratch in the throat,
a tickle in the nose...

got on the subway at spring street
well
and stepped off the connecting bus in jackson heights
all sore throat, sneezes, runnynose, aches and
the corresponding damn headache.

excuses, excuses...
there's a little logo
on my blog that's supposed to
free me of guilt
when i don't blog.

huh.
so not working.

...museums...

went to the metropolitan museum on tuesday

coffee at the petrie cafe court and wine bar.

lovely views of cleopatra's needle and the colors of fall in the park

took a preliminary walk though the metropolitan museum's
New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands,
Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia
hereinafter the Arab galleries.
lots of information on the renovation

so much to see at every turn. i was drawn into
the convoluted designs and textures

this is a folio from the mantiq al-tair
- language of the birds - painted around 1600 in iran.
there are chairs for viewing the manuscript pages up close.

the galleries are satifyingly rich
in bird imagery

i was especially excited about the moroccan court
having read about it's construction. therere's a (too) short
video here
on the construction.

on wednesday i went to the museum of modern art
to see 'contemporary galleries 1980-now'

the curry was delicious.

for argentine artist rirkrit tiravanija's interactive artwork
thai curry is served in a sort of deconstructed
kitchen/dining space. (there's water in the fridge)

ben vautier

gallery view jeff koons, keith haring

happily there is a great deal of art by women -
it's still hard not to notice.
among the most affecting pieces for me
were the installations of doris salcedo

Atrabiliaros (1992-93)
from the label:
'..conceived in response to testimony the artist gathered about those who dissappeared during the Colombian Civil War.. Worn female shoes in sealed niches are stand-ins for the missing bodies and evoke reliquaries for the remnants of saints.'

zarina hasmi's piece 'home is a foreign place'
is a portfolio of 36 prints mounted in a
grid, each image representing an aspect of
what the artist remembers/misses about
her birthplace, india.
see and read more here
(god i love the internet.)

everything print

2011-11-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

remarkable new interactive website from MoMA -
the printed page
based on the publication and exhibition
of the same name. focusing on the history
of images, from cave markings to
the digital now
and beyond.

check out the depth of the links to
relief printing and digital processes

snow farm: trees

2011-11-11T09:45:00.002-05:00

and if you're anywhere near western massachusetts
and you appreciate beautiful, handcrafted treasures
get yourself to the
snow farm seconds sale
happening for the next three weekends.
they're not really "seconds", they're wonderful objects in
glass, wood, metal, ceramic, paper and textile made by
extraordinay craftspeople from near and far.

more cups

2011-11-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

artist gwyneth leech continues
to delight in the windows of the flatiron building
illuminating paper cups...

she's there in the window
from 11-2, tues-saturdays
at least until december 31.

week 2 was collage

2011-11-06T12:52:00.004-05:00

the second week of my autumn
snow farm trip was alexandra sheldon's
collage class.
i shouldn't be telling you this since her
classes always fill up quickly and i intend to
go again next year but i've wanted to take this class
for years and it didn't disappoint.

for more images from the class go here

some of the eleven of us

first steps:
1. tear colors from magazines to choose a palette
2. mix acrylics

these are some of alexandra's
swatches and colors

and her painted papers on the wall

cutting out shapes

colors and shapes

alexandra

the remains of the day

my workspace

first three collages: cards

class cards on display

a collage at random:
the newsprint under the papers i was painting

workspace: another view

final display of my work

i did have the best of intentions

2011-11-06T07:56:00.000-05:00

having actually labeled the previous post with a day
of the week, it would seem that i actually
expected to post each day of my two week
snow farm outing.

one week of flameworking
and one week of collage making
left little time for
processing photography or blog posting.

and now, a week since returning,
i'm just beginning to get a handle on the photos.

so...red

(on the morning of the glorious snow
my camera decided to reset its resolution
and almost all the photos
from that day are seriously low res.
sigh)

when fall comes to new england

2011-10-16T06:56:00.002-04:00

saturday

and here's the title song by cheryl wheeler.
a not great video of a terrific song. i really
have to figure out how to score my posts...

steiglitz and them

2011-10-11T14:55:00.008-04:00

officially entitled
steiglitz and his artists, matisse to o'keeffe
this wonderful show
at the met
october 13 til january 2
displays some 200 works from
the collection of steiglitz given to the met in
1949 by georgia o'keeffe.

among those that i loved...

toulous lautrec - looking in the mirror

francis picabia - star dancer and her and her school of dance

john marin - along the seine

marsden hartley - landscape, new mexico

georgia o'keeffe - gray tree lake george

found

2011-10-09T14:40:00.000-04:00

i still don't know what
has become of this wood thrush.
he was flapping helplessly
on the sidewalk on fifth avenue
in front of the mid manhattan library.

a young woman had accessed the number
for animal rescue but had to go to work.
i called and was told that if i brought
the bird to an address on east 110th street
they could take care of it.

trying to corral it as people strode by
it kept flapping away - trying to fly
but going in low circles. a young man
stopped and marveled saying he thought
it was a thrush. i told him that if we could
get it into my tote bag i would bring it uptown.

he cupped it in his hands, we got it into
my tote bag and i took a couple of buses
to 110th street only to be told that they don't
deal with birds. they sent me across town
to animal general at columbus avenue and 87th street
where i surrendered him to be brought to
this facility

i've called a couple of times
to get an update, to find out
whether his wing was injured as i suspected,
to find out if he'd been released
into the wilds of
central park.

haven't heard back as yet.

2011-10-06T07:36:00.009-04:00

1955-2011

downtown sketching

2011-09-30T08:08:00.000-04:00

the sun played hide and seek
and we felt a few raindrops
but wednesday sketching
at battery park city went on
as scheduled...

donna is a wonderful model
(though the volume of her
pants was a challenge)

when is an empty cup full?

2011-09-29T16:21:00.000-04:00

i stumbled upon this delightful sight
on tuesday

a cascade of
embellished
paper cups...

gwyneth leech sits in the window
of the flat iron building
- the studio in the prow as it's called -
where 23rd street meets broadway
and fifth avenue
tuesdays through saturdays
11 am-2 through december 31
creating
hypergraphia: the cup drawings

her website is here

sketching, battery park city

2011-09-18T17:52:00.000-04:00

a male model for a change
at the weekly sketch class.
viva esteban!

walking/waking hibernation

2011-09-17T17:22:00.000-04:00

for weeks i have not
been myself. not seeing
what's in front of me.
nor hearing what's
plain.

dis
connected.
depressed, to be honest.
anxious.
many factors of course.

a week ago
i googled 'acupressure for anxiety'
and with some gentle but firm touch
i seem to have rebooted somewhat.

might be that i'm eating a bit better and
making a point of taking my vitamins...

today i was up and out
to chelsea
(always a great source of
found art as above and below)
to see the
Agnes Martin grey paintings
at Pace.

there is no catalog, nor announcement postcard
and photography is not permitted.
there are no reproductions
on the Pace gallery
website.

this series of more than twenty large paintings
made in the 80s
may be the most wonderful of martin's
i have ever had the joy of seeing.

i've tried before to articulate
my response to her work
with little success.

they are sublime.

defined, i see, as:
of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty
as to inspire great admiration or awe.

the show is there until
october 29. i would live
in the second room
til then
if i could.

anniversary

2011-09-10T17:59:00.000-04:00

from a blimp a few years before 2001.

union square filled with tributes:
notes and photographs, flowers, cranes and candles

the tribute in lights, 2003

sketching

2011-09-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

catching up here - two weeks worth of
life drawing sketches from
wednesdays at battery park city.

aftermath seems a bit extreme...

2011-08-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

well, it rained.
rather quietly.
didn't hear wind
and trees were hardly waving
when i looked out.

15 liters of water
seem foolish.

better foolish than thirsty.

went out a couple of hours ago -
had to - and found two tree falls
on the next street over.

on the whole, though,
personally,
kind of a non event.

pre irene

2011-08-27T19:46:00.000-04:00

full disclosure: these are a few days old.
still this is what the city looks like today.
wet. gray. brooding.

it's been a day of waiting, buying water, waiting,
watching wall to wall coverage, waiting.

the radar maps are astonishing

now it's just more waiting
and hoping the electricity
and the water are on when i wake up...
if i go to sleep.

to be continued

The new installation at MoMA's atrium

2011-08-24T18:28:00.004-04:00

is obviously not by richard serra
but you will be forgiven for thinking of him.
think concentric...
a monumental serra work
that you can get lost in
and be in awe of.

now remove the metal,
the serra
if you will.
leave a palimpsest,
an echo,
a mere exhalation
that breathes and billows
from ceiling to floor.

60 feet of floating
transluscent labyrinth:
this, along with hanging recording devices
and microphones,
is carlito carvalhosa's
sum of days
the latest installation in the
atrium at MoMA.

the microphones will record the day's ambient noise and play it back the following day with each day's recording erasing the previous day's. this, in addition to occasional musical performances, will, according to the press release, "constitute an immaterial layering of time - an auditory memory of the accidental noise inherent in everyday experience."

as today was the first day of the exhibition there was no auditory memory - just the hushed murmur of curious museum visitors.

it was dreamy to photograph -
soft and moody, with
the ineffable collaboration of
breeze and sunlight,
people shrouded in blizzardwhite.

but i fear that the months
(it runs until november 14)
will not be kind
to the diaphanous curtain.

sketching, battery park city

2011-08-19T08:37:00.002-04:00

facial recognition

2011-08-18T15:18:00.000-04:00

battery park city sketching

2011-08-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

because joy should be shared

2011-08-09T11:42:00.011-04:00

three plus minutes of delight.
found by way of
mary ann moss

talk to me

2011-07-30T10:08:00.000-04:00

somewhere on 'the hierarchy of digital distractions'
from the brilliant folks at information is beautiful
add talk to me: design and the communication
between people and objects
until november 7 at the museum of modern art.

the show could be called too much information albeit in a good way. it doesnt require a smartphone but nearly everyone carries one - whether to use the suggested twitter hashmarks to comment on objects or to scan the qr codes on the labels of each item for more info.

the items range from the sublime - a muslim prayer rug that illuminates when correctly oriented toward mecca - to the silly - an adorable little robot who wanders the MoMA galleries with a flag requestng he be rerouted.

I was mesmerized by an app called soundrop
that allows you to create sound with dots and lines
and promptly downloaded it on my iphone.

there's a working new york metrocard machine -
it's very familiarity from the subway making
it incongruous here, where you can buy
a real metrocard printed with the details of the show.

if you can't get to MoMAw there's an interactive (duh)
website
that purports to include the entire show. full disclosure:
i didn't check to make sure as the site itself is a bit tmi.

riposte/repost

2011-07-28T00:01:00.029-04:00

seth at the altered page
is having his annual buried treasure blog party.
visit and discover.

looking through my archives
i've decided this subject matter is
just the note on which to end
the swelter that was july 2011

from december 31, 2009:
snow!

from february 22, 2011:
yet more snow!

2011 is now #3
on the all time
new york city
snow totals list...
and counting

(through a dirty window at the metropolitan museum)

from december 26, 2010:
a blizzard is percolating

and not only in globe of my snowy owl

as is my wont, if it snows
i go to the park...

something chilling to look forward to...

2011-07-25T11:47:00.001-04:00

seth over at the altered page is hosting his annual
buried treasure event...

troll your archives and repost
fave past posts and link them
at the altered page. it's a great way
to discover/rediscover blog treasure.

i'll be chillin' - literally - so come back on the 28th
and check out the altered page on that date
for links to lots of
cool stuff.

bye bye borders

2011-07-22T09:09:00.000-04:00

the closing of a bookstore,
small or large, is a tragedy.
the closing of the borders at
penn plaza - seventh avenue and
33rd street - feels personal.

before work, to relax and
read the paper, i went to the
cafe. at the window overlooking
seventh avenue i watched the weather:
umbrellas in the rain, snow falling on concrete.
the seasons changed on billboards.

i schmoozed with shannon
who worked full time and studied in the evening until
she left to pursue her vocation at a salon uptown,
sherry who is writing her thesis,
jason who became the father of twins.

i sketched, met friends, overheard conversations

we saw it coming. amazon. the nook and kindle.
the price of paper. it's a sort of progress.

i hate change. i'll find another place
for morning coffee and reflection
but the borders cafe was special.

ahhh, miscellany

2011-07-19T17:40:00.000-04:00

no cameras in the jury assembly room
so here's a miscellany of images
from the last week or so.
the folders havent been edited nor
the images labeled. it's just too hot
in this corner of the room so far
from the a.c...

at MoMA

last week's sketches and jury duty

2011-07-18T18:16:00.000-04:00

started jury duty today -
an excellent place to cool off.
didn't get empaneled.
Federal Court doesn't permit
electronics - no phones, no tablets
no computers. that was eye opening.
realized how much i rely on the iphone.

these sketches are from an especially
frustrating and unsuccessful outing last week.
i figure i should post what i regard as
failures same as what i regard as successes.

a dance to jules feiffer

2011-07-10T19:44:00.000-04:00

i first knew of jules feiffer
(playwright, screenwriter, children's book author,
teacher, pulitzer prize winner)
through his comic strip which ran
in the village voice.

more than a comic strip, it was political,
satirical, witty and biting -
a weekly visual editorial
on urban and national life.

among the most loved of his strips
are the 'dancer' series -
a lithe leotarded young woman dances
through the frames of the strip -
to summer, fall, spring, to art and love,
to the end of wars
and the end of illusions.

an exhibition downtown now through mid august
celebrates feiffer with drawings and
a series of short films
that delightfully embody his dancer
in the person of andrea weber,
a principal dancer with
merce cunningham dance company

today, among the palms in the winter garden,
across the way from the world trade center site,
music played, feiffer drew and
andrea weber and the audience
danced a dance to feiffer

cy twombly 1928-2011

2011-07-07T10:15:00.003-04:00

2011-07-06T17:10:00.000-04:00

even before the fireworks the city and the sky were ablaze.
seaworthy vessels small and large crowded the river below
fourteenth street awaiting the show.

three dimensional street art

2011-07-05T15:46:00.002-04:00

no one has posted bills for weeks
on this pristine, inviting wall
and now
clemens behr
has constructed this wonderful cardboard sculpture.
the shadows change with the light: i adore this piece.
i hope it doesn't rain soon.
although that will be beautiful too.

update:
i sent an email to behr
thanking him for the piece and
received a thank you back.
unfortunately as of this morning
the piece has been unceremoniously
removed from the wall.

happy fifth

2011-07-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

for starters...

often in chelsea

2011-07-03T13:28:00.000-04:00

the art isn't
the most interesting
visual stimulation

jasper johns at matthew marks

torn posters, street

jj@mm (detail)

poster, street

torn posters, street

sol lewitt, paula cooper (detail)

street scene

in front of commes des garcons

mattress, street

wednesday sketching

2011-06-29T18:57:00.000-04:00

wednesday mornings in battery park city
are for landscape.
this willow doesn't look willowy
but then the gardeners in battery park city
trim them before they have a chance to
sweep the ground. as they should.

afternoons are figure drawing:
10 one minute sketches, 5 twos
and then i continue to do quick
sketches while everyone else is
doing 5, 10 and 20 minute poses.
so sue me.

i enjoy doing quick gesture drawings.

the frick collection

2011-06-24T17:23:00.000-04:00

resolved: i will return to
the Frick frequently
just to look at this painting

the arch of constantine and the forum, rome
jean-baptiste-camille corot 1843

'In a New Light: Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert'
sheds new light on the extraordinary painting - always a favorite
at the Frick - after technical examination by a team of specialists
ten blocks north at the Metropolitan Museum. the special display
is up until august 28 when the painting will presumably return to
it's customary place in the collection.

the website has a superb multimedia presentation that
allows for really close examination.

life drawing: eva

2011-06-23T17:44:00.000-04:00

of all the models we have downtown
eva is by far my favorite.
her poses are always extreme -
the woman can stand like a contorted flamingo
for ten minutes...
she totally rocks.

the lure of craft

2011-06-19T18:37:00.000-04:00

it's a good day at a crafts fair
when i discover a new artisan.
today i discovered two -
an excellent day indeed.

it was a delightful surprise to find
the booth of fiona de jardin a lampworker,
among the more familiar offerings at lincoln center.

she's taken classes with some
of my bead idols - caitlin hyde
and kristina logan - but her style
is her own and her sense of color and design is gorgeous.

makes me long for the flame...

i tend to scan and quickly bypass the jewelry
booths. in no universe could i be said to 'need'
more jewelry. coupled with the price of
precious metals these days i try not to covet
what i don't need. the booth of jennifer walsh
lured me in with exquisite stones in beautiful, simple
settings. i was prepared to merely admire but this ring -
(the photo doesn't do it justice)
its east-west setting and calligraphic lines in picasso jasper -
seemed to feel it belonged on my second finger.

i'm sorry i didn't photograph more of the work of these two
artisans and hope to see them again at other fairs.
you can check out their work by clicking their names above.

sketching nature

2011-06-16T11:06:00.000-04:00

i had to skip the life drawing class
yesterday afternoon at battery park city
but i went in the morning for
nature sketching: trees and
willow branches

margaret

2011-06-13T20:38:00.007-04:00

my friend the artist margaret wozniak
is once again showing her work at the
lincoln center crafts fair. her booth
is just behind the guy playing the violin
(or the cd's of himself playing the violin)
on the south side of the plaza. she'll be there next saturday and
sunday june 18 and 19. her work is exquisite.
if you go say hi for me. if you can't go check out her website
and her etsy page

fragments ...

2011-06-12T11:09:00.000-04:00

...of a week

life intrudes...

2011-06-11T14:09:00.000-04:00

...and the internet takes a back seat.

if you've been here before you know that i don't often overtly interject my personal life, preferring to allow my photographs and wanderings to speak for me. now, though i feel the need to share a bit - forgive me if it's tmi...

my mom, who turned 97 two weeks ago, was just diagnosed with wet macular degeneration in one eye - the other is blurry from cataracts which will be operated when this situation stabilizes. reading is her passion, her pastime, her retreat and not being able to read her beloved New Yorker magazine is depressing beyond even the treatment which involves a shot in the eye to deliver medication. she's a total technophobe but my latest idea is to introduce her to the idea of the newest nook - you can enlarge the type and you can subscribe to the New Yorker. but this is a woman, though strong of intellect, who has never used an atm machine much less a computer. wish me luck.

i guess that's the gist of this post: wish us luck. i'm an only child and my mom stubbornly still lives on her own.

comments appreciated, empathy even more.

water

2011-06-07T16:01:00.000-04:00

the challenge for june over at
jillsy's blog is water, hence these refreshing
entries, shot downtown yesterday

(that is the statue of liberty al the way at the left)

sketching in august in may

2011-06-01T19:46:00.000-04:00

it was a hot summer day today.
sticky, humid,oppressive.
as only august can be. or not.
still there was a good turnout
(and a good model)to sketch
in battery park city.

back to battery park city

2011-05-25T19:42:00.002-04:00

i've missed a few weeks of sketching
down at battery park city
which started in early may and i was pretty
rusty this afternoon sketching
our model estelle -
these are the best of a mediocre lot...

one minute warmup

i like this detail

not great but i do like the foreshortening of the legs

the coolest thing is that a sketch
i did last year is being used on the
handout posted and mailed to advertise the class.
it was supposed to have my name on it
but doesn't. maybe the next batch.

not sure that 'adult art' is the right headline
but i don't write 'em folks.

saturday stroll

2011-05-22T10:43:00.000-04:00

a walk in my mom's neighborhood

preakness saturday

a fire alarm call box

choices....

and a visit with a friend

mexi

childhood redux

2011-05-22T09:30:00.001-04:00

this seems to be the first image extant
of me in proximity to
a. drawing materials and
b. a camera (or at least a camera case)

jillsygirl's childhood challenge continues
though may - check it out.

rainy day women

2011-05-20T18:07:00.000-04:00

i had to take a cab today -
something i rarely do.
this image shot through the
window on bleecker street
makes it worth the cost.

savage beauty

2011-05-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

no photographs allowed

i preface this by saying that i have never been
a fan of the metropolitan museum's costume institute -
mannequins wearing garments, no matter how exquisite or
historically relevant do not move me.

the alexander mcqueen show at the costume institute
is truly spectacular.

i'd seen photographs of his clothing, of course,
clips from his shows. and lady gaga has shown
them to advantage. (the silver dress and silver
armadillo shoes from 'bad romance' are here)
but these did not prepare me for the visceral response
his work calls up - more than even couture, his work is
sculpture in the form of body covering.

the show is open until july 31.
it will always be crowded.
go first thing in the morning if you can
or brave the crowds if you must -
but go.
these are masterpieces.

pastel

2011-05-17T13:36:00.000-04:00

my friend hc
"hates pastels."
not sure why.

i did these
in new mexico,
most at ghost ranch
where georgia o'keeffe
once lived.

i'm hoping they allow her
to appreciate the medium.

hope she doesn't hate landscapes.

rio grande gorge

childhood

2011-05-16T13:52:00.000-04:00

jillysygirl has posted a childhood challenge
with very few guidelines or parameters.
my long term scanning project unearthed images
of me that i can only relate to as a stranger.

i do not remember being
this child, having this
photograph taken.
i cannot recall the peasant blouse.

they are decidedly my eyes
looking out from that
tilted face, my younger,
fuller lips.
yet whatever else i
could say
would be fiction.

it was about the light in the trees

2011-05-11T15:38:00.000-04:00

how it changed the day

and about water and reflection

the nobility of leaves

2011-05-10T17:11:00.000-04:00

i took a walk in the woods.
where the ground was paved in
leaves. looked at as individuals
they make me marvel

a little green

2011-05-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

just a tease from
my recent trip to massachusetts

playing with paris

2011-05-01T09:52:00.002-04:00

scanned miscellany

2011-04-30T07:33:00.000-04:00

it's fascinating how
my life reveals itself to me
in old slides and
negatives...

the only thing these images have
in common is:
they are slides i shot years ago and
they make me happy...

...or nostalgic.
or sad or
all of these.

i'm especially glad i
photographed the walls of
workspaces. so evocative
of time and place
and who i thought
or hoped
i was

this post
is for departed friends

golden afternoon

2011-04-30T07:32:00.000-04:00

from the train

on a tear

2011-04-27T19:09:00.000-04:00

another day another wall.
these taken with the iPhone -
perhaps i'll feel compelled
to return tomorrow...

for now, manipulating with new apps
has been truly satisfying
and a great way to spend a day
in the sun...

torn series

2011-04-26T15:45:00.014-04:00

if you've read my blog
for any time at all
you know my predilection for
walls embellished with torn
remains.

yesterday i came upon an
especially delicious one, shot it
with the iPhone and returned today
to try to do it justice with the canon.

i appropriated
some of the paper for future collage
purposes but i don't think i can do
anywhere near as well as the elements.

walkabout

2011-04-24T14:30:00.000-04:00

i went walkabout
in the neighborhood
on friday.
loved the street art.
not so much the work at the
new museum.

i have never seen so polite an entreaty
against the posting of grafitti

(okay, it's not about grafitti
it's also not very effective...)

the above image is the reflection of the
work of george condo at the new museum.
i preferred the reflection.
above that is a view through the window
in one of the stairwells.
liked that best of all.

this may be my all time favorite post no bills sign

auction houses vs. galleries

2011-04-23T10:13:00.000-04:00

auction houses are dangerous.
at galleries i don't often think "i could buy that"
but the seductively 'reasonable' lower end estimates
on auction house labels give me ideas.
like i could own a picasso ceramic plate.
or a matisse etching.

the picasso ceramics auction is at christie's
on wednesday. in case anyone feels generous
i'm partial to bird imagery...

p.s. I originally posted my own iphone shots but went to the christie's site to check something and their shots were so much nicer. these are theirs.

earth day

2011-04-22T14:56:00.000-04:00

the first earth day,
and here i'm dating myself f'real,
happened the year i graduated from
college. it was very much
a grass roots event.

so today i cashed in on
the mainstreaming
of earth day. the three companies
responsible for this eco-promotional
largesse didn't even exist on april 22, 1970.

my day began at starbucks (ca. 1971, seattle).
brought my travel mug for free coffee.
tastes better that way.

on to origins (ca. 1990, nyc)
where i turned in an empty cosmetics
container and received
a full size antioxidant cleanser called
'a perfect world'

at whole foods (ca.1980, austin)
bastion of all things organic they
proffered an appealing reusable tote -
recycled plastic i suspect - to carry my
groceries. especially nice since the straps
are long enough for my shoulder.

we've come a long way, baby.
or
what a long strange trip it's been.
take your pick

gorgeous day

2011-04-21T15:18:00.000-04:00

new app

2011-04-20T12:43:00.000-04:00

and this one's free.
photosynth
lets you create panoramas
automatically.
this is times square
in the rain

awwwwww...baby squirrels

2011-04-19T10:55:00.000-04:00

i had never seen
baby squirrels before.
they must have been
very very new
because they had no
fear of me
as i got soclose
with my iphone

the cigarette in the lower left corner
gives you a sense of scale

happy pesach

2011-04-18T11:52:00.001-04:00

matzo and daffodils

from my postcard collection

2011-04-18T05:11:00.021-04:00

on the anniversary of the
san francisco earthquake.

the text reads
thanks for card.
On account of the fire that has burned two thirds of our city,
I cannot get cards to exchange, therefore I am obliged to
stop, at least for some months otherwise I would be only too
pleased to receive cards from you.
Yours very sincerely,
Louise Gardner