Harbor Morning
in Southcoast
Southcoast
Entangled
in Art, Southcoast
Meet Entangled, my fish for this year's school of Classic Cod that will be part of the Art Drive Open Studio Tour in August. Each year participating artists create a school of fish that are used to promote this annual juried summer art tour in Dartmouth & Westport, MA. After the Art Drive, the fish are auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds going to our local environmental education center.
The selection of the Atlantic bearded cod for this year's fish was a timely one, as new fishing regulation go into effect this month. Although New Bedford is one of the biggest dollar yield ports for fish in the US, cod fishing will be severely curtailed going forward. The livelihood of fisherman and the ancillary industries they support are in question. While debates rage about the science behind the restrictions and the politics of enforcement, the harbor is filled with docked fishing boats of every type as owners struggle to survive with catch limits, rising fuel etc. It is a tangled mess.
Entangled is a digital composite made from the photo below of trawling gear and images of ocean waves, along with some digital painting. The trawling rope used for the beard was graciously provided by Reidar's Mfg - a local company owned by fishermen making gear for fishing boats.
Lily Pad Impressions
in Nature, Southcoast
This is the geometry of early spring. Sharp vertical tree trunk reflections, unfettered by the leaves still curled in their buds provide a sharp contrast to the lily pads round green forms. Or perhaps it is the first contingent of alien invaders in Giverny....
Spring sicle
in Nature, Southcoast
Shining like icicles, these "sap sicles" look like both ice and ancient amber.
Three Guys & a Mast....
in Southcoast
In Mexico you have four guys and freezer. Here in Padanaram village at the start of sailing season, you have three guys and a 40 foot mast rolling down the street.
Beginnings...again
in Musings, Southcoast
For two and half years, my trusty Nikon digital SLR has been a steady companion, adding a familiar weight to my "go everywhere bag." But for the last three weeks my buddy has been off in a New Jersey camera hospital being repaired. And delighted as I am with the iphone camera, it is great to have my D500 back. At daybreak, I returned to the same place I took my first photos with this camera and focusing only on the sunrise's shifting colors of black, orange, pink and blue, I shut out the cruelty of this weeks events.
Anticipation
in Southcoast
I couldn't get Carly Simon's song Anticipation out of my head the other morning. The air was spring warm, the water calmly reflecting lazy drifting clouds - and along the normally empty docks, lined up like anxious children trying to be first in line, were over 50 sail boats just itching to hit the water. Hauled out from storage, yet still covered in their plastic wrap they were all waiting for the lifts to start setting them free...If a 40 foot sail boat could tap its foot in frustration to Carly Simon, it would have been doing so.
Clam shell points the way....
Red Sap
in Nature, Southcoast
Reflections from the Paskamansett Bridge in Gidley Woods.
This week's almost balmy days when only a single shirt is needed for gardening, are but a memory this morning. Wintery coolness returned in force with its grey tones. But the Gidley Woods are full of signs of the impending Spring. Recently cut logs from earlier winter storms are oozing a deep red sap that turns purple and pink as it cools. The log below could be the subject of many hours of study. Why are the lichen's deep blue? Is this a log or an Indian totem? And what is that red eye seeing?
No, this is not a photoshop trick - just nature's rainbow is having a field day.
Log of Many Colors.....
Not Your Typical Palette
in Southcoast
San Miguel de Allende
Many years ago, the doors of San Miguel de Allende were made famous by a former National Geographic photographer, Robert deGast. Three winters in that community and I do pay attention to door shapes, colors and textures. That is why these doors in Fairhaven, MA jumped out at me this morning. Architecturally they say New England, but the colors are more akin to that of our southern neighbors.
Main Street, Fairhaven, MA
Main Street, Fairhaven, MA
New Bedford Skyline
in Southcoast
Under the watchful eye of the city's prominent cupolas, the Earth Day Parade
got organized, and managed to complete most of its route before the rain returned.
At the point
in Nature, Southcoast
At the point
where salt marsh meets the sea
graceful s-curve wave lines
crash against the salt marsh tidal flow
crisscrossing arcs, like shards of broken glass,
dance for a minute in the risng sun
and are gone.
Saltmarsh Cartography
in Nature, Southcoast
What looks like a satellite view of England and Scotland is in fact, December's first frost in the salt marsh.
Curving to the sea
in Southcoast
Some mornings - the world is your oyster.....
A Creche Scene for the Times
in Art, Southcoast
I am not one for Christmas Pageantry, but this morning, the creche in front of Amicable Congregational Church in Tiverton, RI, stopped me in my tracks. There, gathered around a 55 gallon drum, were wooden figures whose chiseled tears and black eyes told volumes about hard times. The shopping cart in this tableau was not one filled with Christmas gifts and gaudy packages. It’s emptiness tells a story about homelessness, loss and the deprivation of human dignity - a powerful message in this season of consumerism excess.
