Lost in the Fish

A friend of mine from Mexico sent me an email the other day - no posts since June 9th- unacceptable !!    Guilty as charged.  I have been consumed with fishy business.  My garage is no longer a place for cars and garden equipment but is rather an aquarium full of 4-foot fanciful and very creative fish - this year's Art Drive School of Classic Cod.  Happily, the fish are now all photographed, found their way onto the poster and soon will go to their display locations in Dartmouth, Westport, and New Bedford.  For more details about their whereabouts and the auction where you can buy a Classic Cod check out www.the-Art-drive.com or go here and buy your very own!

In addition to all the fish stuff, I have been taking a class in Advanced Photoshop- Speed Painting.  The work I did on Entangled made me want to learn more about using the brushes in Photoshop so when I saw this class advertised at RISD I thought it might be a place to start.  I emailed the instructor and he assured me that it would, and the fact that I am not already a painter wouldn't be a problem.  So with some trepidation, I took the plunge.  Perhaps free fall off the 10 meter diving board is  better description.  For starters, I am at least 30 years older than everyone else in the class and the only person without a solid background in painting.  But as promised, I am learning a huge amount and loving the challenge.  In a few short weeks I am supposed create a whole world complete with different weather and lighting. ...whew....  Given the oceanic theme of my life these days, it is no surprise that my practice exercises on clean rendering, creating custom brushes from inkblots and masking techniques all have an underwater look.

Crabby inkblot babies

Crabby inkblot babies

Portuguese Men of War

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The high winds that have brought Alberta floods and lots of rain here off the coast, have also blown Portuguese Men of War ashore.  Yesterday I found three of them at Cherry & Webb beach.  To have them here so early in the summer is yet another sign of climate change. They are miserable to come in contact with, but they sure make for interesting looking beach blobs....

Entangled

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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.​​

Trawling gear 5_fishing Boasts-6955-Edit.jpg

Civil Twilight

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When the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon it is the beginning of civil twilight.  It is the time when shadows disappear.  Combine it with pink tinged clouds and wind softened water and the ordinary becomes stunning.

North Harbor, Padanaram

Lily Pad Impressions

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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....

Beginnings...again

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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.

_Anthony Sunrise-_DSC0052.jpg