A hole in the sky, ghosts & burgers

Ghosts in the Details

Life finds a way and then...

There was a small maple tree in the common area of our neighborhood. It was much like all of the other young maples in the neighborhood. Then one summer night it was struck by lightning, splitting it down it's center. It's higher parts were removed by the landscapers leaving only the splintered trunk. After about a year it began to sprout new growth. In fact, a lot of new growth. The tree continued to try. It grew and grew but could not seem to grow up. It could however grow out. It fashioned itself into a maple bush. Magnificent and unique. It grew and grew for years. It filled out into a bush of true substance albeit not a tree of height. This beauty beat adversity and flourished -- for several years.

And I watched and admired.

Then, suddenly, without warning, an ignorant landscaper decided that this bush did not meet the criteria for the plantings in the common area and REMOVED it.

I feel a sense of sadness as there was a struggle and a victory that was simply removed by someone that had no knowledge of history.

That's all.

Old Cabin - Point of View

old cabin - original (full) view

I finished my 'old cabin' painting and then started playing around with different views - closer views of the image - to see if the impact changed. Here are a few of those...

A. old cabin - close up crop

For this view the total frame is filled with the cabin. Very little interest around it.

B. old cabin - crop is right / top

In this view the cabin is horizontally oriented toward the right of the frame and vertically a bit biased toward the top. There is more motion indicated in the swooping ground work which flows from right to left and there is a color splash on the left in the sky creating additional interest.

C. old cabin - crop left/bottom

This is the opposite crop to the preceding view. I think there is still motion and interest but the view feels very different to me.

What do you think? A, B, or C, or stick to the full original?

Stained Glass - Chameleon

This was a lot of fun to make. Mostly because I kept thinking about one of my all-time favorites Gustav Klimt. This began with a sketch of AmazingTori. Once I had the sketch, I colored in warm skin tones along the arm and the face. Then I began to color the canvas in fairly regular shapes. Once the canvas was completely colored, and brightly so, I might add, I then ran the layer through a Topaz filter which stylized all of the color borders with slightly curvy markings.

Point Bonita

Twain had it right when he said, the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Point Bonita, a sharp rocky peninsula extending into the Pacific Ocean from the Marin Headlands overlooking San Francisco, is cold and foreboding. Sea lions lounge on the rocks below and the waves crash against the black craggy stones jutting upwards. Hundreds of sea birds float dotting the frothy white caps of the dark water. An imperative for life exists above the water as colorful succulents grow out of sheer rock furthering the surreal scene.

To be there, trekking out to the last working lighthouse in California, I was struck by a sense of solitude, and somewhat ironically, calm, and truly sublime peace.

abandoned (truly)

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