The grumpy old thespian slowly transformed into a zombie-like actor as I added more layers of Conte and graphite... The zombie feel came to me as I drew the eyes almost completely rolled up in their sockets and then the white cake makeup transformed it into something even more frightening than a zombie thespian. Well, … Continue reading … Just putting on my face.
The Ruffian
Somewhere in my subconscious mind lives all the characters from the original Bugs Bunny cartoons. The enforcer following the tiny gangster comes to mind here. I believe it was in a Sylvester & Tweety episode where Tweety was kidnapped by a Capone-ish gangster. The more I think about it, the more I remember that there's … Continue reading The Ruffian
The Trees Have Ears
Perhaps this is a little obvious as a title. I saw the title the moment I saw the mushrooms growing on this tree trunk. I must have said the title out loud while taking the shot because, by the time I was returning past this stump a few hours later, most of them had mysteriously … Continue reading The Trees Have Ears
The Root & Foot of the Issue
I'm starting to wonder if I'm obsessed with tree trunks and why that might be? Sure, I love everything Wabi-Sabi: the colours, subtle tones, textures, naturally occurring patterns... all making the work unique and impossible to reproduce (easily). But, why all these gnarly stumps? There was a time that I thought I was looking for … Continue reading The Root & Foot of the Issue
The Lateness of Daylight Facing South
Being at the right place at the right time: How much of life's successes occur because of this? This was taken on a warm Spring day, near sunset and yet, it feels distinctly wintery. There's a chill across the image that wasn't present where I took it. The Winter wasn't yet done with us yet, … Continue reading The Lateness of Daylight Facing South
The Fire is Winking at Me
For the first time in many, many years, I finally took a weekend off and went out of town for a little RnR. At night we lit a small fire in a cast-iron fireplace and watched it burn as we mused upon what caused so many colours and shapes to appear in the flames. The … Continue reading The Fire is Winking at Me
Textures
These sorts of images bring me a great deal of pleasurable anxiety! I tend to take hundreds of them; seldom really knowing why I'm attracted to the shot. A tension arises in my chest as I frantically search for what I'm seeing. My eyes rapidly move back and forth across the vision I've framed in … Continue reading Textures
Shadows & Skin
Imagine wandering the Canadian tundra after a long dry season and finding the desiccated and destroyed carcass of something unrecognizable. There's no sign of fur, only thick and deeply creviced skin. Could it be the remnants of a mammoth uncovered by the retreating glaciers? Could it be what's left of a walrus dragged miles by … Continue reading Shadows & Skin
Raw, Rough, and Delicate
The mundane seems to explode with possibility when looked at up close. This is part of the carpets I put on my decks in the Winter to make them less slippery. From far, they are unremarkable, dull, brownish, dirty, rough, and not very appealing. On the day I took this shot, the sun was bright … Continue reading Raw, Rough, and Delicate
Oh, That Elusive Purple Again
I was looking for shades of indigo that I might use to get new paint colours for another art project and fell upon my favourite messenger of Springtime. These amazing flowers pop up as the first signs of Spring and often when the snow is still around them. We had a few really dry and … Continue reading Oh, That Elusive Purple Again
The New Renaissance Mindset 