If you were a bug sitting under a mushroom… I saw this huge fungi last night walking my dog, and had to go home and grab my camera. I used a speedlight on the top to pop light through the cap and an extension tub to get really love and alter my focus. I’m quite pleased with the minimalism it created.
I need to start by saying I didn’t paint these, but they are (were) my rabbits. I recently commissioned a painting to be done of Pumpkin (bottom), who passed away at the end of 2020. It just came in the mail and, I didn’t think it was possible to portray her in paint, but artist Maria nailed it once again… I didn’t feel much until I held it up next to Patches (top) our other bunny who passed a year earlier – then I got pretty choked up.
Below is Maria’s website and Instagram. If you have a pet that is or was close to your heart, I highly recommend her pet portraits.
http://www.mariagrzybowskifineart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mg_fineart/
I have a love / hate relationship with spiders. Like most humans, they creep me the hell out, but most of them are harmless. I’ve seen a lot of strange bugs living up North, but down here things are just different. Look at this thing! This Golden Orb Weaver spider was still fairly small, just about 2 or 3 inches, but I have seen some that are like 6 inches long. They still make me shiver, but I love finding them and watching them move.
I’m on a mission to downsize, get rid of old junk, but the problem is – I am not very good at it. I am doing a lot better though. I got rid of a lot of stuff today (from electronics to books) but here is what I just couldn’t part with:
1. Nintendo GameBoy with Zelda and Mario 2.
2. Atari Pac Man cartridge.
3. Installation CDs of Quake 1 and 2.
4. An old floppy disk drive. (why?)
5. Cassette tapes of my band in high school and more.
6. A ball from an old mouse that used a ball. (wtf?)
7. A USB drive shaped like a fish.
8. A copy of Photoshop CS6 signed by Adobe.
The Forth of July on Folly Beach, SC… I ventured out to the edge of the sand to make a few long exposures while the Morris Island Lighthouse was lit. Got a few nice images, but what was even more magical was driving home and seeing huge fireworks going off literally all over the place. Charleston does it right!
This photograph is so simple, and yet it has such a strong emotional energy. Sometimes it’s those images that capture my eye more than the fancy, planned out, and complex ones. I guess this is why I enjoy abstract painting over some photorealistic scene of a mountain – it allows more room for my own mind. These are the kinds of images I want to see on the wall. Ones that allow me to be a part of them.