Home Late, Thought I'd Blog

Just home from a Holiday weekend party, have a bit of a buzz on. Before turning in, I found a memory stick that contained photos of old work and images of ideas that I had not executed. I have not really looked at most of these things in years.

Thought I'd share them with you as I enjoyed them tonight, jumping from image to image, no real narrative or conceptual thread, except they were all concocted by the same person. And of course, Happy Memorial Day, thinking of all that serve and have served out country.

Digital File - 'The Fatigue  of Memory #4'

Digital File - 'The Fatigue or Memory #6'

Digital File - 'We Welcome Our Alien Overlords #2'

Digital File - 'Night Train, March 22, 2013'

Drawing - India Ink on Paper - 'Branches 17'

Digital Photograph - 'Magic Hedge Black and White 6'

Digital Photograph - 'Underpass Near Belmont Avenue, Chicago' 

Drawings - India Ink on Stonehenge Paper - 'Symmetrical Hosta Studies'

Crosshatch Drawing - 2009

Watercolor Drawing - Untitled

Digital File  

Crosshatch Drawing

Drawing - India Ink, Molowtow Acrylic Paint Pen, Arches Watercolor Paper

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

It was one of those mornings when everything was out of sync - awake too early, scratchy throat, and it was beginning to snow. The final indignity was missing my bus by 20 seconds despite the app on my phone assuring me I had another two minutes until it arrived. A snowy Sunday morning, and of course the next bus was not due for another 25 minutes. I had a good five minutes of feeling sorry for myself, not sure why that feels so good, but walked to the train and was heading up to my studio pretty quickly. It was while riding the train that I realized what a beautiful morning it was. The snow was just beginning to collect in some areas, and the city was deserted and quiet. I happily stared out the window, mesmerized by the landscape the entire fifteen minute trip.

The problem with taking the train to my studio is once I arrive at my stop (Berwyn) I still have a walk of five blocks, which at times can be a little dreary. But, in actuality it was a good day for a walk. Yesterday in the studio someone had asked me about an old panoramic photograph of mine that depicted a wall of graffiti. I had not looked at the photo in awhile but I remember where it was taken - the west wall of the Berwyn El station, where I was now disembarking. I knew the painting on the wall had evolved over the years, such is the nature of graffiti. The neighborhood may have even had a program where they encouraged young artists to work on that wall. I also knew that up until a few years ago, at least one element of the old graffiti depicted in the photograph, a large cartoon-like head, was still visible. Now, in a better mood despite still not having a coffee, I took detour to visit what remains of the graffitied wall. I'm happy to report my favorite head is still there, changed, a little duller in color, but still with a spark in its eye. And the rest of my short trek to the gallery was equally as inspiring, not for any specific reason other than it was lovely to look at the world covered with the light coat of snow on a not too cold day.

A few photos from this morning. The original panorama with the graffitied wall, and then a quick shot of the section of the wall as it exist today. Then a few photos I snapped on my walk to work. Gathering ideas, reacting, but not really over-thinking.

The snow continues to come down, and I may be less sanguine about this in five hours when I head home, but for now, lovely morning.

Addendum - February 1, 2015

The proposal in regard to the Graffiti panorama continues to move forward. The space where the photograph will resides has specifications that require reworking the proportions - which in some cases I am able, and happy to do. And we will be scaling up the image which is always exciting. Below is the reworking of the original photograph in its new cropped state. And then a playful juxtaposition of the wall ten years ago and now. 

Hello Old Friend, I Haven't Seen You In Years!

Back From Vacation....

...Hard at work on the photos of the trip, and hoping to get a few sketch book pages up on the blog soon also. In the meantime, one panorama from the rain forest, El Yunque, in Puerto Rico. Michelle took me on hike to the river and we swam/hiked from pool to pool. Other than the four family dogs, we had the place to ourselves. Remarkable, and a very special afternoon.

Fall - The Climbing Vines Change Color

I'm making photographs of the climbing vines again. Now that fall is in full swing and the colors are changing here in Chicago, the vines are taking on significant color. These vine flourish all over the city, but are often lushest in places where they are mostly neglected. Settings like parking lots and alleys where these plants are left unattended are where they grow best in the urban environment. I shoot them head-on, flattening the composition to landscape like configuration. There is something in them that remind me of the sensibility of Asian folding screens, paintings and scrolls.

41 Train Rides #28

Saturday January 25, 2014 - 9:01pm - Red Line from Howard to Addison.
Returning home from Evanston where Laura and I saw the movie 'Her', (Amazing! Best science fiction movie of the year). Quick dinner afterwards then the long ride from the Davis stop with a transfer at Howard Street. It all went smoothly with a short wait at Davis (thank you 'Train Tracker') and a train waiting for us across the platform at the Howard Street stop. Good thing too as the temperature was quickly dropping from 20 to 8 degrees, and three inches of snow forecast for after midnight. I was totally busted by these two taking their photo as I shot this panorama, but I gave them a hand embellished business card and a friendly conversation ensued. I notice the boy on the right had no sock on and I 'mothered' them both from the Loyola stop to Addison. No hats, no long underwear, no socks! Note the condition of the floor, salt and ice everywhere, and the streets are worse, with piles of snow to walk over and around. This winter will not quit. It may be time to quote Albert Camus.

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer."

Hand Embellished Business Cards

Homage to Japanese Screens

Looking again at some of the Black and White Panoramic Photographs I made at the Magic Hedge in years past. The Magic Hedge is a bird sanctuary near Montrose Beach here in Chicago. The city has let the landscape return to a more natural, prairie-like setting to nurture birds as the migrate up and down the coast of Lake Michigan. It is one of my favorite places in Chicago and I have often made photographs there, most in color but a few in black and white. I came across this panoramic photograph as I was perusing old files and was pleasantly surprised to see it. I can see that one idea I was exploring, both as I shot the individual photos, and as I was assembling them, was Asian folding screens. A shared love a nature is one common denominator. The patterned manner in which the foliage moves across the horizontal format, and the way the flash illuminated individual leaves is a direct reference to some vintage Asian screens. And the still visible edges of the source photographs as the overlap one another, are analogous to the panels that make up folding screens.

A few other examples.

Building Study

I was looking through some old photos this week and I came across this panorama of an alley off of Devon Ave. in Chicago. This study, showing the overlaps and the uneven edges of the source photographs, was constructed quickly to test an idea and preview a potential panorama. I have been constructing panoramas in photoshop for years now, and I have some skill doing so. Now that every iPhone has a photographic panorama maker bundled in its software, it forces me to ponder the arguments for making imagery in this format. The horizontal proportion in art making has always seemed natural to me, as if this is the way I most often view the world. I happened to be walking the dog when I came upon this facade, and walking could be described as a horizontal experience. My background in architecture leads me to look at buildings and facades critically, and I'm particularly interested in architecture that derives from function more than 'design'. Hence my fascination with walls like this one; it expresses a  practical use of the building in a way that does not have much to do with proportions, materials or beauty.  It strikes me that there is a collaging aspect to architecture that becomes evident in mundane buildings - a window where needed, conduit here, a vent there. This idea of architectural collage is mirrored nicely in the collaging of the photographs that make up a panorama. By not hiding the overlaps and not cropping the edges, this photograph declares itself as a 'hand-made' digital image.

Alley Photograph

I've been biking the Chicago alleys again, not sure what I'm looking for but occasionally a spot calls out to me to make a photo. Pictured is one such spot, don't know what I'm after, but it does cross my mind that this space is a bit of an urban collage.

New Photo Subject

It has been a cool and wet spring in Chicago. Hence very lush and healthy foliage. The vines crawl over everything. And when the surface is flat and graphic it catches my eye. Mostly abstract but I think I see a landscape in there.

41 Train Rides #25 - April 20, 2013

My Holiday Card

For those of you that are not on my Holiday Card list, below is the image I used this year for my printed cards. It was made a couple years ago during a Chicago lake effect snow storm. I went out for a walk during the storm, walked over to the lake at the nearest entry point, near Waveland Golf Course. Dead quiet, not a soul in sight, I had the park to myself, except for this unusual snowman. Hope you all survived the Holidays, and best wishes for a great 2013.

41 Train Rides #24

The Elevated Train in Chicago continues to become more challenging to use as the economy stagnates. More riders of all sorts crowd on as the CTA cut services and personnel. I had a beach day and dinner in Wilmette today - caught the train at 9:45 - and it was a wild ride home. It is a Saturday night, and hence a party crowd. Students heading into the city for a night of revelry and assorted riders in various states of sobriety crowd in to the cars. At one point I had to change seats when a group of students (four females, one male) got on neat the Northwestern campus. They talked so loudly, the entire car could hear their catty and unkind conversation about fellow students in some sort of seminar they all participated in. You can always tell the newbies to the train, oblivious to their surroundings and unconcerned about the riders all around them. Later in the ride people in the car in front of me evacuated from the car in front of us saying something about someone smoking. Smoking what I don't know. The woman next to me, who up until this point had her head buried in a book, mentioned she hope it wasn't a smoking device. They stopped the train between stations and the conductor had to enter the car, I don't envy him his job, and some how resolved the whole thing. I never found out what it was all about but the slight scent of marajuana was in the air. I was happy to jump off at my stop at Addison, where another large crowd of party people jumped on.

What Color Is Blue?

Yet another lovely day at the beach. A later start than usual, the day was so warm it was not comfortable until after 6pm. And once we arrived we chatted for another hour before entering the water. The sun was just dipping below the horizon as we swam. I finished a bit before Laura, and wandered the nearby beach. I came across this array of blue chairs, and the variety of blues prompted thoughts about the nature of color, not only as we experience it, but as it translates to photography and ultimately onto the computer screen.

Swimming With Chuck

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 Another ninety degree plus day. Worked in the studio most of the day, but my air conditioning is noisy and inadequate. About 3pm, tired of making watercolors of the lake, Chuck called and said he was swimming in the actual lake, and there was a bit of relief from the heat at the waters edge. It was a steamy and unpleasant ride to Lake Michigan, and the relief extended only about 20 feet from the waters edge, but once there, it was a delight. Chuck had found our old swimming spot from last year, difficult to identify due to lower water level. The rocks look altered and the logistics of entering the water vary from year to year, but this is a great spot with a stepped series of flat rocks that lead you into the water. Chuck had even scraped off some of the slippery algae to make the footing more secure. The wind was from the south, and in Lake Michigan on the west shore that means the warm water is being blown north and the cold water from the lower depths is brought to the surface. The water was cold, probably seventy two degrees, a nice surprise as the water in the pool in my condo building has be over eighty degrees for weeks now, much too warm to bring relief. The plunge into Lake Michigan was shocking for a moment and then you take in the clear coolness of the water. Chuck swims up and down the shore line, attempting to get in some real yardage. I'm more of a plunge in the water, float a bit, and out to drip dry for awhile, then repeat for as long as you are near the water. I brought along a thermos of ice and a couple sparkling sodas and we enjoyed our shady perch on the rocks. Chuck does not like to have his photo taken, but I persuaded him by falsely claiming this would be our one and only photo of him this summer. We were having a great time, until later, as the sun was low in the sky, first one, and then three raccoons made their appearance. They would pop their heads out of the spaces between the rock as unexpected places and Chuck made the comment that it reminded him of 'Laugh In', that show from the sixties where the comedians would pop their heads out of a wall and tell a joke. But no joke here, as cute as raccoons are, I'm a bit afraid. And Chuck was teasing me, he would brush my leg and claim it was a raccoon, or pretend to see one by my backpack. He eventually picked up a small rock and banged it against the ground to scare them away. I didn't do much, these raccoons are so used to people I was sure they were after our sodas. We literally made a run for our bikes and breathed a sigh of relief as we peddled away.

Saturday July 14, 2012

Up early, coffee with Melissa. Home to work on a few watercolors and listen to NPR. Took train up to Wilmette late afternoon. A bit of a journey; Cub's game letting out as I got on the train at Addison. The train moved slowly, they seem to be working on the tracks north of the Sheridan stop on weekends. I had to wait ten minutes at Howard as I transferred from the Red line to the Purple. And then as I'm approaching my stop, Laura texts me to say she is at the beach with her friend Kathy and can I walk there from the train. Thirty minutes later I arrive at the beach. We all go for a long swim, the water is very warm for Lake Michigan. There are tents set up down the beach for a wedding and we swim down to take a look. Later, after a cocktail and a few nibbles we get into our groove. Other than the two girls having to manage their phones it is the perfect summer afternoon at the beach. Later dinner at Laura's home. Dave cooks chicken on the grill and we plow through a dozen ears of corn. Long train ride home but I keep myself busy crosshatching in my sketchbook.

At the Beach - Late June

Summer is barely ten day old and I feel like it is August already. The weather has been extraordinarily warm for days at a time. I have run my air conditioner more this June than I did all of last summer. And yesterday at the beach in Wilmette the water was as warm as I can ever recall, which in Lake Michigan makes it about 75 degrees. It was gorgeous at the beach yesterday; many people out and about, great light and a nice lake breeze. I was with my friend Laura who insists on doing a little exercise while at the beach so on top of a long swim we walked the beach south to north and back again. We came across these kids as we walked north along the waters edge and I was struck by the varied nature of their construction, and the texture of sand looked beautiful. The theme of people at the waters edge still holds much attraction for me. And the 'meaning' the structure they have created is charmingly ambiguous.

41 Train Rides # 18

Took the Red Line home last night from Bryn Mawr to Addison after a PFLAG benefit at T's on Clark St. On the train, the gentleman in front of me was working in a small sketchbook. Of course I could not resist, and engaged him in conversation. I asked for a peek and he showed me a series of stylized character studies made with a technical pencil. They were unique and well done, and the fact that they were in the sketchbook format made the collection more compelling. Working in a sketchbook is such a important practice, and what one has once the sketchbook is finished is a great artifact - relatively easy to store, wonderful to look at over time. And, drawing on the train, a sign of dedicated artist.

41 Train Rides # 16

Train Ride Home - February 29, 2012 - 10:29 pm - Red Line - Roosevelt to Addison

More Symmetrical Architecture

I don't completely understand why I find architectural symmetry comforting. Clearly it has something to do with structure and regularity, looking for a little order in a chaotic world. The attraction to symmetry might come from an early need to connect with faces, which are generally, but not always, symmetrical.

But in the case of this particular photo, my attraction has to do with the surrounding landscape, as unreal and fantastic as it is. Perhaps the less said about the photos' origin, the better. Just look, and let your imagination roam, which is what I have been doing all week as i worked on this image.

I live in Chicago on the 17th floor of what is reffered to as a 'mid-rise' building. Not to everyones' taste, I know, so many people are unnerved by heights. Even I'm put off by my fragile-looking balcony railing. But to those of us that like being up in the air, enjoy a panoramic views, and thrive on the physical presence of the city, there is nothing like high-rise living. Among my circle of acquaintances there is an ongoing discussion about which is preferred in a high-rise view; the city or the lake. Ideally one would have both, but that combination is difficult to come by, and often considerably more expensive. The lake view offers watery nature at it's most abstract and sublime. The city view offer and endless panoramas of the built environment. Both perspectives reflect and react to the ever-changing weather in ways that inspire awe. I myself settled on a city view, and am quite content, but there are times that I'm envious of those that can take in the minimalist, water-centric vistas of Lake Michigan. It strikes me that this photo embodies both of those desires.