Announcing a new volume of poetry by Karen McPherson, due out any day now. I am pleased that my painting, heartstring is gracing the cover of her book. I have to say it is really an honor to have my work held in such regard. Hurray!

I went cross country skiing near Mt. Bachelor and was captivated by the little swathe of blue sky.
White-gray sky, white-gray snow, pierced by sentinel trees.

This week has been hard but the sun is out.
My bees are flying, some even bringing in pollen.
The peach tree buds are swelling.
It isn’t dark until 5:30 or so.

My favorite photo of the past week even if it is on the verge of being too out of focus. It has been really gray but at least it isn’t getting dark until after 5pm. I shot this from the side of the road, cars whizzed past making the ground vibrate, and the light was fading so that I shot it at a slow shutter speed. I guess I could have changed the ISO – next time.

Is there a spring glinting in the distance?

Evening Branches

I have two pieces in this inaugural show at the Gray Loft Gallery in Oakland. It is somewhat of a pop-up gallery, and will be part of the friday art walk etc. I wish I could be there to see the show so some you you will have to go for me!

Just thought I should add a note that my version of photo 365, or 366 for this year, is not done with an iphone but with a Nikon DSLR. Maybe next year I’ll approach it as a film based adventure.

For yesterday’s photo of the day, I took photos of a new watery painting I’ve just finished. It is always exciting to complete a new piece. It makes me eager to work on two others I’ve got going.

This year I decided to participate in Photo365 where you take a photo each day of the year. It has been wonderful so far to have my photographers eye out in the world all the time. I find it really makes me alert to my surroundings instead of slipping through the day routine. I don’t think it would be possible to take a great photo every day so I’ve decided to share only my favorites, at least one a week. One more note, these are uncropped and unaltered.

Here are my favorites for January so far:

January 21, 2012 - Willamette River

January 17, 2012 - Headwaters of Amazon Creek

January 17, 2012 - High Tension Wires

January 16, 2012

January 16, 2012 - Almost Black and White

January 16, 2012 - Honoring Jackson Pollack

January 15, 2012 Frosted Big Leaf Maple Seeds

January 9, 2012 - Temporary Islands Willamette River

Inspired by being away, I’ve made a huge mess in my studio as I try to clean up and move stuff out! Eventually maybe I’ll be able to work again. Actually that day isn’t far, everything just takes longer than I would like. Meanwhile, the dog is trying to claim chewing rights on the deer spine, shoulder blade, and ribs I found in the desert and I’m going to post a few more Playa photos so that I don’t forget what it was like.

Going to check on my bees today, time to insulate the hives for winter. Some local folks say it isn’t necessary but my bees overwintered much better with the insulation last year than without it the year before.

In the garden I discovered that those dozen winter squash I could see were really a yeild of 32! Fortunately, half of them go to my fellow gardener which leaves me with a pretty perfect 16 squash in three varieties.

No photos today. Just a note to say that my website has stopped working properly, the images aren’t loading —Aaarrrrgghh! I have been thinking about re-doing my website in order to accommodate more images, I guess this gives me the push.