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.

We went to see some of the petroglyphs at Picture Rock Pass, the north end of Summer Lake. It was interesting, they were mostly low to the ground and all on either the east or southern side of the rock. It also made us wonder why do we find petroglyphs here and not elsewhere. Is it the type of rock? Is it that these particular people were especially artistically inclined?…

Many of the drawings are of a stick figure with a circle for legs, which begged the question – What does that mean?

So here are two images, the first is of a circle-legged man and the second is of “lizard man”.

The last week begins. It rained this morning. The clouds meet the whirling dust dervishes the wind pulls up off the lake creating a white to gray wall so that the playa looks like the sea on a foggy day. It is hunting season so as I wander in the adjacent Fremont National Forest I am wearing a bright orange rain parka around my waist. We are all trying to finish the work we started OR we have decided not to worry about completing said work for various reasons. It is hard to believe the time at Playa is already winding down. It has been a great experience. Having so much time to focus on my work is wonderful, I hope to keep up the momentum.

In honor or returning to urban civilization I’m going to post photos I took in a local “hobby” yard. We might call it a junkyard, and the cars do date back to 1918, but we were clearly told it was not a business venture which really means the man who owns it all does not need a license.

In keeping with the rural agricultural theme I’ve been displaying lately, I’m starting off with the junkyard cow. Actually there were at least three cows keeping track of everything and a dog too.

And now for today’s entries in the beautiful landscape category:
The first is a view of summer lake basin from winter ridge. This photo almost looks fake to me. If I hadn’t shot the image myself I would think it wasn’t real.
The second entry is of the snow dusted trees at the top of Winter Ridge, the ridge above Playa. Last night it rained and got very, very, windy. The weather man said up to 60 miles an hour. In the morning there was a dusting of snow up high on the mountains.