Ironman

You see, there was this “found object” — an old machine part of some sort laying in an abandoned building that inspired the image in the previous post, and this one, and a few others. So in a way, I’m recycling, without even using anything up. Even in old trash left behind to rust into the ground, there may be some animus, like the…

Giant Sucking Sound

It was Ross Perot who popularized the “giant sucking sound” phrase. Living on a Caribbean island we hear that sound sometimes. But in our case it is the sound of major off-island “investors” (a.k.a., developers) sucking the island dry of its fragile and scarce land resources — leaving behind a ruined landscape and a few low-paying service jobs, while removing the value of the…

Buck Island View 2

Thanks to Jane Hunt for giving me the blogger’s lemonade award! Jane paints contemplative heavily-textured acrylic landscapes. Check out her blog! Since I ‘ve just passed on a tag of another award, I will leave this one on countertop for a few days before sending it on to some worthy bloggers helpful to other artists. Instead, for today, I’ll share a new view of…

A Couple of Hot Peppers

We picked up a handful of these gorgeous little peppers at the local organic farm. Some were fresh and plump, some still with a tinge of green, while these two had begun to dry and shrivel a bit. I placed them on a hand-thrown plate with an interesting mottled green glaze for their portraits. And in case you are wondering, yes, they are very…

Visit of the Happy Fish

This guy stopped by the other night, stuck his nose into my private dungeon, smiled and swam off. I’ll probably never know what he wanted.

Sea Grape

When they take the form of a tree, sea grapes have a distinctive shape and silhouette, and an interesting texture with their large round flat red-veined leaves. This one had taken up a traditional position along the shore. The early morning light gave even the green leaves a reddish glow. I eliminated some of the distracting detail to focus on the colors, the light…

Chocolate Fruit, the Black Sapote

A ripe black sapote turns a dark geenish brown, and feels soft underneath the thin leathery skin. Sometimes called the “chocolate fruit”, it doesn’t look appetizing, even when cut open exposing the black-brown custard like interior. But taste it. Looks can be deceiving, and expanding one’s concept of what is edible is rewarding. In fact, after witnessing the making of a sausage or a…

Locked Out/In

The ambiguity of a locked door… Which side is out and which in? Am I locked out to protect what is in, or locked into my world. Or is what is on the other side locked out to protect and keep safe what is on this side? There must be something important behind that door, but I’m not sure I want to let it…

Carambola Ice

Here is a final image from the carambola still life series. It feels like ice to me. It is interesting how such different interpretations can emerge from a series of quite similar photographs of the same subject. Work on the final images was started on different days and the result was determined in part by the strengths of each individual photograph — but also…

Carambola Still Life

The carambola, better known as “starfruit” in the continental US (and sometimes called “five-fingers” in Trinidad and other southern Caribbbean islands), is tart and juicy, and ranges in color from a greenish yellow to bright orange. You can pick them fresh from the tree here in St. Croix, and we have a beach resort and a golf course named for the carambola. The color,…