Karla the Dog
Posted on April 25, 2009
Due to popular demand from the powers that be, including the dog, I am posting a “nice” portrait of Karla. So here she is, in her favorite spot on the bed with a view of the ocean, a bone in her paws, and the breeze blowing in. It’s a tough life.
Karla the Dog
So now tomorrow we’ll get back to some serious business, right Karla?
Narrow-minded
Posted on April 23, 2009
She’s a really sweet dog, even if a little narrow-minded.
What, me worry?
Colonial-era “Copper”
Posted on April 21, 2009
While enduring a stressful period in one of my other endeavors, it seemed a good time to work on what I hoped would be a peaceful landscape, a pretty picture. This was the result.
Copper - 2009
The object in the foreground is a colonial-era artifact known as a “copper”. These large iron containers were used to boil down the cane juice in the production of sugar during the sugar and slave-trade era in the Caribbean. So even this tranquil scene carries a mixed message from our past, and begs questions about the vestiges of that past that remain.
A Ripe Tomato from the Caribbean
Posted on April 18, 2009
This started out as a ripe tomato from the local organic farm. So sweet and delicious, it’s just a distant relative to what can be bought in the store.
It’s one of those tomatoes that, even when perfectly ripe, is still a mix of brick-red and green. It had delicate rings of tan scar tissue — maybe tomato stretch marks? — and a cleavage from the stem down the back side. Only a tomato, but I think that’s where its magic lies.
Ripe tomato - 2009
The beautiful eggplant
Posted on April 15, 2009
These tasted as good as they look. No other comment necessary.
Eggplant - 2009
Milkweed Flower – Beyond the Veil
Posted on April 13, 2009
Milkweed Flower
This is a straightforward photograph of the flower of the local milkweed plant, interesting and lovely in its own right. The plant is similar in many ways to the milkweed common in northern latitudes, except this species is much larger, sometimes growing as a shrub or small tree to 10 feet tall or more.
The image below is an experiment in abstraction, pulling back the veil of perception to illustrate the energy inherent in these little flowers. It is interesting that, despite the level of abstraction, so many elements of the original photograph are still in place.
Milkweed - Beyond the Veil, 2009
Ironman
Posted on April 11, 2009
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.
Ironman - 2009
Even in old trash left behind to rust into the ground, there may be some animus, like the spirit of this ironman bearing his heavy load.
Giant Sucking Sound
Posted on April 9, 2009
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 precious land they have consumed.
While this is not true of all developers, the islands are hungry enough for more economic activity that our leadership too seldom dinstinguishes among them.
Buck Island View 2
Posted on April 5, 2009
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 Buck Island, visible from my studio window.
Buck Island View #2
While the island itself plays a role anchoring the top of the frame, the inspiration came from the water and the many colors it takes on from the sand, coral, urchins, depth, sunlight and clouds. It is different every day.
A Couple of Hot Peppers
Posted on April 2, 2009
A couple of hot peppers - 2009
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 hot!
This is the first image I worked on. I expect there will be a few more until I either exhaust the possibilities, or — more likely — am distracted and pulled away by the next photo-op.
St. Croix — Hotel Caravelle Artwork
Mocko Jumbies
Donald Diddams 