Wednesday, November 30, 2011

our flower child of the plastics:

Over a period of about six years I photographed this figure sitting upon the plastics sorting table at the recycling depot. Since I never saw anyone touch her and I never did, myself, I was mystified by her transformations from Sunday to Sunday. 
She became a bit of an altar for the scavengers and fringe dwellers...oddments of adornment and fanciful haberdashery were visited upon her...yet if I asked about her no one knew what I was referring to. Sweet mystery.

In the beginning, altho obviously well aged she wore red, red lips but by the time this was taken they had fallen from her face...leaving her a bit more blue...Out of work actor.

We never knew who made her or who it was that left her here but Annie took it upon herself to give her a seat at the table and there she reigned until the years, the damp and the wind spoiled her beyond any propping up. Still we were loathe to see her go. 
The loneliness of a pole sitter. 

I lost track of the different hats she wore...we called her the flower child. Here she is a bit more sober than she was the next week when a wig was added, off kilter and screaming "help". 
This is taken before Annie had to tie her head up so she did not fall over. Dignity.

This mask probably would have given me the willies if I had not seen it first upon the flower child...
with that touch of basket couture it seemed perfect.
I have several hundred photos of the flower child...perhaps I'll make another set one day, showing some of the fabulous offerings she was given and a few of the strange bedfellows that came and went over depot time. Friends from the wild wood.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Byker byrds...small prints








Some of the small prints for this years Christmas Faires...
these prints are 4.5" x 6.5" (finished with mat 8" x 10")

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Umbrellicus palm


The umbrellicus palm ...
at summers end the wind ripped, sun bleached umbrellas litter the depot tarmac, lay in heaps and molding mounds...beyond repair, heavily pruned. 

Shutters stained and sundered. Rusty hinges no longer swing, in breezes no longer gentle. Train tracks reduced to static, oxidized calligraphy on a field of embossed memories...the skin soft end page of an empty photo album impressed by shadows and the silent characters of sign language from long ago. Also called the mourning (or mournful) palm.
GALLERY of TREES...please

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thursday, November 17, 2011

the Steppe Beyond...Frost visits and remembers




Maples and blackberries limned with frost.
This is one of my travelers from the Steppe Beyond, a collection of illustrations for some transformation tales of the circumpolar regions. The face is from the drawings...the collage is digital.




...and another illustration from the Steppe Beyond....
from the tale of the Khan Kulyoog.

Friday, November 11, 2011

DubCrow: a Pictorial History



My corvid 'family' at the bottom are: Left to right: Uncle Saroyan (William Saroyan - author), Old Man Eiseley (Loren Eiseley...just read him!), Atticus (Finch of course), Irene - dobro player (from 'good night Irene'...one of the songs my father offered up of an evening), Annabel Lee (see Edgar Allen Poe), Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), Phyllis...(my aunt, artist and inspiration... murdered and madly mourned), Cousin Thornton (Burgess...whose anthropomorphic styling so tickled me in childhood...Animals just like me. Playful, curious, grubby, rude, hungry.  Hanging out in the 'hood with friends and family. Small town critters.


An old Wild West book showed up at the depot...musty and very familiar... We had a much loved copy in our bookshelves back home. The photo of little Britches was one of my favourites...