Life with Lulu and Rufus

Gorgeous Travel Photography

2012-01-18T08:38:00.000-06:00

By Steve McCurry from Secret Castle

Nightime Cityscape

2012-01-07T22:10:00.001-06:00

via thisshitjustgotreal.com

Road Map Collages

2012-01-05T22:25:00.000-06:00

by Matthew Cusick from Minus Manhattan

Paper Sculptures by Nick Georgiou

2011-10-30T00:27:00.001-05:00

This paper sculpture was made by artist Nick Georgiou. He works with old magazines and books; stuff that people have discarded. His work is impressive-not just the medium but the quality of what he is producing. I love it!The image is from his blog My Human Computer, which contains many more images.

Alice Pasquini, Oslo Norway

2011-10-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

Just beautiful

Megacities, Part 2

2011-09-09T13:12:00.002-05:00

I did a previous posting about these photographs. They are pictures of different cities, many in Asia, that have been joined together to make these wonderful compositions. I love them and wanted to post some more. They are from an exhibit at H.G. Esch Gallery.

MEGACITY 08 (336CM x 125CM)

MEGACITY 07 (336CM x 125CM)

MEGACITY 18 (336CM x 125CM)

Miniature Food Sculptures by Kim Burke

2011-09-08T22:43:00.000-05:00

Love it!

Miniature Food Sculptures by Kim Burke

Luzinterruptus

2011-08-30T12:42:00.001-05:00

From the Wooster Collective

African Digital Portraits

2011-08-24T14:26:00.002-05:00

Wow. These digital portraits from Africa by Dutch photographer Mario Gerth are simply stunning.

From African Digital Art

Earle Richardson

2011-08-24T08:43:00.002-05:00

Earle Richardson was a New Deal painter who painted one magnificent picture at the age of 22 before committing suicide the following year. We have few examples of his work and it leaves me wishing the world had seen more of his painting because he was truly talented.

Employment of Negros in Agriculture, 1934, from the Smithsonian Collection

Coffee Cup to Canvas

2011-08-10T13:50:00.003-05:00

Art with a Sharpie

<br>Art with a Sharpie

Hejira

2011-08-07T10:59:00.002-05:00

I love Joni Mitchell and in particular this magnificent song.

LA Light

2011-08-04T15:19:00.004-05:00

Beautiful time lapse video of Los Angeles

LA Light from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

Pink Trees and Hills

2011-07-29T15:04:00.008-05:00

Infrared photographs of The Congo by Richard Mosse from his website

Marimekko's Iconic Patterns

2011-07-26T11:37:00.003-05:00

Beautiful Finnish prints from Marimekko featured in a slideshow at Dwell magazine

Juhannustaika designed by Aino-Maija Metsola

Lumimarja designed by Erja Hirvi

Doodles Done Right

2011-07-25T19:39:00.002-05:00

I like this picture, one of many available at the Etsy shop of the artist, Virginia Raljevic. I love to doodle--it's a good way to make it through an endless meeting; however, my doodles do not reach the quality of art like this artist's.

Surprise City

2011-07-17T22:04:00.005-05:00

From MLuisa's Flickr photostream

Explosive Etching

2011-07-16T21:55:00.002-05:00

Yes! Music is purportedly by Orella Negra.

"Diary" by Tim Hetherington

2011-07-13T12:35:00.003-05:00

I watched this video when Tim Hetherington died in April 2011. It moved me so much and made me mourn his passing even more than I would have otherwise. One of the video's commenters said it best: "The world has lost an advocate for humanity amidst the madness of war". For those of us who did not know him and love him, that is the most profound tragedy of his loss.

Diary (2010) from Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

24 Hours of Neon

2011-05-10T18:13:00.006-05:00

In Las Vegas

24 Hours of Neon from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

The Streets of Tokyo

2011-04-19T15:27:00.000-05:00

Lovely

Here Comes the Sun

2011-03-23T13:16:00.002-05:00

Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and
I say it's all right

Bright Lights Bigger City

2011-03-23T12:46:00.000-05:00

Sing it Cee Lo! The images have a vintage feel (1970's?) and are a great accompaniment to the music.

Corinne Vionnet

2011-03-13T11:38:00.002-05:00

Corrinne Vionnet takes countless photographs of the same image from the internet and then layers the photos, one upon the other, to create these ghostly images. There are many more at her website here.

Geospaces

2011-03-12T18:35:00.008-06:00

By Austrian artist Hubert Blanz from his website. I think these are pictures of computer circuit boards but they look like aerial photos of cities. Maybe there is a repetition of patterns in the constructs of men? Are we guided by instinct to recreate the same patterns over and over like honeybees and their hive? Most likely this is all a coincidence but I still love these pictures and concept.

My friend Leslie

2011-03-09T12:22:00.004-06:00

My friend Leslie Whitaker died last Friday, March 4, 2011 in Milwaukee after a sudden, devastating illness. The speed with which she became ill and died takes my breath away. An obituary has been published about her here, and although it covers the basics, it does not do enough to describe what a lovely, smart, funny, kind and all around wonderful person she was.

We became friends in Austin in the early 1980's and more or less stayed in touch throughout the years. We reconnected about ten years ago in Austin and since then, I visited her and her family several times in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and then in Milwaukee. I last saw her a couple of years ago at her daughter Alex's bat mitzvah, a wonderful event on a bright, sunny day in Milwaukee.

Leslie was an author, journalist and college professor. She was a talented, creative person who consistently tried to do good for others. Most of all, she was a loving, devoted mother and wife and a good friend. She will be missed terribly by many people, including me.

Rest in peace dear Leslie.

Colorful Houston

2011-02-28T12:38:00.001-06:00

I was looking through these photos I took of Houston and adjusting the color. I heavily saturated the color here and there and tinkered with the shadows. I like the effect and look of this colorful city we live in.

Jun Seba

2011-02-10T17:13:00.005-06:00

Jun Seba was a Japanese DJ and record producer who collaborated under the name Nujabes with Japanese and American artists to create some beautiful music. Unfortunately, he died in February 2010 in a car wreck in Tokyo. He was only 36 years old, but in his short life he was productive and left behind some lovely and interesting music that combines elements of jazz and hip hop. His Wikipedia bio is here.

This jazz piece is just gorgeous. It is from his last album "Modal Soul" which is unfortunately not available for MP3 download; the only way to buy the music is to purchase the import album for lots of money on Amazon, so I am content to listen to it on YouTube videos.

Also notable is "Luv(sic)" which accompanies different videos in versions 1, 2 and 3. I posted this video on FB today and love the music and impromptu photography of the accompanying video.

Rest in peace Jun Seba.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-20T12:35:00.003-06:00

I sent this e-card to my friends this year. It is an old collage with some MS Publisher flourishes.

Beautiful Pictures of Ruined Detroit

2010-12-23T10:46:00.004-06:00

Although I run the risk of being accused of engaging in Detroit "ruins porn", I'm posting a link to these beautiful and elegant photos of the city by Charles LeBrigand. His title for the series of photos is "The Ruins of an Empire"; I couldn't have said it better myself.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-15T13:12:00.001-06:00

This year, I made a collage for my holiday cards. It was fun although a lot of work to copy and assemble the cards; however, it is all well worth it.

Waiting in Line

2010-12-09T17:15:00.011-06:00

I named this collage after the people waiting in the lower left corner. I'm not sure what awaits them after they enter through the silvery dome!

9" x 11", paper collage

Golden Afternoon

2010-12-09T17:10:00.022-06:00

I made this collage last month. I love the colors of the background and the couple walking in the foreground.

9" x 10" paper collage

The Royal Scam

2010-10-19T16:19:00.003-05:00

I've been a Steely Dan fan for a long, long time. I remember when their album The Royal Scam came out; it was so bleak, I couldn't listen to it very much. What sealed the deal was the picture on the album cover.

I saw the album cover again recently and was struck by the imagery. Sometimes I want to make collages that look and feel like this; however, I always make them less ugly in the end.

Here's the album cover. A Wikipedia link discussing it is here.

Megacities

2010-10-13T00:16:00.007-05:00

Here is someone who is trying to do with photographs what I am trying to do with collages. It is beautiful.

H.G. Esch Gallery megacities installation

Running on Empty

2010-10-12T20:56:00.003-05:00

Time lapse photography of landscapes, urban and otherwise. I like it.

Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

Sightseeing

2010-10-10T20:03:00.007-05:00

I notice that my collages tend to be vast landscapes with tiny people. The sky and background overpower any people who may be in the picture. I am not sure what that says about me but in this case, I like the results.

This is another collage with pictures from Skyscraper Style, the 1970's book with black and white pictures of buildings in NYC.

9" x 11", paper collage

Ordinary Life II

2010-09-28T11:29:00.025-05:00

I found a book called Skyscraper Style at Half-Priced Books. It was published in 1975 and has wonderful pictures of buildings in NYC. Unfortunately, most of the pictures are in black and white and thus less useful for my collages. However, I realized that BW collages with a little color here and there are interesting; I just have to get accustomed to the lack of color. So, I'm experimenting with the images; here are my two latest efforts, which are are more scenes from everyday life.

9" x 11", paper collage

7 seconds of waiting

2010-09-22T21:07:00.002-05:00

Beautiful song and video with Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour

Searching for Paradise

2010-09-19T04:43:00.009-05:00

I love this. It's artist Shuichi Nakano's "Searching for Paradise" paintings depicting Godzilla-sized animals towering over the urban sprawl of Japan.

From Pink Tentacle

Similarity

2010-08-20T18:51:00.008-05:00

When I saw this picture of Lincoln Center in New York, it reminded me of one of my collages.

Photo: Courtesy of Lincoln Center

My collage, which I called "Golden Pyramid". The pyramid is part of the Louvre while the rest is mainly Houston.

Ordinary Life

2010-08-15T18:32:00.013-05:00

Sometimes I like to make collages that look interesting but do not have a particular message or intent. The collages below are examples of that; they are depictions of ordinary life but with a twist.

Waterway, 8" x 9", paper collage

I had the picture of these houses for a while. I love the color and perspective. I tried different scenarios before settling on this particular one.

Vegetable market, 9" x 8", paper collage

The picture of the market is from an old book about France. The background is from a book about the universe. One description of it could be cosmic vegetable shopping in France.

People Next Door

2010-08-10T15:04:00.014-05:00

I have trouble accepting the disparity that exists between wealthy people and poor people in this world. I see how certain people are ostentatiously wealthy and contrast that with how people live in other countries and even in certain parts of the U.S. I am not wealthy and live a simple life but by other people's standards, I am probably very wealthy as well.

My collages are an effort to deal with this dichotomy; I blend and juxtapose disparate images. It is likely an effort to come to terms with the contradictory versions of the world that exist; who knows. In any event, making collages is something that I love to do and that I have gotten somewhat good at. Some of the collages are more successful than others; here are some of my recent efforts.

Wash Day, 7" x 9", paper collage

This collage uses images from India and Mexico. Not sure where the columns and steps are from. I made it quickly, and it was difficult to make because it involved so many pieces. I was pleased with the result.

Edifice, 8" x 8", paper collage

I had the picture of this building for a long time; I think it is a bank in Germany. I emptied the building and put all these people in it. The background is a school in South Africa that is conducted in a building that was blown up its Afrikaner owner; you can see remnants of the building. The front is images from India. The blue sky is from Canada.

Beautiful Universe

2010-07-29T11:29:00.005-05:00

Gorgeous pictures of the universe. More pictures and information are here.

Frida Kahlo

2010-07-29T11:22:00.008-05:00

I've been a fan of Frida Kahlo for a long time. I found these photos of her taken by Nickolas Muray; it seems that she is her own most beautiful work of art. More of Muray's photos can be found here.

New work

2010-07-15T00:06:00.009-05:00

I have been busy making collages; it makes me feel productive.

Citizen Army, 8" x 9", paper collage

The pictures are primarily from old National Geographic stories about urban blight. The overall image is bleak, which I like. The pretty blue sky contrasts with the foreground. The people are from Africa; I especially like the man on the far right.

Crossing Over, 9" x 7", paper collage

All the buildings except the one on the left are in Houston. The building on the far right is the dear old YMCA, which will probably be torn down when the new Y opens later this year. The movement of cars on the road is a common theme of mine. For this collage, I wanted the foreground to be sky or clouds and to depict people crossing over from heaven into the world. Instead, I found this picture and now depict people crossing over from some unknown place into the modern world. I especially like that some people are coming back!

At the Movies, 8" x 7", paper collage

I thought of calling this "Parallel Universes" or something like that. I imagine some place in the universe that looks like this, beautiful and fantastical, and people are sitting around watching movies on a movie screen erected on the side of a truck. The movie scenario is a photo from National Geographic of a scene in China.

Leaving Caution Behind, 8" x 9", paper collage

I had trouble with this collage and had to redo parts of it. The best part for me is the movement of the many cars and the chaotic foreground that contrasts with the uneventful background.

Ronen E.

2010-07-14T23:56:00.008-05:00

Ronen Eidelman is an Israeli artist and activist. I found online photos of a street art project of his in Lublin, Poland. He made large reproductions of pre-World War II photographs of Jewish people and placed them around Lublin. As he says on his blog "I return the people in the photos to the place they were taken". The artwork is so beautiful and very moving; here are some photos. A link to Ronen's blog, more pictures and translations of the captions is here.

Woman in Ghetto

Woman and Her Little Child

Reizel Miller

Matityahu Horn and Friends

More street art from Roa

2010-07-07T13:14:00.006-05:00

From Roa's website

Remembering Wu Guanzhong

2010-07-06T18:07:00.003-05:00

Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong died last month. Here is a link to a brief slide show from the Asia Society about him and his beautiful paintings: Remembering Wu Guanzhong

From Shinosaka to Tokyo

2010-06-21T09:20:00.005-05:00

This is fun to watch

Shinkansen ver.2 from daihei shibata on Vimeo.

Aboriginal Art

2010-06-16T06:58:00.007-05:00

I found these charming pictures on Australian artist Sandra Eterovic's Flickr photostream. They are called 19th Century Australian Aboriginal Art. I don't know if she drew and painted these pictures or if they really are aboriginal art. In any event, the pictures are wonderful. More about Sandra can be found on her blog here.

Street Art from Oaxaca

2010-06-14T14:11:00.009-05:00

Barrio Quetzal, Oaxaca via Stinkfish

Beautiful video of erupting volcano

2010-06-14T14:02:00.009-05:00

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

No matter how far wrong you've gone, you can always turn around

2010-06-14T13:08:00.009-05:00

Gil Scott Heron once again

Miru Kim

2010-06-11T10:51:00.009-05:00

Miru Kim is a South Korean artist. She photographs abandoned urban ruins. She places herself, unclothed, in the scene and the photograph. Interesting talk and pictures.

UPDATE: Here are other links to Miru Kim and the above video if FORA TV does not work for you -
Miru Kim press

West Texas

2010-06-07T16:05:00.015-05:00

I recently traveled to West Texas and visited the towns of Fort Davis, Alpine and Marfa. I love this part of the state; the mountains and sky are beautiful. Stayed at the Indian Lodge, a lovely hotel in Davis Mountains State Park that is owned by the state of Texas and managed by Texas Parks & Wildlife. Here are pictures from the trip.

Indian Lodge

Marfa

Alpine

McDonald Observatory

Road home

New Collages

2010-05-14T16:26:00.006-05:00

On Many Levels, 9"x 11", paper

I like this collage a lot. The background and foreground are San Francisco, Minneapolis and other cities. Middle part is Middle Eastern, a tannery I think. I wanted to include the different pools where the leather is treated and dyed but that didn't work out. I like the feeling of standing on a mountain top and surveying the landscape ahead and below.

Procession, 8" x 10", paper

This collage was difficult to do. Had to keep redoing and fixing certain parts of it. Not sure if I like final product but do like the movement of people and cars. They are all going somewhere although I don't know where.

New collages

2010-05-05T15:38:00.005-05:00

I have been working on collages again. I took a break because I did not feel creative and was doing other things. I feel more creative now and am motivated by movement, esp. cars, traffic, trains, etc.

Anyway, here are my most recent collages. More to come I hope.

Morning Son, 8"x 9, paper
Highway picture is from an old Natl Geographic story about LA. The background is from a magazine; it's Philadelphia with a few odd buildings mixed in. Love the figures in the foreground; tried several before I settled on these folks.

The Dig, 8"x 8", paper
I started this collage with the orange building in the background; loved the color and lines. Rest is from assorted magazines; diggers and red Mustang are from an old Natl Geographic story about NYC.

Cacophony, 9"x 9", paper
This one was fun and came easily. Most of picture is from a Natl Geographic story about India. I had picture for while but wasn't sure what to do with it until I cut it up and added the two figures, who I had for a long time after I cut them out of a magazine ad.

2010-04-10T09:12:00.007-05:00

Love this! I want to sail through the lights of Tokyo too

Update

2010-03-13T14:54:00.001-06:00

Not doing much posting here these days; mainly posting on Facebook. Here's FB link if you are interested!

I'm New Here

2010-02-06T05:04:00.016-06:00

I started listening to Gil Scott-Heron when I was in college. I liked that his lyrics were so political but I loved the way he sounded, his voice and his jazzy and soulful music. Anyway, I lost track of GSH for a while and it appears that he quit making music and ran into some trouble, including prison time for drug possession. That is why his latest album, I'm New Here, released this month, is so awesome. He sounds good but you can hear the past years of his life in his voice. The first video from his album, Me and the Devil, is haunting; I've included it below. You can hear the entire album here .

Birth of the Cool

2010-02-05T09:55:00.006-06:00

Birth of the Cool is the name of an exhibit currently at Houston's Contemporary Arts Museum. It is a retrospective of portrait artist Barkley L. Hendricks. I was not familiar with Hendricks' work but I am now; he is awesome. Life-size portraits of people--his subjects and palette are fantastic.

Here are some of my favorites. The exhibit runs through April 18, 2010; here's link to the exhibit's homepage. Definitely worth seeing, and the CAM is always free!

Faux Landscapes

2010-01-30T12:43:00.009-06:00

These landscapes are photographs of art projects by Matthew Albanese, who creates models using ordinary materials and then takes pictures of them. Click here to see more pictures on his website.

Volcano, "Breaking Point", made out of tile grout, cotton, phosphorous ink. this model volcano was illuminated from within by 6-60 watt light bulbs.

Tornado made of steel wool, cotton, ground parsley and moss.

Sugarland. Made out of 20 pounds of sugar, jello and corn syrup. The crystals were grown in his studio over the course of two months.

Fields, After the Storm. This model is made out of faux fur(fields), cotton (clouds) and sifted tile grout(mountains). The perspective is forced as in all of his images and the lighting effect was created by simply shifting the white balance.

This is an experimental view of Mars. The materials, paprika, cinnamon and chili powder (planet) and coffee and sugar (starfield) were sifted over the floor of his studio. The planet was photographed from 12 feet in the air.

UPDATE: Here's a link to a page describing how the landscapes were made with pictures of the before and after; as you can see, the fantasy is so much better than the reality!
http://www.popgive.com/2010/02/realistic-models-made-from-household.html

Big Day

2010-01-14T13:10:00.007-06:00

11" x 10", paper collage

I'm not sure what this collage is about. I guess it's my usual theme, a juxtaposition of ordinary events and disaster. I like the disco ball spinning up in the sky although I did not mean to evoke 9/11 with the smoke barreling up the avenue; the connection was not apparent to me until I had finished the collage.

Aftermath

2009-12-22T10:28:00.006-06:00

Bright images for the holiday season. These drawings are by Alex Lucas, who depicts scenes of a post-civilization world. The images are from his website.

Dogs from Hell

2009-12-22T00:15:00.007-06:00

This is one the bleakest images I've seen in a long time. It is from Contemporary African Art Since 1980, a new book by Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu. Here's a link to more information and images from the book from one of my favorite sites, Boing Boing.

Jo Ratcliffe, "Nadir no 15" (1988)

Modern Cave Paintings

2009-12-20T10:54:00.010-06:00

Here are some pictures of street art by graffiti artist Roa, who likes to depict beautiful and violent images of animals and birds. These pictures are from Roa Graffiti, his fotolog that contains hundreds more pictures. More photos are available on Roa's flickr photostream.

All of This

2009-12-13T15:32:00.007-06:00

9"x 9", collage, paper and acrylic

This was a difficult collage to make. I couldn't get the elements to work together and kept trimming the edges to make it smaller. The sky was a bright picture from outer space; I painted it black and then buffed off some of the paint. Ultimately, I think I'm pleased with results. The people are from a book of photos and the rest is from magazines.

Dominic and Rufus

2009-12-06T13:27:00.006-06:00

Dominic was a tiny black kitten when I got him from a homeless man at the Kroger on Leeland and Polk. I didn't realize he was feral until I got him home and he ran away hissing and hid under the sofa. I finally got him outside, put out food and water and left him alone. I would see him running around, dashing underneath the house or through my neighbor's garden, a little black ball of fur.

Later, as he got bigger, he started warming up to me. I would go out on the porch and play with him and he would let me pick him up and pet him. I named him Dominic after a friend from college who was on my mind because I had recently learned of her death from cancer.

When Dominic seemed to be around three months old, I put him in the cat carrier and took him to the vet to get neutered and vaccinated. The vet loved his name and started singing him the song Dominique by the Singing Nun. The vet told me that instead of being approximately three months old, Dominic was more like six or seven months old and was small because he had been so malnourished early in life. He told Dominic that he was a sweet cat and lucky to have found a good home.

When it got cold outside, I brought Dominic into the house where he more or less blended with the other animals. He especially bonded with my dog Rufus and would go suckle and nurse on Rufus. Rufus, being such a nice dog, let him.

Now Dominic is four years old and fat and sassy. He still loves Rufus and hangs out with him, hence the attached pictures of Rufus and Dominic sitting in the backyard.

Concrete Forest

2009-12-06T09:21:00.010-06:00

I've been walking along the trails on Buffalo Bayou underneath IH-45. There is a lovely park down there and you can walk along the bayou into downtown Houston. I had the sensation of being in a forest; the support columns are the tree trunks and the highway above is the forest canopy. I took these pictures yesterday, which was a beautiful cold and sunny day. I love the lines, angles and curves in the pictures.

City Lights

2009-11-30T09:36:00.009-06:00

"All Roads Lead", 11" x 14", collage
I really like the sky in this collage; it looks like it's sucking in the buildings. The sky is from a book about outer space and most of the city is Tokyo. I'm liking the light trails from the moving cars a lot right now; they create movement in the picture.

"Golden Pyramid", 11" x 12", collage
Most of the buildings in this collage are from Houston. The pyramid is from the Louvre. Again, I love the movement of the light from the cars and the sparkly buildings in the background.

Into the Blue

2009-11-30T09:23:00.007-06:00

9" x 10", collage
The figure in this collage was in a fashion layout in a men's magazine. He looked silly in the photograph running like a nut across an empty field. I took him out of the magazine and put him among glaciers, running along a rickety bridge into the cold blue water.

Aqualta: Times Square at Night, NYC

2009-11-16T09:40:00.005-06:00

[Images: "Aqualta: Times Square at Night, NYC by Studio Lindfors].
This picture has been featured on several web sites. It's part of a series envisioning New York and Tokyo after they flood from the effects of global warming. The picture is beautiful; the rest of the series can be seen here.

Streets of Gold

2009-11-12T14:01:00.006-06:00

10" x 11", paper collage
I've had the picture of this woman standing next to her house for a while. I wanted to put her in a beautiful place that contrasted with her situation. She's from National Geographic; the sky and ribbon are from a holiday catalog. Background is the Louvre.

3rd World

2009-11-10T11:25:00.011-06:00

11" x 12", paper collage
The women in this collage are from an old National Geographic. The houses are from a travel magazine, and the sun is a big red coiled snake. The foreground is branches and brambles from Africa; I think the foreground adds depth to the scene.

New (old) collages

2009-11-01T19:33:00.011-06:00

These are some collages I've been working on during the past few months. I'm not completely satisfied with them; hopefully, I'm going in a different direction with my work and these collages are part of the transition.

Blue City, 11" x 12", paper collage
The sky in this collage is a picture of the Aurora Borealis. The blue city is a construction site at night in China and the foreground is a campsite in the Arctic. The figure is from a self-portrait by an 18th century Dutch master. I love the way this makes me feel.

On the Run, 8" x 12", paper collage
I made this collage earlier this year. The sky and mountains are a vision of outer space. The figures are from a magazine ad; they are in such a hurry that I thought I'd but them in a place they'd want to quickly leave.

Ghosts, 8" x 12", paper collage
This collage is creepy. The women drowned in the water and these are their ghosts. In reality, they're from magazine ads.

1st World, 9" x 12", paper collage
Afterwards, I realized the pattern in the woman's dress mimics the shape of the flame. The buildings are from a city in Spain. Not sure what this collage is about but I like the overall effect.

The Reunion

2009-10-28T14:15:00.007-05:00

In Berlin, giant marionettes called the Little Giantess and the Big Giant who had been previously separated were reunited earlier this month in a grand production called The Reunion. The event was part of a larger celebration commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. The images are fascinating; more pictures and story can be found here.

Quilt Festival 2009

2009-10-28T11:40:00.004-05:00

I had the pleasure of visiting the 2009 International Quilt Festival last week. As usual, there were some amazing quilts--these quilters are gifted artists working with a not especially easy medium. Way too much to see in one visit, but here are some of my favorites.

Identity and Self Exploration

2009-09-08T13:43:00.011-05:00

I took a class this summer at the Houston Art League called Identity and Self Exploration in Visual Arts. It was taught by a young woman painter who I like a lot named Hagit Barkai.

Anyway, the class was very interesting and Hagit pushed me to try new things with my collages. Here are the results of the class and my efforts to push the boundaries. The figures in these collages are all me and are from old family photographs. The other images are from magazines, the internet and photos that I took.

After the Storm

2009-08-23T11:03:00.005-05:00

Downtown Houston after a rainstorm

North Side mural

2009-08-23T09:44:00.003-05:00

From the side of an abandoned building on the near North Side.

Buildings and Clouds

2009-08-23T09:39:00.006-05:00

Here are pictures of two of my favorite things: buildings and clouds. Some random pics from a sunny Houston afternoon.

East End Street Art

2009-07-26T20:33:00.005-05:00

Visit to East Austin

2009-07-17T09:35:00.012-05:00

I visited Austin last month and spent some time in East Austin with my friend Jesse. Austin has changed a lot in the past few years; the changes in East Austin drive Jesse, who grew up there, crazy. Nevertheless, I took some interesting pictures while I was there. Enjoy!

World of Tomorrow

2009-06-15T11:32:00.017-05:00

From JPG, an online photojournal; the images create a mood that I like.

Discovery Green in Houston

Shinjukun in a Gattaca mood

Moscow City

Vortex

Cities in Orion

Valencia Spain

Oxigen

Beautiful calm driving

2009-06-13T12:45:00.011-05:00

I've been remiss in updating my blog. Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago of IH 10 West, which is the road to San Antonio and points beyond, including Fort Davis, one of my favorite places in the world.

Indian Matchboxes

2009-04-26T16:50:00.006-05:00

Matt Lee is an English artist and illustrator currently working from Bangalore, South India. His website, in addition to featuring his artwork, contains wonderful pictures he's taken during his time in South India, including photos of everyday objects like movie posters and matchbook covers. I've posted some of my favorite matchbook covers; dozens more are on display on his website.

Celestial Mechanics

2009-04-26T16:40:00.004-05:00

Celestial Mechanics is a project at UCLA that creates beautiful pictures out of data from man made aerial technologies such as aircraft, satellites and LAX sound patterns. The picture above is a map of 24 hours of flight data (141,029 airplanes) over the U.S. Aaron Koblin is the artist who creates the images; you can see more on his website.

Collages

2009-04-11T14:18:00.009-05:00

Making collages is satisfying for me because I can do it fairly well, unlike painting, which I'm still learning and not very good at. My collages usually tell a story although sometimes even I don't know what the story is. Here are some collages I made in the past couple of weeks.

Al Fresco

9" x 11", paper collage
I used images from 1980's National Geographic magazines for this collage. It is interesting paper to work with. In some ways, it is more durable than newer paper but often the ink reacts differently to the adhesive and creates unexpected results.

Father & Son

9" x 12", paper collage
This collage is very simple; just a foreground and background. Again, I used older paper.

Paradise

2009-04-02T19:07:00.003-05:00

These are pictures of Moorea in French Polynesia. They are from the site 360 Cities, where you can see panoramic views of various places around the world. The views of Moorea and other sites in Polynesia are spectacular.

Sunset chez Vanh in Moorea

Somewhere in the lagoon in Moorea

Cantinas de la Calle Telefono

2009-04-01T16:31:00.012-05:00

I went for a drive on the southern part of Telephone Road and found some great names and/or graphics on a series of cantinas that were all fairly close to each other. Since this area is primarily Latino, I made the title of this post in Spanish in honor of the clients who frequent these establishments.

The Sun Lounge is my favorite. With its brightly painted sun, open door and lit up open sign, this is a place I could visit.

In contrast, the Destiny Bar is shuttered and closed; I hope that is not a bad sign.

This is an interesting name that makes no sense but I like the lettering and colors.

The Las Azaleas Bar looks open for business even if the sign is down.

These two cantinas have a nondescript appearance but make up for it with great names.

It serves mixed drinks and who knows what else; I think the Happy Go Lucky is appropriately named and usually achieves that effect!

Impasto

2009-03-29T10:28:00.007-05:00

Impasto painting is a style of painting where thick layers of paint are laid on a canvas with a palette knife or a brush. The result is thick, textured layers of paint. Vincent Van Gogh used the impasto technique in his paintings to create depth and movement.

I was looking for pictures of highways on Google Images when I found Halima Washington, an impasto painter in Georgia. Her blog, Small Works, features her small paintings, most of which she paints in a day. I've posted a couple of examples of her marvelous work below.

An Avocado for Lunch

Searching for Honey

Total Wrecks

2009-03-25T10:48:00.015-05:00

In keeping with the theme of decrepit and abandoned things (see prior post), here are pictures of some houses in the neighborhood that are total wrecks. These houses are, to my untrained eye, past the point of no return and await demolition.

This duplex near Telephone Road was probably very nice before the roof started to cave in.

I posted a picture of the front of this house in the Third Ward several weeks ago. Here's a view of the side which shows the fire damage the house sustained.

This duplex is practically next door to the burned out house above. What a depressing street. Even now, this building gives me the creeps.

Big house near Navigation and Wayside

This little house is not a total wreck but it is on its way to becoming one if someone doesn't intervene soon.

This house is across the street from a nice new brick building. What a strange juxtaposition.

The trees and the brush are taking over this house; maybe some day it will disappear completely into the growth.

No comment

Abandoned Creations

2009-03-23T17:27:00.014-05:00

I'm not the only person with a keen interest in decrepit and abandoned things. There are various websites devoted to them, many with fascinating pictures. One of the better sites I've discovered is Artificial Owl, which is about "the story and location of the most fascinating abandoned man-made creations". Here are two pictures from their site.

This is Promyshlennyi, a small city in Russia. Not much is known about it; the people at Artificial Owl think it was abandoned about 20 years ago.

This is an abandoned train in far northeast Russia on the Sakhalin Island.

Blue Man

2009-03-22T10:31:00.008-05:00

I saw this mural on the side of a tire store on Wayside near Navigation. Part of it is by WEAH, an excellent and prolific muralist here in the East End. Not sure if WEAH did the other part, the blue man trapped in the net, which is very interesting.

Houses of Many Colors

2009-03-21T10:08:00.011-05:00

I generally don't like to take pictures of people's houses if someone is living in the house. However, with these houses, I liked the use of color and couldn't resist taking the picture.

Big Weather

2009-03-17T09:43:00.005-05:00

Ryan McGinnis is a photographer in the Midwest who likes to chase and take pictures of huge storms, especially tornado-producing cloud formations. The clouds and storms depicted in his pictures are awesome and terrifying. Having grown up in the Texas Panhandle and the lower reaches of Tornado Alley, the images are familiar and will always be unsettling to me.

Here's one example of Ryan's work; more pictures are featured on his blog, The Big Storm Picture.

Haybales

Telephone Road 2

2009-03-15T15:18:00.010-05:00

More pictures from famous Telephone Road

Talk about making promises you can never keep

Fast and blue

I have no idea so I guess I better ask somebody

Magic Palace No. 1

Magic Palace No. 2

Beautiful Ruins

2009-03-13T17:54:00.008-05:00

Photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre like to take pictures of ruins. Many of the pictures are on their website; some of my favorites are below. For more information about the Detroit pictures, check out Time Magazine, which has a photoessay featuring the pics.

Mansion in Brush Park, Detroit

Fisher Body Plant 21, Detroit

Fabian Theater, Paterson, N.J.

Foundry

2009-03-12T10:01:00.013-05:00

This interesting looking place is on Milby near Navigation. The building is still in use; I could hear noises coming from inside when I took the pictures. I doubt it is being used as a foundry; at least I hope not given the condition of the building. It is on a neighborhood street surrounded by modest little houses; I was driving down the street looking at the houses and there it was.