winter reds

our winter landscape is beautifully muted. white snow, gray skies, brown tree limbs, and evergreens. a visually quiet time of the year.  it suits me. i like the lack of distraction this time of year, there is one notable exception: winter reds. red staghorn sumac, red stems of dogwood bushes, red crabapples, and the red berries of high bush cranberries. dots and lines of red against white snow. like a flicker of light in the dark. one can’t help but take notice.

the calming quality of a grid

i love grids almost as much as i love circles. order. clarity. balance. it all contributes to a sense of harmony and calm. things all in their place. things all as they should be. beautiful simplicity.

collection of beach stones

starry night

i just finished reading a 1500 page biography on vincent van gogh. vincent and his brother theo shared almost daily letters , so it is possible that we are able today to write such a detailed biography. the letters themselves however, tell most, but not all his story. his life was hard. very hard. he wrestled with mental health all of his life–back when there was no support, and no sympathy for anyone ‘who could tarnish the family reputation’. anyway, the last 300 pages of the book go into detail about the inspiration and making of his most well known paintings, including starry night. by the time vincent painted starry night, he was having intermittent psychotic episodes. i believe he painted starry night as he truly saw it. not as a stylized abstraction of a night sky. in any case, this is the STILL version of a starry night–caronas, halos and all. my version cost me considerably less distress than vincent’s cost him. then again, in 300 year, vincent’s starry night will not only be remembered and mine will not, but his will be selling for 1 trillion bitcoins, and mine will be free on the internet,

austrian pine pine needles

what is it?

this is a black and white satellite image of rural farm land in our beloved corner of southern france. no, it’s not. but it certainly could be. it’s actually a photo of the frost on the glass railing that surrounds my deck. capturing snow, frost, and ice on a white background it nearly impossible, unless there is enough backlighting to make the ice or frost appear slightly darker than the white background. i have no idea what weather conditions created this fascinating plat map. thankfully, after 10 years of STILL, the lighting was finally right to capture it.

frost

swoosh

the repeating swoosh of these pine branches caught my attention: baby swoosh. mama swoosh. and papa swoosh. the algorithm that created this seems simple enough: reach outward as far as you can young branch, and when it comes time to start putting out needles, put all your energy into reaching up to the sun, and gravity will ensure you a strong and elegant curve. out-up-bend. out-up-bend.

austrian pine branches