salt in the air...

I spent the weekend playing in Nantucket...these pictures are out of focus, but I really like the painting-like effects...wish I knew exactly what button combination created it!

black and white

This past weekend I remembered how much fun it is to just tool around with the camera and take black and white photos. Most of them aren't keepers, but I got a chance to relax and just play with shades. I always seem to see an improvement in my sketching after exercising a bit with BW. It tunes me back in to the shades of the world, helps block out the colors and the confusion. It's also fun to do when the hot afternoon light bleaches out colors, but renders shadows sharp and dramatic. I was bracketing the photos, playing around with some boundaries, and for some reason I just like all the overexposed images much better, particularly of the beach rocks below. Trippy.

Here comes the rain again....

Today the dog and I headed out for a walk in a local wildlife reserve. I had an inspiring moment and thought I'd take some pictures of a salt marsh I'd like to do some paintings of. Besides, it was sunny out, something which hadn't happened in many a day. Then these clouds came. At first I looked at them and, in total denial of reality, I said to the dog "I think they'll pass just north of us, let's go!" In fact, the movement I witnessed seems to have been some kind of clockwise spin, because as we entered the woods, the heavens opened up, and lo, did it pour rain down upon us!

And yet, I didn't turn around and head back to the car. Instead, I kept walking, even though the rain was so heavy I couldn't see; the water poured down my face in thick rivulets and steam rose off my clothing as the cold rain hit my warm flesh. Instead of cursing the fact that its rained every bloody day for weeks on end, usually just as I was about to go out and do something fun, I accepted the rain. The pup was already a few steps ahead of me in this, and was happily frolicking in the mud along the path. I didn't get my pictures of the salt marsh, but I did get a few wild, wind-whipped moments of storm--much better, I think.

long summer, short on words...

I've spent the summer navigating the murky waters of both my creative self and the San Diego coast. These Leopard Sharks proved easier to find than creative inspiration this past month or so, but I have been newly motivated by the brief change in scenery and the onslaught of new sights and sounds...the month of August is mine to play with, and my projects include work for the upcoming school year, a creative writing piece and a series of sketches and photographs of local underwater life...