I'm not alone

While walking in the Village, running errands, I passed this.  See? Others are keeping their decorations up, too!  :)

Also, here's a snippet of a WIP digital painting I'm working on.

Locusts

There is so much going on and nothing happening at all.  I'm in the midst of Polaroid and film negative scanning and took a much needed off ramp in order to redirect, focusing some creative energy into playing around with this digital painting from my "I am not your clown" series.  Here is the result, in case anyone still reads here.

Two Hands Up!

I had my cast removed and although I really am still only one handed for the most part, I have turned a corner.  Also, it's the time of year for twins to get together and have fun twin time.  At least it is for myself and my sister.  Soon she'll be here and we'll be down in the street having a great time.

Art New York & CONTEXT New York

Last month I had the opportunity to see both of these international contemporary and modern art fairs at Pier 94 at 12th Avenue and 55th street when friends of mine who are VIP's comped me a ticket.  It was filled with wonderful art by artists both old and new, from Picasso and Matisse, to Banksy and Camille Rose Garcia.  Here are a few cellphone pics from the show....

First Pinhole Polaroid of the Season

10 second exposure on a lovely summer day by the Hudson River in a little park between Soho and Tribeca in NYC.

Taken with this camera: The Arunas Cigar Box Pinhole with Polaroid back....

Sticker Sightings

It's a secret thrill to come upon something I made on the streets of NYC.  I don't always have a camera with me, but when I do....

I Made the Huffington Post!

In all the excitement, I forgot to mention here that I was featured there on March 10.  The only reason I even found out about it is because the gallery where I'm currently showing this piece sent me the link.  Pretty cool.  Here's a screenshot:

The article starts out... "Technology can only get you so far.  No matter how many clear-as-day DSLR shots you take, no matter how many Valencia filters you lovingly apply to your iPhone photo of brunch, you can't fake pure photographic genius."

Then, there's my cigar box pinhole shot on old Polaroid film of sand paths taken at dusk in the summertime.  I'm so honored!

Patti Smith's Polaroid Exhibit

The Robert Miller Gallery at 524 W. 26th Street in Chelsea is having a show of Patti Smith's Polaroids.  Some I liked very much.  There were a lot of beds.  And table and chair shots.  She also does this thing where she writes on the photo and/or the mats they are in, and it's quite beautiful - her handwriting is art; the shapes and patterns it forms.  Like an accessory.  I didn't have a camera with me that day, so borrowed an iPhone to snap these.

Thursday's Screenshot

Work on my 'Stepchildren' series continues.  I start with a scanned sketch, paint in Adobe Photoshop, all on separate layers.  When a file gets to be a certain number of layers, say, 15 or so, I save a flattened version, rename it with a numerical suffix, and continue to the next 15 layers, and so on.  The face and features change a lot during this process.   And as you can see, I often have a few windows open at the same time.  The redhead on the left is the preview in Adobe Bridge of another painting I've done.

Krappy Kamera 2016

So I'm in this year's Krappy Kamera show at the Soho Photo Gallery in Tribeca.  Though it's not my first time to be selected,  it's always an honor to take part.  The show opened yesterday, with the reception happening two nights ago.  When I arrived, I was one of three asked to make a speech about my camera and my photography - nerve-wracking, to say the least.  My photo, taken with my Cigar Box Pinhole camera with a Polaroid back, titled "Summer Dusk", took the People's Choice Award!

Afterwards, I went with friends to a nearby local bar/bistro which has been in business since the 1800's.  It's one of those warmly lit places with dark wood interior, and tin walls and ceilings.  They set out crayons on the butcher paper covered tables, and of course, I had to draw my 'Devil Boy' character.  By the end of the night, our table top was covered in art.

Next, we walked home to Soho, (it's right next to Tribeca) and stopped after dining hours at a favorite place of mine.  It wasn't until the next morning that I opened my People's Choice Award.   I still can't believe it, and was thrilled to find a lovely red and white Lomography "Meg" camera with ring flash, a little hardback book about Diana cameras (and Diana clones), as well as three rolls of film.  It will be fun to see what I do with this one.  

First Snowstorm of the Winter

I prefer the seasons to behave accordingly.  Winter should be cold, blustery, with lots of snowstorms. I do not like lame winters, so this recent storm gave me joy.  More please.  Here are some pictures from Saturday night on my neighborhood walk.  Soho is generally last on the list of places which get plowed.  But this time, even the Avenues were blocked with snow, and I took a walk over to Holland Tunnel, and it, too, was blocked!

Park benches.

Looks like a little gingerbread house scene!

No Holland Tunnel traffic!

Loved all the whites at this loading dock area.

The landlord of this building had a snowblower.  Saw the owner of this car digging out the next day. 

See, no plowing in Soho!  It was a total fairyland!

Reflected light from all the snow showcased this graffiti nicely.

A Soho snowman.  I called him Smiley.  :)