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.

That Blood Moon

The other night we experienced a total lunar eclipse of a super moon. (This is also known as a Blood Moon.)  I'm not usually one to take the usual photos of things like moons, or sunsets, or rainbows, or other similar subjects, but never say never.  In fact, last week, during the Pope's NYC visit, I did actually take a photo of a rainbow.  It was not your standard rainbow, but one that was in the formation of a halo, encircling the entire Madison Square Garden area about a half hour before his arrival to give Mass there.  And then, this Blood Moon hits town, and darn if I didn't walk up to the the corner and aim up there and get this one photo.  It's certainly nothing, compared with all the wonderfully lit and detailed images I saw friends, even non-photographers, uploading on social media, but I do like it, nonetheless.

Yeller

From acid, to butter, to mild vanilla....

Tourists checking out fake goods on Canal Street, NYC

Weeds growing out of a sidewalk against a cement building.

Apparently a crash test dummy has made off with the cab.

A member of my toy collection.  Hitting the sauce again.

Art gallery on the Lower East side of Manhattan.

Beach Pavillion on the New England coast.

Paste up on the old Tennessee Mountain restaurant in Soho.  

It's sadly since become a Crocs store.  :(

Foggy dirt road captured on Redscale film.

The Blues

Not the sad kind.  Just some instances of this wonderful color in my life....

Some street art.....

A hot summer night rooftop cocktail...

An old building in lower Manhattan shot with a plastic Diana camera...

Other people's art I've collected....

New England tufts captured on expired Polaroid film....

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Happy Holidays to All!

Hello Fall

Summer came and went, and I didn't even do my usual every month to month and a half post - - shock and horrors!  So, here's something to fill the gap, before I miss Fall, too.  The photo above aptly describes the space of time between here and my last blog post, and there's a little background story I'll share.

I do a series of photos (snapshots, actually, no artistry involved) which my personal Facebook friends see, in an album called "Post No Bills".  This is the phrase that is stenciled onto every panel of the wood walls which surround construction lots here, in NYC.  The walls are normally painted a specific shade of blue (I guess to make it less ugly, although lately I am seeing variations; greens, black, and brown - but those aren't as common) and stenciled with the 'warning' in white to alert the public not to use the walls as a place to post advertisements, announcements, posters, stickers, art, whatever.  The opposite generally happens, nonetheless: they get massively covered with urban decoration.

Recently, though, I started seeing the words "Post No Bills" altered by some humorous graffiti artist(s).  There were things like just a letter change: "Post No Balls".  Then it was a whole word change: "Post Buffalo Bills".  Then it was more than one word: "Post Cow Bells".  And finally all three words: "Pass Two Beers".  I'd see older graffiti get altered, again, first by a letter or two, ("Post No Balls" > "Post sNo Balls") and then by full phrases, the point seeming at this time to be more about changing what was to something else.  I'm guessing the theme is anything, as long as it's different, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense, and it just might be a good enough theme to try in life when things seem to be too stagnant.  Do what moves you.  Don't try to make sense of it, just go in whatever organic direction you are drawn to.  You just might inadvertently provide humor, or beauty, or inspiration for others around you to do likewise, and at the same time find a new path for yourself.

Grin and Bear It

Sometimes ya just gotta smile.  Everything which has ensued after my summer vacation has been a task in patience; the sudden 'retirement' of my beloved PC, my quick decision to go ahead and buy a Mac, and the whole new learning process involved as well as the software platform issue - - I do not like running them through another program which allows Windows to be hosted on a Mac.  It feels foreign, and inefficient.  It's slowed me down immensely, and there are other issues I won't get into which make it impossible to continue this way.  I need to switch the programs to Mac versions.  More money.  More delays.  ugh.

Additionally, I've not retrieved all (though many) of my lost files; (oddly, 3 external hard drives 'died' when I returned from vacation as well!)  who knew that often all that is required are new external enclosures to put those hard drives in once you figure out how to pry apart the ones that died.  Some successes, then, but more to go.  If anyone is still around once I am back up and running, it would be quite humbling.  I am one of many in a vast ocean of talented artists and photographers.  If I seem invisible, why should anyone keep looking for me?  So, thank you for any of you who still do; I promise I will be back, and I am hoping it is really soon.

Pause

There is so much to do in so little time. I suppose it applies to most of us all of the time. No matter the task, once given, the allotted time frame suddenly shrinks just enough to cause mild panic. Usually in the end these things tend to work out, or close to that, but until D-day, the moments to stop and breath and feel calm seems too few and far away. I will go to the beach house soon, and am scrambling to get all the tasks done I need to. There is always the fear that I will forget something major, but I will try hard to let those thoughts go, and forge ahead without 'looking at the clock' (since that tends to put me into 'deer in the headlights' mode.) Happy Sunday to all!

The Sun, Finally!

I do not remember another year where by July I've not yet turned on my a/c (fans, yes) nor gone to the beach once! But maybe the tide has turned...could real summer weather be at last around the corner? This is me, two days ago, the wind was whipping my hair and compromised camera steadiness, oh but the glory of seeing shadows which are not made by streetlights!! Enjoy your Sunday, all!

At A Loss For Words...

Since my last post, I have received my new camera and set about the task of 'learning' it. I've spent hours alone with the manual and camera, testing out the various functions, (much more advanced than those which my other camera had offered) pored over books in the bookstore near my day job on my lunch hour, and taken the camera with me every time I left the house on a day off. At night, if I am home, I have been working with the new Macro lens to document my toys, and to practice. This is why I have not been so chatty here, for I've been pretty much like my Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll above: bombarded with information, mouth agape, speechless.

Today

In the morning I overslept...well, sort of. I actually set the alarm for three hours later than I was supposed to. Jeesh.

I had a doctor's appointment. My first time seeing this particular doctor, and hopefully my last. Did not like his manner, his rushing me, his suggestion upon looking at my leg for less than a minute that I should get surgery, his absolute defensiveness to my questions, nor the fact that I caught him saying in a voice recorder (in another room) after I got dressed that "this patient is very competent" (which I translated to mean that it was not going to be as easy to pull the wool over my eyes and dupe me into getting the expensive procedure that I really don't need. His own sort of note to self, if you will.)

Back home, before noon I put a couple of new items in my Etsy shop:

This first one, entitled "Do You Mind??!" combines my love of antique toys with humor through it's image and description which reads:

Shame on you for barging in on Lady Pricilla's bath time, I mean, really! It is very difficult to bathe oneself when one's hands are needed to hide the goodies. You really should turn your back...avert your eyes....something! Huh? Say what? You want to hang her portrait on your wall!? Well...this is highly unusual, we don't normally entertain requests such as these in the bathroom, although, yes, yes, this makes sense now. Be her guest!

The second one is a symbol to inspire personal achievement, one I thought would be nice for anyone to hang on their office or studio wall. It's called "Aspire" :)


In the afternoon I was invited (and accepted) into an exclusive Market (I won't bore people with the details of what "Markets" are, etc., just suffice it to say I was excited!) on 1000 Markets, a new juried online selling venue where I have recently opened another shop.

In the evening, I went food shopping. At this point the temperatures had dropped significantly since the morning, and reinforcements were necessary; NYC is a walking city, it wasn't like I was gonna hop in a car and drive to the store. I walk everywhere, no matter the weather, so I wrapped my face up in my favorite scarf, one my mother knit me (the best kind of reinforcement, don't you agree?) and forged ahead through the streets, my fingers quickly turning numb despite being gloved.

Then walking back I passed by Heath Ledger's last home, where he was found dead exactly one year ago. There were several bouquets and collages left outside of the door, in memorial, and it reminded me of that horrible day last year, also as cold. How ironic the announcement of his nomination for his role in The Dark Knight came out this morning.

And finally, tonight I will be catching up on some cleaning, starting new artwork, watching a little TV, adding another upload to my Flickr account, and having a nice bowl of something hot to warm me up inside.

Tomorrow is back to work. But tomorrow is not today, so it doesn't belong in this post. So with that I bid you all a good night!

Food Poisoning

At The End, originally uploaded by sMacshot.

I am on Day Three, and feel so weak and miserable, both at once burning hot and freezing, covered in goosebumps. There's no comfortable position in bed, and I just rock and moan in a half-conscious delirium. I had a doctor's appointment a few days ago and they made me a cup of coffee. I can't help but wonder if the last person who cleaned out my mug didn't disinfect their hands so well (perhaps after handling a 'sample' ?) because there is nothing else odd I ate which I do not eat every day. The problem is that very little has left my body in days, and so the poison (or whatever it is) is still inside me. Send me a mental thought of health, my friends, that I may soon recover and not feel like a person upon death's door.

UPDATE: Day 4 now, 11 lbs down and hopefully no more than that. I am feeling a bit better, have been up all day and am not sure, but think I am craving beef, which I never really eat (nothing against it, just don't care for it) and if I had some in the house I would surely prepare myself a plate. Tonight I will try to go to bed early evening rather than early afternoon; I must return to work tomorrow, because 4 days off from work is enough. More than that and I will really starve. :)

What Is Sleep?

I don’t get much anymore. Lately it’s in the 2 hours a night range. But between my day job, my creative work, and a dash of social life, all of a sudden I’m busy. My little online shop is slowly increasing. People are finding me, discovering me. I have just finished and sent off a pretty good sized consignment order to an arts organization outside of DC which had contacted me. Next, I m working on artwork for a new Underground Art Magazine (details later) which had discovered my work, and I have a personal project I have been chomping at the bit to get started. I’ve got to get back to scanning and processing my vacation photography; this is a huge, several-week job, but if I wait too long, suddenly it’s winter and they just don’t seem appropriate for uploading to my Flickr account. I was going to try to get a little more sleep tonight since my lower back is in such a spasm I really can’t do very much. But even though it’s so late, (too late) and I’m not likely to get more sleep than usual on this night, I feel so excited to have finished this latest order and for the prospects ahead.

Gone to Another Place and Time

...at least that's how it feels everytime I go on vacation to the family beach house. This was taken there last year (I have another version of it on Flickr) and I just recently came across a bunch of digital files that I never processed. So I did get a few done, and brought them with me to New England to upload to my photo account, but the others will have to wait for my return to NYC. Meanwhile, I am on low-tech living here in the middle of nowhere, so forgive my lack of comments and visits to all of your wonderful blogs for a while!

Independence Day

I hadn't intended to post, but it's never too late to hang out the red, white, and blue. Happy Birthday USA!! Here are a couple from my shop which are a little more festive than, oh... say, "Ghost Bed".

Comp Day Accomplishments

I took a Comp day today; a free pass from work. Oh, all the plans of things to get accomplished I had! Artwork, errands, cleaning and other chores, all on the agenda, and all, I felt certain would be check-marked as “done”. I even worked in a little leisure time by planning to lay out in the park after running one of the errands, and running another errand on my way back.

Unfortunately, my list remains largely undone. I am a bit frustrated by the need to get things completed which rely on the cooperation of others who seem to fail on their part….maybe there’s good reason, but it’s still frustrating. Even the weather balked at cooperating. 10 minutes after I got settled in on the lawn at the park a practical hurricane, (which insisted on flipping the back of my shirt up to the nape of my neck as I speed-walked home: extra attractive) lightening, and downpour ensued. I got to my neighborhood like a wet dog, my spirits feeling the same, and now that I am home, the skies have cleared into the most incredible solid blue beauty, too late for me to go back. Guess I’m just having another one of those days.

Fortunately, good things come in twos.....errr....is that even a saying?? What I mean is, I have another comp day tomorrow. All is not lost, then, and I’ve got my smile back. So, on that note, I must return to the tasks of the day, and see to turning around the setback from earlier events; I might just create a productive day yet.

Reject

This chair was set out in the hallway of my building, (occasionally this is done when someone is moving, or doesn’t want something for one reason or another to give others the opportunity to just take it before it’s set out on the street for pickup.) I’d see it disappear and then reappear a few days later, over and over. Guess people were taking it in, then changing their mind; it never seemed to be accepted anywhere for long. Maybe the chair was rude.

Trading With The Bucketman

Danny Hoskinson is a wonderfully creative talent who I discovered accidentally while browsing Flickr (a photo-sharing site where I am a member.) His claim to fame (and he is well-renowned in the arena of folk art) is his medium, and his method of using and creating with it: I’m talking buckets. Yes, I said buckets. The big industrial plastic ones. He melts them down and creates wonderful, delightful, frightening, and wild creatures which decorate his home (even his truck!) and its surroundings. I imagine anyone visiting him deep in the woods of Polk County, Tennessee will wonder if they are dreaming. But you can see for yourself at his website that I am telling it like it is.

I am the proud owner of his lioness knife with sheath (pictured here) which I traded two prints of my photography to acquire (also pictured.) The photo does not do it enough justice, it has a lot of weight, and the smooth glossy, though wrinkly texture is beautiful! It hangs on my wall, and blows me kisses every time I look at her, and should I ever need protection, there is a knife hidden in that sheath, and I mean a KNIFE. Think Crocodile Dundee.

To Catch a Thief

It’s come to my attention that someone has been or had been selling at least one of my photos (the one pictured here) on a site called deviantART. It greatly saddens me that I have just recently started selling prints of my photography and art in order to generate a little side income, and here I find out my first sale went to a thief trying to pass themselves off as a creative type over a year ago, maybe more.

I found this out from a person who lives more than halfway across the country from me who, I accidentally discovered, has had this photo hanging on her wall for over a year. If the seller stole one photo, they more than likely have more (perhaps mine, perhaps other photographers) which they’ve been passing off as their own. If anyone has any information leading to the whereabouts of the perpetrator, feel free to contact me here in a comment or through a message on Flickr or Etsy.

The happy side to this story is the kindness of others. The original purchaser of this photo bought it AGAIN…from me, this time. Not expected, or required. How very nice of her, I must say! And another of my Flickr/Etsy contacts has told me that she is a member of deviantART as well, and is putting out her feelers on my behalf to bring down the lowlife….er….thief. (Thank you both, Janine and Nancy, I truly expected nothing and the kindness and help from each of you has been a wonderful gift!)