Category Archives: Uncategorized
Staying present
Day one back in spanish classes went better than I expected. I am getting my ears back and one of our friends said she could hear that our speech was improving. Which is great considering the server at lunch on Friday said, “Please just speak in English.” Hurrah!
I also realized that one of the best things about studying a language while on vacation is that it requires you to stay in the present. At least for now - as that is the only verb tense we know! Not a bad way to be while traveling.
Taking a small break from study
Do you think I can use that as an excuse for not learning the other tenses?
The same river?
“You cannot step into the same river twice.”
This year Kyle and I drove the country from Florida to the tip-top corner of Washington, passing by thousands of miles of various terrain. Everything from marshes to mountains to the “empty” spaces that speak so much to me. It’s at these subtle, nondescript locations all across the country that I take my photographs. So imagine the wonder when I printed Mile Marker 225 and thought to myself, “This looks too familiar. Have I printed it before?”
I found the answer to be yes and no. Searching through my files of finished pieces, I found Mile Marker 181. Out of the almost infinite number of places I could shoot, I was so drawn to this particular spot that I shot it twice - but in two different years. The angle is a little different, the fields are in different states, but it is a nearly identical shot. I suppose I was so drawn to this particular vista that I needed to see it again. Mark the changes. Check on the river.
Mile Marker 225, 35x51
Mile Marker 181, 35x51
Words! Words! Words!
I LOVE words! As a child I was called alternately both a book-worm and a chatter box. I come by it naturally, my grandfather was quite a wordsmith, and we would play the dictionary game after his sermons, racing to his office to look up the words whose meanings we didn’t know. I still love to play the dictionary game, sometimes spending hours skipping from one word to another in the dictionary, fascinated not only by the meaning but the etymology.
So when challenged recently to identify the thread running through all of my artwork in four words I was intrigued. And as I began to identify my four words I realized that the words I picked describe my creation process, not necessarily the experience of the viewer. Often we need the mirror of another to really understand our own artwork so I queried some friends. The words I received are fascinating and have lead to a great round of the dictionary game. (I am publishing the words as I received them from my friends, repeated words were on multiple lists.)