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Articles on travel

What’s so great about running track?

This is a view from what I would consider a nonathletic person, okay I have two left feet unless I’m scuba diving but I don’t love treading water unless I’m scuba diving but that’s a whole other story. I watch my son who is every bit of the athlete and has a true passion for it and I notice a common theme and an appearance of those that have a passion for athletics.
I had the pleasure of sitting in the stands waiting for my son to do the long jump-track meets can tend to be very long and strengthen our ability to be patient. While I sat in the cool breeze of July-yes it was a very strange day in Texas- a cool, almost cold day in July-2014. It was a regional meet and the energy and excitement was amped up because this is what they’ve worked so hard for all year.
I watched the athletes and the parents, as I tend to do, being alone with no conversation of my own, I like to people watch. First of all, when athletes run track there is a loser, a winner and those somewhere in between, the most amazing thing is that I didn’t see one child dissolving having lost the race. In this generation of making sure our children never feel the slightest feeling of losing, I watched very young children giving their all to be the best they can be. They compete against each other, they compete against their previous times and they compete against themselves and after they all feel a sense of accomplishment not a feeling of shame as some unseen power seems to think they will if they lose.
I have even heard of a team being accused of bullying when the other team wins, I just don’t understand that premise. You learn as much about life losing as you do winning. Keeping our children from loss and the realization that they need to work that much harder is only a negative thing if well-meaning parents make it so. I see kids with real trophies, that are competing for real rewards not some slip of paper that everyone gets just for showing up.
Seeing these young people with a sense of accomplishment and passion for what they are involved in gives me hope for the future of our youth. I also get to see families come together; there is no race here, no rich or poor, no politics, none of those buttons that the government and the media keep insisting on pushing. I believe that a track meet brings everyone together for a good reason and the product is community, true heightened self-esteem and a purpose that you can see just by watching these young kids.

I don’t believe you should force your child into anything, they need to be allowed to pursue their passion and great things will come from it, the biggest task is helping them to find what interests them-I think we are at our best when we are chasing our goals and working to be the best we can be as people, families or in this case an athletes, this is what I feel brings out the best in people.
Articles on travel

Indian Shores: Paradise to Ourselves

It’s been a long time since I mused from a kayak but here it goes. All I can say is that I missed it more than I even thought. There is something about being out across a mile of open water in harmony with everything-okay maybe not everything. The wind picked up and was pretty dramatic, a storm came through and the breeze was a welcome break from the heat we had endured.
You can see the bottom, stingrays, sea robins, crabs and other things I couldn’t quite identify. Fishing is almost a secondary process to the whole thing. I did something different on this vacation-if you focus all on one thing whether it be photography or fishing you lose sight of what is all around you. I spent some time on a pier and yet instead of stressing about bait and looking for fish, I just relaxed with a camera, not trying to capture anything special just out there for fun. 
I watched stingrays feeding close to shore, numerous turtles and a few redfish coming close to the surf where we as fishermen would have loved to find them but not at that moment. There is a beautiful thing about being an observer, you tend to notice smells of the ocean, people and their interactions and just how amazing it is to be near the ocean. 
As exhausting as it is  being in the extreme humidity and heat, my son wanted to go fishing before sunset and against my better judgement-I went down to the beach, no fishing rod, not even a camera which I later really regretted. I sat for several hours watching my son out there fishing, with a  bit of concern for his well being-he later mention there was a shark out in the surf as he was fishing. I swear a hurricane wouldn’t damper his enthusiasm for the sport of fishing. That period of time was just amazing-I watched two beautiful girls dance and pose on the beach as if they were young aspiring swimsuit models-don’t assume anything as they were pretty much just silhouettes by the bright sun that was going down behind them. I met a young Indian woman and her companion as she photographed, I watched and listened to the black skimmers that had made claim to the beach as their nesting sites and they were quite bold and aggressive. As I finally decided to call my son in due to a lack of light-I realized how much more you can focus and enjoy what’s around when you do nothing and just be present. I listened to the waves and watched them rise and fall and it was magical.
But back to Kayaking-we didn’t catch anything but we didn’t miss anything either, I stood in a  school of bait fish and just enjoyed being in the ocean, the water was a cool relief to the heat. Luckily for all of us the storm moved in and if it weren’t for the fear of being struck by lightning, the colors, the smell and most of all the incredible breeze was unforgettable. The ride home wasn’t as easy as the ride out though due to heat exhaustion and a cross wind that we had to fight with every paddle.
One more observation a bit off the subject, I like the ocean much better when your child feels a bit of fear, in one year we went from kids staying in the shallow surf to swimming out to the first sandbar. I liked it much better before-apprehension is a bad thing but a little bit of fear or caution is a good thing-I learned I still do not love treading water for any period of time but that is a story for another time.

Articles on travel

Why shoot photography and the future waits to be captured-what will you shoot today? Tomorrow?

original photography, Balcony, backlit image

I finally bought a new camera, it has been years that I have been working with a film camera and now I have finally arrived at the digital era. I have been very critical about photography lately, what I like, what I don’t like, good photography versus snapshot photography. The hardest thing now is what to shoot and why shoot. I need to have the same high standard and expectations for my own work realizing that just because I see an image or scene as special it is my job to show at least most of the audience I am sharing it with why I think the image or scene is so important that I needed to capture it for others to see.

I have mentioned previously that there are several reasons for shooting photography. The first and my most common reason is to capture something to paint later. I really don’t much have to worry about exposure or even composition as I just need information to support my memory of the scene. The next and second most common is the snapshot-take a photo to save a memory, again the mechanics of the photo isn’t that important as long as I capture the image and do justice to the memory which inspired the shot in the first place.

Art by Gordon, Florida, Indian Shores

The third reason demands quality and the highest skills of the photographer, the commercial journalist idea, capture an image to tell a story usually to go with words, for every photo worthy of telling the story and being printed there are many that just are high-end snapshots-I must admit shooting a lot of these.

The final and most demanding for me is the photograph for art sake. I believe it is our job as photographers to capture the scene satisfactorily in the first place and would prefer not to count on after effects to make an okay photograph a masterpiece-I’m still a film purist after all and used to shoot low-speed slide film where if you were a stop off either way it usually meant a dark image or a burned out image. The problem I am having at the moment is that with a  lack of knowledge of the new camera I can only hope to get good snapshot images for now until I perfect all of the bells and whistles or even more important, learning to force the camera to allow me to shoot in a manual option like I used to shoot with my old Pentax K1000.

Cat image in light
I am excited to see where my current vision will take me and if I can tell a story that will interest my viewer or capture a work of art that makes the viewer need to look again. I would love for other photographers to answer this post with their best image-tell us why it’s your best image and tell us why you think you captured something special. Explain also what particular category your photograph fits in. I look forward to your favorite images and more importantly your stories.

Articles on travel

Reasons We Create

I will definitely need the readers’ help on this subject because to make a statement and explain my position on the subject can only give one artist’s opinion. I have always been a representational artist of nature and the landscape, in fact, I have only recently fully understood the purpose and beauty of abstract or modern art.
My first and basic description of art is at its most simple form it makes you feel something, I don’t care if you are disgusted, frightened or moved to tears but something needs to connect from the canvas to the viewer. I realize this is where we are all different, I guess a spot on a canvas does something different to some or starts a conversation between art collectors or lovers-this to me is not what I call art.
The first and oldest premise of art was to record for posterity, somewhat like photography is to the news person, artists of old were hired to record wars, religious descriptions and the news and happenings of the day. I believe this purpose, however skilled and talented the artist is has been somewhat watered down by the lack of need, cameras and the news media and even the camera phone have not replaced but definitely challenged the artist that records time to be of great skill and detail. This is not necessarily the painting a collector hangs in his house or even collects at all but it is a necessary purpose for the artist of today.
The next and somewhat connected purpose of creating has opened up new doors in recent in the field of forensics-drawing from the remains of victims, sketch artists that can capture the portrait of someone from the description of a witness and of course the court room artist that enhances the story of a court case. Fit in this same avenue is the graphic designer that illustrates the story, helps to illustrate processes for medical or product instructions, the purpose mentioned so far is all within the realm of reality and aims to capture what truly exist without the deviation of ideas, emotions or statements of our living condition.
There is art for the sake of beauty, just the basic or even abstract depiction of a scene or abstract pattern. This way of creation captures what exists or draws simply from experience, emotion and feeling and creates what will be sought by interior decorators, it makes a statement of beauty and is approachable to the general public, there may or not be lacking of emotion or feeling but the collector is looking for something they can look at and feel what they bring to the subject, the artist is somewhat secondary in the process because the viewers feelings or memories have to do more with the image and the colors rather than the intangible feeling the painting or work evokes.
After an artist can depict what he or she sees, they can either duplicate or expand on that image to show the viewer not necessarily what exists but what the artist feels or sees. I have experienced this in few abstract artists for my tastes, again all opinion, but when the abstract or figurative artist captures an image or feeling from an intangible source and the viewer is able to enjoy that which the soul of the artist has created this is an amazing and intimate experience. Again the landscape stops being just a landscape and touches something that the viewer has taken directly from the artists palette of colors or the style in which the artist leads the viewer through the image. In my opinion when an artist captures the intangible, nothing has to be explained, it just touches the viewer and takes them somewhere where the artist dwells and this to me is the most complicated process of art because you are not just capturing an image you are creating a feeling-that which can not be explained or described. When someone sees a beautiful landscape and instead of feeling happy, they feel disturbed or sad-you have captured something that is deeper than simply paint or medium, the artist lives inside that work and the viewer is allowed to actually know who created it .
So here is where the reader comes in-what do you  look for in a painting? For the creative-what do you seek to show the viewer and what is true artwork to you? This could be a great artistic conversation.

Articles on travel

Groundhog day-ends today: That little voice may just be holding you back from life

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Half the battle of overcoming a problem is realizing that there is a problem. When the ailment is so intangible you can barely define it, than it becomes the norm and we are unaware of its control over us. If you haven’t figured it out by the large definition I have included, the problem is apprehension and it can become an epidemic without us even realizing our illness.
I call it a disease I have only recently discovered and identified. It stops us from doing activities that are out of our comfort zone. It is an ancient instinctual response that probably allowed our species to live long enough to reproduce, so there is a reason for it and there are some redeeming qualities that assist in keeping us safe and out of bad situations. It becomes a problem when our comfort becomes a habit that keeps us from doing much of anything but our constant run on the treadmill-okay I know how a hamster feels now.
It all started a week or so ago. Work can be quite intense at times and often the first thought of the beginning of the day is how quickly I can get home-unfortunately a dentist appointment means a long evening and the inability to do what I would normally do after a day’s work-go home and unwind. Again, most people would not be excited about a dental appointment but instead of having that feeling of anxiety about the end of the day, I was determined to find something positive about it-my son and I spent a lot of time together, we had dinner out, visited my in-laws and had great conversation with my son. After making the best of what most would deem a lousy end of a day-I started questioning my original feelings of apprehension.
The next day, there was a happy hour and again, instead of looking forward to something new after work I was uncomfortable with the fact that the event was this day-as if tomorrow would have been better. I began to realize that the feeling exists in so many aspects of our lives-it’s not so strange and out of the ordinary to realize but this feeling is what keeps us running on the treadmill and describing our days as a virtual groundhog day. I decided to dissect this feeling instead of avoiding it and after a wonderful happy hour, I realized this feeling was a constant in my life.
Why do people ask you to go get a drink and for some reason you need to get home, the problem is for what? What is that thing you are needing to get home for and you never quite figure it out only that you need to do what you always do and what seems comfortable. So in the spirit of changing this process, I joined a gym and with that process I hired a trainer. Every morning since I have had this feeling in my mind-wait a minute,  you don’t workout-this isn’t your thing. You keep getting this question in your mind and that very intangible question is apprehension.
Just realizing how much this unwelcome trap that keeps us from truly living outside our own comfort has actually made the voice less silent and more tangible. I realize the fact that the doubt and question follows me through every aspect of my life and the more we face that feeling head on , the weaker its strength grows.
So what’s next? Skydiving?  A great long hike somewhere in the mountains, I believe realizing this unwelcome hitchhiker named apprehension makes its hold on our lives less strong and I can only imagine the great things that lie ahead that will ignore the voice that insists on going home and staying on that same day-Ground Hog day is over for me-I’m just saying…. 


Articles on travel

in between stage

Rockwall Pond-2014

Rockwall Pond Study 2

I am in another one of those moments of block, both in writing, painting, everything. It’s one of those frustrating creative times where you walk around in circles. literally, as if there is something on the tip of your brush or pen and yet nothing comes. I have been pushing pastels around, pushing paint here and there and yet nothing materializes.

I believe as horrible as this in-between time can be it is a foreshadowing of things to come. I think that both in the inspiration stage and the processing stage there is a period of fermentation when the skills and knowledge of the subject do not equal the intent. I have seen images literally materialize over the course of a year or even as much as twenty years. Every part of the process is equally important.

Instead of stressing and feeling the lack of productivity as a stumbling block I choose to look at it as a interim between creative highs. Getting back to pastels instead of oils gives me the immediacy of sketching without a specific outcome, I believe this allows the creative vision to grow out of the block naturally instead of succumbing to the awkwardness of pushing around paint. These images are all in-between stages of pastels that haven’t completely gelled.

I have created these images mostly from memory which is why the details are a bit softer and less specific, another aspect is the medium, pastels tend to be a bit more free form and less detailed. I am in the process of doing a series of ten very small pastel studies that may or may not turn into actual finished paintings.

Wisconsin at the end of winter-sketch from 2006
Articles on travel

Getting There: How far is too far? Road Trip Part 1

A view from a room at the inn-early mornin Montgomery Bell State Park

The annual spring break trip went off well if not for some lessons learned along the way.
Three things occurred to me on this trip, there is such a thing as too far, there can be too many plans in too little time and eventually a teenager emerges from your eager travel companion. It was a bit of a growing pain for both of us, I must admit.
So how far is too far? After two days of driving seven and half hours each day, I decided twenty hours round trip is the farthest to drive-this way if I you decide to make it in one day you can-the extra five hours makes it too long to make in one day for my preference, I’m sure other lovers of the road would probably disagree. We spent two days getting to the first area we were going to stay, granted we did go through some beautiful country and we did have lots of time to bond and take in the road.
In the Ouchita National Forest we got to see an Alligator farm, the Little Rock Zoo and some amazing lakes and forests, we missed the waterfall hikes I had planned because time was just not available. We had another four hours after we spent the day at the zoo and the alligator farm to get to Montgomery Bell State Park, I’m feeling fatigued and my son decides its time to put on his headphones and zone out-it’s going to be a long ride. Near Memphis we were trying to get to Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous  barbecue but ended up getting in too late so next idea is Fried Chicken.
We have added food places to our list of places to explore and my son really picked well.
First food stop-Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. It was one of those places that a crowd starts at the door and everyone sitting seemed like they were confident they were in the best place for an amazing meal. The atmosphere is relaxed and extremely comfortable, elbow-to-elbow with locals and the people were just so friendly. I met people from Dallas as well as people from around Memphis-we were seated next to a group of guys celebrating a bachelor party who apologized in advance for the chaos that was surely to ensue. The company and the atmosphere was alive, excited and I haven’t even mentioned the food yet. It delivered just as expected. You can order a few pieces or a half chicken, simple menu and just amazing taste. The coating is light but so flavorful and well worth the indulgence. You can tell when you have been to an amazing place to eat because it becomes part of the story, you remember it and the atmosphere of the whole exploration becomes flavored with the food and the place you found.
It was a long ride with a full stomach to Montgomery Bell State Park and lots of good conversation. I asked them if there were woods around when I booked a room at the park and they said the place is surrounded by the woods and they weren’t lying. We saw our first herd of deer cross the road and after weaving through the heavily forested road we were ready for a good night sleep. We woke to a beautiful view from our window, a misty lake surrounded by forest, a place we both would love to explore again but now we had six hours to get to Nashville and than to Dale Hollow lake-it was going to be a long day of driving.
The next food place my son found was the Pancake Pantry near Nashville, when you arrive,  there is a line out the front door that continues to grow, you know you’ve found another place for locals and tourists that have found a food paradise. So how special can pancakes be? It’s flour, water, a griddle and than whatever you add to flavor it, I stand corrected. Again, elbow to elbow to college kids and people from all over the country that have made a pilgrimage back to where they once lived, one thing about a place like this, you stand in line and learn about people, you gather stories from all over the country and suddenly strangers for a moment become friends. I ordered the Carribean- an amazing mix of coconut, pecans and banana goodness-he ordered the blueberry pancakes and I have never tasted pancakes the same, the lightness and the perfection of the fruit was something we will be talking about for a long time.
On to Dale Hollow Lake,
The spillway at the lake at Montgomery Bell State Park

Articles on travel

Last Moments

Perfecting that moment,
linens clean and curtains drawn
sunlight streaming through open slats in screen
perfecting the minutes
the indifference of the ticking of the small hand
the body recalls
remembering all the moments in light
now just a blink in a shadow
daylight
remembering a youthful glow
now gray and hollow
realization of the body is only a shell
just a jar that contains
only labeled with a face, a name,
to fill some shady grave
doctors put away your tools
there’s nothing you can save
the soul moves in there like a flame
dances across horizons bleak
when the body is silent
it’s the only thing that speaks
it carries the sunlight
the warm glow of youth
carries it into the darkness
and avoids the holes
we foolish youth investigate
doctors put all your tools away
there’s nothing here you can save…..