May 2015

Curiouser and Curiouser #2
Bozeman, Montana
2015

Curiouser and Curiouser
Bozeman, Montana
2015

I see our neighbor’s horses all the time when driving by to our mountain house but something made me think I wanted to get out of the car in the rain and photograph them the other day. They were a ways away from me but one obliged me by come closer, and then closer, and then closer. He ended up pretty much snuggling me as he checked out my whole upper body with his nose. I had originally thought I hoped my medium range zoom lens would have enough reach to get some good shots, but as it ended up, a macro lens might have been a better choice.

Buddha and Sac
Arlee, Montana
2015

A statue of Buddha holding a Sacagawea doll at the Garden of a Thousand Buddhas.

Spring Hike
Storm Castle Mountain, Montana
2015

Storm Castle Mountain lived up to it’s name when a friend and I hiked to the top yesterday. Fortunately our hike was not during the actual storm, rather it was just after the storm had passed through the night before. We started out in brisk, overcast weather but hit snow and fog a few hundred feet below the summit. In spite of how it might look, it was actually a very pleasant hike, even in the snowy parts, largely due to the absence of any significant wind. It was very pretty with the fog and the hoarfrost on the trees. My only complaint was the view from the top was not the expansive views up the canyon we expected. Instead we sat on the edge of a cliff and stared out into a monochrome, neutral gray scene of fog.

Dolce far niente or the sweetness of doing nothing at all, is a concept I greatly admire but have a hard time ever implementing myself. The painting by Angelo Morbelli in a recent Blue Lantern blog post here, is a nicely romantic illustration of the concept and would, had it been a photograph I’d taken, have been a great addition to my “Girl Reading a Book” series, later broadened and renamed Lectio. (Search for either title on this blog for examples, one of which is shown below.)

Twilight
Angelo Morbelli

Girl Reading a Book #20
Larry Blackwood

1,000 Buddhas
Arlee, Montana
2015

At the Garden of a Thousand Buddhas. They don’t quite have 1,000 yet, but they’re buddha maker is working hard and they’re closing in on it.

I don’t leave for the Downtown Denver Art Festival for a few days yet but I’ve already been packing my van.. Every year I change the mix of boxes, equipment etc. somewhat so I have to make sure everything still fits nicely. I’m a real stickler when it comes to the way I load the van; I don’t like things sliding or bouncing around so everything has to fit snugly, but not too tight.

A pet peeve of mine is rattles, clanks, and other noises in moving vehicles. The Fashion Queen can attest to that–many a time I’ve had her crawling around the car looking for the source of an odd noise while I drive. You can imagine what a challenge eliminating noise in a van full of miscellaneous boxes, booth tent poles etc. (Do you suppose that’s why the Fashion Queen only accompanies me to a select few out of town art shows?) I remember one trip where I must have pulled off the road 10 times in the first 50 miles after leaving an art show to try and adjust things to eliminate a particularly annoying clanking sound I just couldn’t figure out the source of.

Streets and Creeks #1
Missoula, Montana
2015

Instead of the macro photo that it is, this image is reminiscent of a view of streets and creeks from a high altitude.

Heart of Stone
Bozeman, Montana
2014

A decaying, wet leaf appears to be merging with the concrete on which it has become plastered to–kind of a faux fossil.

Concrete Abstract
Birmingham, Alabama
2015

Compare this abstract formation to the natural one I posted a couple of days ago.