Without Erasers

For the second year in a row I was asked to do the decorations for the Orion Magazine holiday party. (Yay!) I had a large stack of handmade paper lying around, waiting to be given a new life, so I decided I would use it as my primary artistic medium. With no real plan in mind, I began by cutting with scissors and was continually displeased with my results... Finally I got out an exacto knife and started drawing with it as I would my favorite bamboo pen. Below are the results!

I do most of my work by freehand. I remember as a child watching people older than me just pick up a pen and begin drawing a lifelike image... I wanted to have that ability. I drew like a maniac and my mom tells me we went through boxes of reams of paper. When I was in high school I remember making the decision not to use erasers. I realized if I relied too much on the use of them, I wasn't making as much of an effort to translate what I saw in the three-dimensional world into the two-dimensional one.

...Owl in a tree...

A grebe!

Bird in the top...

...of the tree...

...bear hibernating in the bottom!

Mr. Fox

Great Horned Owl

Detail of planetary mobile...

...in the circular library.

Owl on a jar lantern...

I've discovered I want to live my life without an eraser. We often wish we could go back in time and fix mistakes we've made, but no matter what cannot do so... However we can take what we've learned from these experiences and carry that knowledge with us into the future.

Back to the Drawing Board

A little warm-up with more to come...
Click on the images to view in greater detail...

There is a bug trapped beneath my camera lens.
Depending on the shot, he sometimes likes to make
an inevitable appearance as a soft, gray blur...

Just Resting...

At Sea,
On Shore...

Summer Rolls!

This recipe just came to me a few days ago. I was reminiscing over the peanut-basil moo-shu rolls I used to get at Zen Palate when I lived on the Upper West Side of NYC, 8 or so years ago. I decided to recreate something new in the memory of their deliciousness. Quite tricky using the rice wrappers, but I got the hang of it. I layered a green sauce*, bean thread noodles, toasted peanuts**, and mung bean sprouts (in that order) and then rolled everything up!

*Fresh basil, parsley, cilantro, and green onions all from the garden, plus fresh ginger, ume plum paste, chickpea miso, ume plum vinegar, rice vinegar, and a bit of coconut oil. Mixed up in the food processor.

**Finally nailed roasted nuts. About a cup of peanuts (chopped by hand), 1 tbs of maple syrup, and 1 tsp sugar. Toasted in the frying pan over medium and then low-medium heat (once the pan was hot), stirring constantly until golden brown.

May Days

Irises are just starting to bloom...The backyard has been filled with forget-me-nots!

Another birthday cake. This time for my friend Laura.
Taking down the Maypole.
Two of my fine gentlemen friends are in a band called The Easy Ridin' Papas. That's Adam Brown on the right and Will Conklin on the left. I saw them play earlier this month at the Dreamaway Lodge up in Becket and they had quite the crowd! If you like old-timey bluegrass tunes, check 'em out! They're sure to be busking the streets of Great Barrington throughout the summer.
I found this little guy outside in the drive, his life already past. I placed him on the window sill between the kitchen and the hallway, and somehow while I was gone he managed to hang himself over the edge by an invisible thread.
My potatoes are really coming up! Especially these purple ones.
Somebody's studio is finally in order. I love my local music posters!
I've somehow become obsessed with découpage. I recently experimented with it on my kitchen table. Though done a bit hastily, the table is now a new and improved. The majority of cut pieces of paper were actually taken from recycled wholesale catalogs selling découpaged trays and paperweights.

Pen in Hand

I've taken up drawing again.
This is only the beginning of beginnings...