On October 31, 1976, I got the worst news of my 17-year-old life: My boyfriend, Jim, had died after a car wreck. He’d been driving drunk and ran a stop sign. He was my first lover, and sobbing in front of his casket I knew that God had punished me for my sins. A popular song at … read more Why I hate Halloween
Month: October 2015
Seeing in palettes
Adobe has long been known for its overly complex software, but Photoshop and Lightroom have for years been programs that I can’t live without. Today I discovered a new one: Adobe Capture, an app that makes it really simple to discover a palette of colors for a scene. (You can also make brushes, vector graphics and “looks” for … read more Seeing in palettes
13 Rectangles: The Game
After viewing part of a video series on Foundations of Color, I picked up on the painting 13 Rectangles by Wassily Kandinsky where I left off. This time I tried playing with color groupings: And then I wondered about trying to do realistic scenes: And then I wrote out the rules for the game that I’m … read more 13 Rectangles: The Game
More broken glass
My piece from the first week of fused glass class was a square bowl, and it didn’t turn out well. The transparent purple and the neon blue look odd together when fused. The gold threads were completely lost. All the colors are distorted by the surface beneath them, unless the bowl is displayed on a white … read more More broken glass
Reading the code
This afternoon’s fun was reading the Code of Federal Regulations. Not all 200 volumes of it, thankfully. The CFR embodies all the administrative rules which were enacted by federal agencies and which have the force of law. Since my company is managing a federal grant, I needed to re-read the relevant parts in the much-loved Title 48, which deals … read more Reading the code
Time isn’t money
I lost $35,000 in two months. My life is exactly the same. Money is fiction. Live your soul. In December of 2008, after the U.S. financial meltdown, I wrote those words on a card. I stapled the card to the folder where I keep the receipts for the month, so that I would see it every time … read more Time isn’t money
That green silk outfit
I had a silk dress suit, a slim black skirt with fitted emerald-green top. The silk was soft and subtly patterned, the top with a perfectly fitted bust and waist, and the overall effect was stunning. I bought this outfit when I was in my late 20s, so it was a size 10. I’m not sure … read more That green silk outfit
Slivers of autumn light
There’s a light that comes in the fall, one that gathers up everything it touches with warmth and death. In this light even the simplest thing – a tiny crack in the wood of the porch railing – glows and pulses. I was out there this morning, camera in hand, keeping my promise to the day. Hypermacro … read more Slivers of autumn light
There will be more
In Iraq yesterday, as part of our new mission to “train and advise” local soldiers fighting the Islamic State, the U.S. led a commando raid to rescue 70 hostages. The Army Times today reported the name of the American soldier killed in the raid: Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, died Thursday in Iraq’s Kirkuk province from wounds … read more There will be more
The sabra: From Hanoi to Jerusalem
In October 1993, I had given up on men. I was still recovering from the break-up of a long and disastrously passionate relationship that spring. Summer brought a series of brief mismatches and a suicidal bout of depression. On top of Hua Shan in northern China that October, I stood exhausted from a grueling climb … read more The sabra: From Hanoi to Jerusalem