Lost in the snow

Nothing around me is familiar. Only one house is visible, far in the distance. The street I crossed a few minutes before was unmarked. I followed an old road bed up into the woods until it stopped dead. Nothing now but snow, trees, shadows, and silence. A perfect afternoon to be lost. Though the temperature was … read more Lost in the snow

Walk in the water

I woke up to gray and I watched the rain and I was glad. Remembering all those months of drought, when I wanted so much just to feel the rain. Today I soaked in it. I walked the city with a casual hand on the umbrella and felt my clothes slowly get saturated. I watched the rain make … read more Walk in the water

Pictures on the mantel

They aren’t expensive frames. Plain black wood, the kind you have to sort through in the display racks at the drugstore, and check carefully to find a couple that aren’t scratched or dinged. After I’d put the two 8 by 10 prints in the frames, and set them on the mantel, I sat and looked at them … read more Pictures on the mantel

City lights at night

Dark comes so early now – it’s hard to make myself get out and exercise. But the evening was warm, the air moist, a lovely mist had rolled in. I went for a walk in the city. Even that early, 6:15 p.m., the city seemed quiet. Still lots of traffic, but the air itself muffled … read more City lights at night

Emotions for sale

What emotion are you selling? the webinar host asks us. That’s the question you have to answer. Good question. Another question might be, Why do you want to sell emotion? I’m watching the second in a series of free webinars about marketing your art. The host is selling us the emotion of happiness, the artist’s … read more Emotions for sale

Here and gone and still here

A couple of weeks ago, I was throwing a load of recycling into the condo community bins, and I was really tired. I sat in the car for a moment after I emptied the load, looking blankly out through the windshield. A point of light on the ground attracted my eye. Something big and white and round. … read more Here and gone and still here

I’ve just seen a face

Who’s that? Picasa knows – even after one glance. Facial recognition has been built into Google’s free photo editing software, Picasa, since 2009. It’s remarkably good. You type in a name on one picture of a person, and it instantly identifies and labels all your photos of that person. If Picasa isn’t certain who the person is in a particular photo, it … read more I’ve just seen a face

Rainy day spirits

It’s just crumpled plastic wrap. It’s sitting there in the trash can in big wads. I took a quick snapshot of the plastic wrap to illustrate my post about unwrapping. But the light in the office is good – subdued, cloudy, coming through the windows and skylights in filtered soft grey because the rain is pouring … read more Rainy day spirits