Industrial remains - Ostrava, Czech Republic

I guess I'm in post-pictures-of-empty-places mode. This is a former industrial complex that has been converted to a large concert venue. I attended the Colours of Ostrava two summers ago. Rufus Wainwright, who was performing, talked during his set about how he imagined many people died in this place. I'm sure he was right - it probably manufactured all sorts of nasty chemicals and I can't imagine that there was a strong emphasis on worker safety during the Communist era.

Don't lick the walls.

Wheatridge Grange

This is a film photograph I took in Eastern Washington a couple years ago. I may have posted the original before (though I don't think so). This is a version where I've used filters to "scuff" it up a bit (uh...just a bit). This picture just makes me feel sad when I look at it...completely covered with siding, no windows, abandoned. The only people who see it are the few people that pass by it as they're speeding down the road.

Quilt of the aerialist

I have been "working" on this piece for a while (since this past autumn, I believe). I took the photograph of an aerialist at an event at Smoke Farm a couple years ago. First, I worked on it in Photoshop - masked out the background, added the repeating textured background, filtered and adjusted the entire image. Next, I printed it on a Habotai silk specifically made to go through a printer (visit dharmatrading.com to see other fabrics that are ready to print in your printer). I then added quilt batting and backing. After that, I stitched the vertical lines. Finally, I added the binding. This is only the second time I've bound a quilt, so it's a bit of a struggle and a little wonky looking, but it does the trick. My final step will be to create a hanging loop to the back and add a dowel so I can hang the piece from the wall. 

I have another piece that includes the same woman in this position and two other positions. Eventually, I'll figure out how I'm going to turn it into something I can display.

Playing with Painter 12

Today I played around with Painter 12, which has been hanging out on my computer for a while. I made this piece by cloning two different versions of a photo I took today of some ferns. One version is color while the other was a b&w version of the same shot. I used a variety of cloning brushes to get different effects including a fibrous brush texture and a smeary oil effect. Painter is a really spectacular program for getting painterly effects with a mind numbing number of possible brushes and surfaces. I doubt I'll ever be worthy of its power.

A vision of crows

Asbury Park ruins

As a child I spent a lot of time at Asbury Park. My parents took us there to walk the boardwalk and ride the rides and play games. We went there on Christmas Day to visit a bit of my past. The place I remember is gone. There is one building on the boardwalk that is somewhat intact - during the holidays it had a Christmas tree and lights inside it but there didn't seem to be anything going on. Occasionally, I imagine they still have concerts there (I saw Elvis Costello there in the '80s).

This is what remains of the Casino:

Casino - Asbury Park, NJ

Not sure how much of the dereliction comes from hard times (which Asbury Park has had a lot of) and how much comes from Hurricane Sandy. Through the entry you can see a condemned building and a gap where a building once was. 

It's a beat place.

Ephemera from my great-grandmother

From May 1896 to January 1897, my great grandmother, Eleanor Van der Beek traveled to Europe by boat. She kept a scrapbook of her trip that is now in my possession. It's a yellowed and fragile book that smells of dust. The spine has crumbled away, but the pages are still intact. I plan on gradually reading through the letters and notes she kept of her voyage. I'm sure I'll post more materials here as time goes on.

For the moment, here are a couple illustrations from a tourist map she had.