Photographs taken with a bridge camera journaling nature and everyday life in Central Massachusetts and beyond.
Category: art
In these troubled times, moments of laughter and seasonal festivity can provide relief from the never ending news cycle. Here are some photos from a spring visit to my local vintage shop, which both adults and children can enjoy.
Thanks to Punsnet for their joke listings.
Lilies and water bubbles form layers of frozen abstract patterns at Mass Audubon Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary. These photos were taken during a recent blue hour.
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Currier & Ives produced popular lithographs depicting idyllic American winter scenes during the 19th century. These prints featured snow-covered New England towns, with skies of icy-blue or gray enhanced with subtle color shifts. Here are my “updated” Currier and Ives style selections from the most recent snowstorm here in Central Massachusetts.
Holden, Massachusetts
A lightly edited version of a previous post.
Skaket Beach, Cape Cod, MA
May 2023
Low tide landscapes create ever changing tapestries.
Happy Solstice Day!
Rutland State Park, Rutland MA
On display at the Museum of Russian Icons In Clinton MA.
“As far back as the Stone Age, parts of the birch tree have been used across Northern Europe and Russia. Craftspeople and homemakers learned to use the tree for wallpaper, lumber, medicine, tea, shoes, writing paper, and other creative applications. Birch wood and bark quickly became a common material for more decorative forms of folk art as well. Woodcarving adorned buildings across Russia, and even the homes of peasants were decorated with spectacular birch carvings.”
Siberian artist Vladimir Tulyak created highly detailed and delicately hued icons from layers of birch bark.
The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA has mounted a thought provoking exhibition that strongly supports Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.
From Artfix.com:
The Museum of Russian Icons presents Artists for Ukraine: Transforming Ammo Boxes into Icons, November 3, 2022 – February 13, 2023, an installation dramatically showcasing three Ukrainian icons painted on the boards of ammunition boxes by Oleksandr Klymenko and Sofia Atlantova, a husband-wife artistic team from Kyiv, Ukraine.
The project “Buy an Icon—Save a Life” was developed in response to the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when Klymenko encountered empty wooden ammunition boxes from combat zones and noted their resemblance to icon boards (doski). By repurposing the panels, the project strives, in the artist’s words, to “transform death (symbolized by ammo boxes) into life (traditionally symbolized by icons in Ukrainian culture). The goal, this victory of life over death, happens not only on the figurative and symbolic level but also in reality through these icons on ammo boxes.”
Exhibitions of the ammo box icons have been staged throughout Europe and North America to raise awareness of the ongoing war in Ukraine. In addition, sales have provided substantial funds to support the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital, the largest nongovernmental undertaking to provide medical assistance to the Donbas region. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 strengthened the resolve of Atlantova and Klymenko to continue painting icons on boards taken back from the frontlines. To date, the project has raised more than $300,000.
A goal of the installation will be to help raise monies for the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital.
The Savior on Camouflauge
Designs for a festive seasonal table can include Christmas ornaments, layered origami papers, tea lights and mirrors.
Traditional cranes and swans gather around a star box.
My eco-friendly origami paper inspires me to create Christmas trees and assorted animals which are elegant, yet easy to store. I mainly used Origami for Christmas by Chiyo Araki as a guide, but one can find dozens of Christmas origami ideas on the web, as well.
After the recent blizzard, shadows cast on my garden were geometric, yet ethereal.
There will be no parades or large gatherings in Massachusetts this St. Patrick’s Day due to the coronavirus. However, my neighbors have found a way to spread a bit of Irish cheer as individuals.
Jewel-like colors can be found in lively meadow lands as well as quiet cloisters.
(Window photographed at St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer, MA.)
Looking for a way to involve kids in holiday decorations? How about having them create a richly colored, imaginative holiday fairy garden?
Tower Hill Botanical Garden used natural items such as greens, berries, seeds, nuts, stones and wood to create this child friendly garden. A train set runs through a grapevine tunnel and past mossy greens and birch bark houses.
