Rainy Morning Commute

Here are a couple of shots taken on the way to school this morning and yesterday morning. Today was the rain, yesterday was the beautiful sky!

 

Marker Art (the head)

I found this shiny surfaced paper under the back cupboards in my art room, so tested some materials on it. Markers seemed to have some nice characteristics, so the kids and I tried them yesterday. Nice results with the mixiing of color and such. The student that did the piece I am posting has had diminished confidence about her work in the past, but she also convinced me last year that one actually can put glitter in a piece and improve its appearance. She's precious!


Dannielle O.
marker, 18x24

Giant Carrots

So I was picking up some carrots from the garden after school tonight and found some huge ones on the west end. Something (probably our little groundhog) had eaten three of them down to the ground, so I left a split one and picked several on that end of the garden. The photo of me & my giant carrot was taken by Jen.

Shroom Cluster

Without all the details concerning mushrooms not fit to eat large quantities, these just struck my eye when I got home tonight and I had to get some shots of them. I just "tweaked" them a little bit to give a sense of magic to them as structures.

Collaboration Feeling

A quick piece that came from the concept of artists working together... and bonding through the process.

Reflections on Silver Paper

I really like reflections, the idea that something going as fast as light can abruptly change the direction it is going is fascinating to me. Liz and Dan and I were looking at some pieces of silver coated paper; I scored and folded a piece and Dan propped it up on the table. Looking at my reflections in it remined me of the shots from yesterdays post so I took a few shots. Liz is in a couple of these (her finger dominates one) and she was a help in looking at the images and collaborating with me.

Visual Play...

I set the shutter speed at 3.5 seconds, the film speed at 1600, and preceeded to take these few shots tonight after I got home. One of Jen sweeping out the pantry floor (see her movement from center to lower left off the page) and two of me in the mirror behind the bathroom door.

Humming Right Along

I got this photo this afternoon in the flower garden by the house, and these little guys are hard to shoot. I really would have liked to try a faster shutter to freeze those wings, but just following that quick little bird with the telephoto lens was a difficult job.

In and On the Water

I hiked up to the "Anvil" at Schoodic and took in the sights over the Schoodic Point. The first photo is the outer islands south of MDI over Schoodic Point, and the day was fantastically beautiful! I had forgotten, as it had been a while, what a sight it was from those high ledges. I got a bunch of photos from all different angles, but this was the most descriptive of the area.

I also got shots of boats; David in the Teacher's Pet out in the bay earlier in the day, and the Seven Angels cruising back into Winter Harbor with Mark Island Light in the background. Beautiful day!

Mud Sucking Eagle

Long Cove (Sorrento) always seems to draw my attention, and tonight was no exception. As I was driving home from school I glanced to my right and there was the big bird. It was hard to miss and yet there was only one other vehicle stopped to look, a white Ford pickup. I turned and went back to snap a bunch of pictures of it, but as usual, missed the take off. Eagles are amazing, and the guy that had stopped said he was there quite a while watching the bird pick and tear at whatever was in the mud. At least he got a good meal! The grainyness is due to low light and over setting the camera speed, but live and learn, eh?

Spirituality

So not much to say about this one either, I just pulled onto the Mud Creek Road by the "cheese house" and could see the rainbow starting to line up with the cross, so I stopped and took a couple of these. I see "coincidences" like this all around me and have to wonder what's up. What's up?

Crane on a Tree

So I've never seen a crane on a tree, but this morning my world (and my sense of this world) was shaken up once again by good old mutha nature. I was passing the tourist info bureau on the way onto Mount Desert Island when a large crane (heron) flew in front of me, and as I watched it settled in at the top of the tallest tree in the area. Now this really tells me one of two things; I haven't been that observant through my life or the crane in the tree is not a common sight. I thought of webbed feet and the difficulty of hanging on among numerous other things, but managed to grab a number of shots, the best of which I am posting here. I wish I had been able to get a few pictures of it as it started to fly away, but that's almost a complete other story. I would love to know if anyone has seen this sight before, so feel free to comment below. My mantra for this school year is "collaboration" so it all fits!

End of the Day on Flander's Bay

...not much more to say.

Copper Bubbles

I'm kind of "bubbly" about being back in the classroom with students again this fall, so I thought about that particular "pun" (I am not a pun person) as I was washing up dishes after supper tonight. I snapped a few images in the dim light above the sink and this is the one I chose to post. I really did like the pattern aspect of it, even though a bit random. The distinct lines of connection are interesting with the small in-between circles among them and the open areas down to the bottom of the pan.

Second Wave

The first wave (that of Earl) was not very windy or particularly "wavey", but today really had some serious Southwest wind and it kept up most of the day, just quieting down a bit now. I went down to the shore as the tide was coming in and took a few pictures of the waves coming into the beach. The blue and brown scheme of colors is one I've always enjoyed using in my artwork, and all the freshwater in the bay has created some very "brownish" harmonies to go with the regular blue (green) of the ocean. I admit to doing some "tweaking" with this photo.

Schoodic After the Storm

Matthew and I went down to Schoodic to see what there was for wave action and such, and it turned out beautiful with the sun showing and the ocean mildly exciting. I got a few good pictures and will post below. There were quite a few people out and we didn't even go out to the point as the rangers were stopping each car and Matt just wanted to keep moving. I did get a good shot of Schoodic Point from the Blueberry Hill turnout and one of a young woman from Vermont taking in the sun with a breaking wave and the Winter Harbor town landing behind her.

Storm! What Storm?

Our frontyard woodchuck apparently has discovered that the apple tree down by the shore releases tasty fruit and he has made himself a little "picnic area" on the edge of the cement pad we use to cook out upon. The storm hasn't fazed him a bit. "A woodchuck's gotta eat doesn't he?" is the idea he seems to be putting forth here.

Collegiality and the Fire Drill

The first day with freshmen was awesome, I met the kids I will have in my classes and they are excited about being at the High School and enthusiastic about being a part of the art program. It was also good to be back with colleagues and sharing. My theme for this year is "collaboration", and I'm writing two new classes with two different colleagues based on differentiation techniques, so it's the perfect venue to start the theme. I'm in hopes it will work well  for students and it is a part of the "Art Skills Map" for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, so... off we go, I'm starting my 38th year!

Don seemed to be the least camera shy in the difficult dim light of the auditorium, so he is featured in these couple of shots. Also our football coach, Mark, is herding kids back into the building.

Preparing for a Hurricane

We had to get the "fleet" out of the water tonight, or at least to a safer harbor, so Vern, David and I took the "Teacher's Pet" (Vern's 25 foot Cape Dory) over to back harbor in Sorrento and I hauled the "Sprite" up into the back yard to sit out the storm tomorrow night. Now we might have time to hit the Blue Hill Fair tomorrow afternoon and rest easy that the boats are out of harms way. Photos below.

White Egrets

On the way home as I was passing Thompson's Island in the little tidal pool on the right there were these two egrets (herons). Beautiful birds... I wonder if they were mates. Hmmmm...