October 8, 2011
October 6, 2011
Elk Quake
The sound of Elk bugling makes the heart race a touch faster as the eyes feast on the golden riches of the quaking Aspen trees.
July 14, 2011
March 23, 2011
Cut to the Chase
Inspiration –noun; an inspiring or animating action or influence
I was just setting there minding my own business when all of the sudden this thought popped into my head. “Cut to the Chase”. Okay, what cuts? Scissors! What does a chase look like? Stick figures, of course! Throw in some slight coloring to define difference and ya got an idea. Now to execute. No, I did not mean that you should break out the M-22’s and start a firing squad. What I meant was, how to execute this idea? And then BOOM! This picture popped into my head. I’ll tell ya, this is quite a morning, a thought, an idea, and a picture in my head at the same time. For me, that is like a a one hundred honking car traffic jam.
Once I got past the congestion of the traffic rush (it was a stray thought about what I was going to say here in a beat up old VW Bus running on only one cylinder trying to pass a one-legged bicycler), I broke out the Sharpies, paper, and scissors and got to work. Normally, I do not care for 4 letter words, but sometimes you just can not escape work. I drew out the animation in about 30 seconds. Grabbed the scissors and made an exploratory cut that any surgeon would have been proud of. Broke out the camera and tripod, set up the shot and BAM! A true recipe for a bit of humor, I hope.
March 20, 2011
Decision Road
Will it rain
or will it shine?
I care not to know
for the answer devine.
In the Sun
under the clouds,
though the road is straight
the consequence is proud.
So to me
I place one foot
then another down
to see life, I partook.
March 13, 2011
FUBAR, the Wind Turbine
It is Soapbox Sunday!
To lengthen a short story, we had a local school teacher, Jay Clapper, that came up with the idea that we (Wray School District) could benefit from installing and operating a Wind Turbine. Even without support, Jay took the ball and ran with it. He got information about turbines, he researched the best companies, and I believe he even had a wind turbine company lined up that would grant the school district a “deal” on the price. Jay lined up some of our local wealthy folks and with his enthusiasm and facts, easily persuaded many to donate funds for the cause. Now, Jay needed the school board’s blessing. This was Jay’s first and maybe only mistake. Jay approached the school board with his pitch. It was good, too good. They bought in. Here the trouble started, in their infinite wisdom, the school board took over, more or less pushing Jay aside and changing pretty much everything.
After a year or two of dealing with this, Jay had had enough. He quit. He moved. And we lost a great teacher and asset to the community. But oh, the fun continued. The school board went ahead with their plans.
Cutting to the quick; the school board bought some land, had the turbine installed, and got the town of Wray to wire the turbine into the electrical grid. They even got the state governor to come down and proclaim to the world how grand the turbine is and great the school board was. It even became a political pedestal during the election year. What could go wrong with such high praise? Well, what if the darn thing never worked? That is right, the wind turbine has never produced electricity! For over four years, this behemoth has stood over the town and has proclaimed our idiocy.
But I prefer to look upon the thing as a reminder about Jay. May God bless him, for we did not.
Before anyone gets their panties in an uproar, this how I remember the events. If your memory serves differently, please leave a comment.
February 20, 2011
January 23, 2011
January 4, 2011
Bright Idea
A lot of times the difference between a “good” picture and a “great” picture is pre-visualization. I have heard that Ansel Adams, one of the premiere photographers, became so good at pre-visualization that he would determine what filters he would use and how he would process the shot in the darkroom even before he set up his tripod and camera to shoot that shot. And then he would wait for the light that he had pre-visualized.
I imagine that the same pre-visualization techniques are used in other artistic ventures. Painters, whether an impressionists or candid, benefit from the ability to have an idea of what they want to share with us before they start. If the artist does not employ some of those techniques of pre-visualization, then what would be the difference between their art and that of an elephant painting? And yes, there are folks that want to sell you some “Elephant Art” (paintings created entirely by elephants). Yet when I consider how some elephants act towards their kind, and then the way some artists acts towards their kind, I realize that elephants seem to be much more intelligent then artists. So maybe elephants do pre-visualize?
If you (the royal you, meaning each one of us) really appreciates a ‘work of art’ whether created by an elephant, a spider, or even a human, do you (royal again) not have the right to call that work as art, or even fine art?
I recently heard an opinion by an artist that fine art can not be something made by a computer. I can not concur with that opinion. For I believe, 1st of all, that art is what you think is art, and secondly, art is made by man or beast no matter what the process includes. Art can be a spoken word (poems, come to mind). Art can be a table or dinning room hutch made by a craftsman. Art can be a frail spiderweb highlighted by the morning dew and spotlighted by the Sun. Or art can be as simple as a Mother’s smile while holding a new born. Fine Art is feeling, Fine Art is emotion, Fine Art is sharing.
And that is my Bright Idea 
