Black

This piece in my collection is by artist Joe Guy. It is cleverly constructed of wood and rice paper (think shoji screen). Hanging separately from the large piece is a mirror that has been blackened out. After the piece was constructed the artist covered all of it with graphite powder and then slowly and thoroughly burnished it with a river rock. You cannot see the sheen from this picture the piece glows as if from within.

Joe Guy's inspiration was the controversial artist Balthus (b. 1908) and his Japonaise au miroir noir or "Japanese girl with black mirror". As a matter of interest Balthus was married to a Japanese woman and she posed for many of his paintings. Balthus was greatly admired in his day by the Surrealists for his fascinating images of young girls. He was reclusive and as a result his life has been the subject of much intrigue and conjecture.

In this photo you might be able to see a slight sheen to the burnished graphite. The mirror that hangs above the main piece is actually a mirror under the graphite.

Joe Guy is a contemporary Texas artist. He is represented by William Campbell Contemporary Art in Fort Worth. If you would like to read about this artist look for "Balthus" by Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, his son. Unfortunately there is no website for Joe Guy. I hope he gets one soon so we can see more of his work.

Getting to Know You

At the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 I decided to get my art works appraised. Taking pictures and really looking at things sparked my interest in them again. Tracy Hicks is the artist who devised this installation of specimen jars with frog molds in them. These jars fascinated me when I first saw them at an art gallery and knew that I needed to have it in one window in my house which faces East and gets the morning sun. As the sun rises the glow from the colors in the jars fill the wall with rainbows.

The larger jars are laboratory specimen jars and some are filled with oil, some are filled with colored resin and some have both along with whatever Tracy put in the jars. A few have pieces of glass, colored resin and oil.
Some have spiders and dragonflies, molds of extinct frogs, jars and other found things. The small jars inside the large jars are from the Smithsonian Institute and originally had other specimens in them years ago. The jars were given to Tracy and he envisioned them in this way.


I had a ceramic ewer made by artist Peter Beasecker that had gotten broken when a picture fell on it. Tracy wanted a few shards and we managed to get the top in one piece. He made a jar with the top of the ewer in it for me in exchange for the shards which he then put into other jars I imagine. Peter is a friend of Tracy's and he wanted a momento.
This window has been brought to life with all the colors of the rainbow reflecting on the wall and as the sun moves around the colors intensify. This is one of my favorite pieces in my collection.

Generations

My grandson Matthew got engaged New Year's Eve! We are all so thrilled that he is going to marry Ashley, a truly wonderful girl and a perfect match for Matt.

We went to the house they moved into on New Year's Day to celebrate and met Ashley's Mom and Dad and her sister Noel.
Here's Matt, Ashley, Mary Ann and Paul with Ashley and Matt's little dog Roxie.

Blink

In the blink of an eye the weather changes in Texas. Two days ago I awoke to find the icy trees outside looking like diamonds in the light.

The evergreen shrubs in the backyard look so 'southern' somehow against the frozen branches of the trees. Compare these pictures to the sight of my orchids glowing with color, warm and cozy just on the other side of a clear pane of glass.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day after everyone has eaten, my family plays board games and does puzzles or sits around and talks. At this table playing "Boggle" are grandsons Mason and Cameron, son David and daughter Chris looking on.
From left to right with his back to the camera is son Tommy, Jackie, Mari's daughter, granddaughter Ryann, daughter Kathy and Mari's other daughter Mariah and son Dave.
Daughter Kathy and granddaughter Ryann, Chris' daughter. My daughter Chris
My son Tommy. His son Andrew had to leave early and isn't in these pictures.
My son Michael and Mari's daughter Jackie
Michael's girlfriend Mari
My son Dave and daughter in law Marie along with son Tommy who is still concentrating on making words in "Boggle".
My granddaughter Elena, Kathy and Clyde's daughter.

My son in law Clyde, who always seems to be taking pictures instead of being in them.
And Tinker watching the action.

Random Thoughts

I've got a jumbled mind today. Not that it's an uncommon thing but today I've got Thanksgiving dinner to think about. Half the family want the traditional turkey and stuffing (a Yankee tradition) with extra stuffing cooked on the side, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, green bean casserole (yuck), creamed onions and all the trimmings of a very bland dinner. This year I want something different and since I'm doing the main meal, I think I'm going to make the decision. How about turkey with Adobo sauce, a Mexican spin on that plain old turkey? It sounds wonderful and the picture in 'Gourmet' magazine is amazing. The adobo is made with two different kinds of chiles, cumin, allspice, garlic and some other spices and mixed with turkey broth. OR, I can buy it in a jar! I'll marinate the turkey in the sauce for about 24 hours and then roast it (unstuffed) and make the gravy from the adobo. The dressing they chose to go with it is cornbread and chorizo with onions and garlic. Of course I'm going to make our tradition Yankee stuffing and regular turkey gravy for those who don't have an adventurous palate. Of the 23 or 24 people that will be here for dinner only a few won't even try it. Oh and I'm hoping I'm not ripping off pictures from Gourmet magazine but consider this as advertising!

While I'm salivating for Thanksgiving dinner, I'm also reading a book that I just can't put down. I stayed awake until 4:00 am this morning reading and slept late today to make up for it. Couldn't help it, I'm finding this book engrossing and it's thick which makes it all the better.

It's about a boy who was born mute into a family that bred dogs. I'm not giving anything away here, but if it's about dogs I'm going to read it. I'm thinking about it right now and wondering what Edgar is going to do about his suspicions of Claude. I'll have to wait until my housecleaning is done to treat myself to more chapters. I'm on page 300 right now and I'll think about it while I'm vacuuming and dusting. The book? A bestseller called "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski. It's even on Oprah's Book Club list.

An Ancient

When this was first described to me I thought it was an ammonite. After this phone pic was sent to me I'm not so sure. It is a complete specimen but doesn't join like an ammonite and looks a little like it has a head and tail. My son said he can see little scales when he looks closely. Some kind of fish without fins? A sea slug? I'm going to have to do some investigating on the Internet and see if I can find out what it might be or might have been. Texas has so much limestone and lots of these sea creatures everywhere you look. I have a few ammonites found when digging the foundation of my house and the kids have found trilobyte looking things and a piece that looks very much like a razor clam near here. This piece is a mystery to me. It is approximately 16" in diameter and about 4 to 5 inches thick. I haven't seen the bottom, I wonder if it had legs? Well, anyway it will be at my house sometime this week and I'll get a good look.