Annabel Lee

 

"For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee" - Edgar Allan Poe from the poem "Annabel Lee".  When I came across the tintype of the lovely lady in this montage at an antique store, I was struck by her haunting eyes and wistful expression.  As I finished this piece, the lines from Poe's poem came to my mind and immediately, I had my title.  The main image is yet another from the abandoned property in Middle Valley, New Jersey. (In fact, it is the back of the same building that I used for "Rear Window" when I photographed the property the first time 13 years ago.)  She seemed to fit perfectly in the doorway between the textured old window on the left and the weatherworn red door on the right.  The moth I found sleeping one morning on my front porch and was amazed at his size and beautiful colors.  This moth had a wingspan of at least 5 inches!  The birds, of course, are my ever willing to pose backyard blackbirds who I'm happy to see are back from their winter migration - a sure sign spring must be on it's way! 

"Behind the Wall" SOLD!

Another sale!  Yea!  "Behind the Wall" sold from the Nexus exhibit at Arts Guild New Jersey in Rahway!  It was a pleasure being involved in a show with so many talented artists.  A sad note to this story- I passed by the abandoned building that provided the wall in "Behind the Wall" yesterday only to see it in the process of being demolished.  I'm happy at least to have documented it before it succumbed to the wrecking ball.

SOLD! The Golden Egg

I'm very excited to report "The Golden Egg" recently sold from the Potpourri exhibit of The Edison Arts Society!  Many thanks to Tom Fairbanks of New Jersey for giving it a new home!

Support Local and Independent Artists

I thought this was worth posting on this Black Friday and Small Business Saturday weekend!

By the Light of the Moon 2011

"By the Light of the Moon" came from a trip to Middle Valley, NJ a couple of months ago in search of an abandoned property I had visited almost 13 years ago.  To my surprise, a photographer friend of mine ran across it and told me it still existed!  She recognized it from one of my images, "Remains of the Day", featuring an old wicker rocking chair on the porch of an abandoned house.  Since I'm really terrible sometimes at keeping track of places I've photographed, I thought it couldn't possibly be the same chair after 13 years!  This was one time I was happy to be wrong!  The property was a little worse for wear, but it was definitely the same place!  I had also used another one of the buildings there in "Rear Window" and yet another in "The Bucket" (the latter of which has since been demolished).  On my first visit, the house used in this piece was too overgrown to get any usable images but not so this time around!  I liked the composition in this shot taken from beneath a huge old tree in front of the house but it needed something more.  The old man is from my vintage photo collection, the bird and the moon from the back window of my house.  I added some texture, filters and a little tweaking to get the final montage.  What a wealth of art material I've gained from the demise of these beautiful old buildings.

My Art on YouTube

I finally decided to try a video of my art on YouTube!  Check it out!  To view it in a larger format, clic to watch on YouTube.

Summit Festival of Fine Arts & Crafts

If you live in the New Jersey area, I'll be participating in the Summit Festival of Fine Arts & Crafts on Sunday, July 24th along Beechwood Rd. and Union Place in downtown Summit, NJ. The show runs from 11 AM to 6 PM with lots of artists, musicians, restaurants and shops to keep you busy! Should be a fun day so stop by my booth and say hello if you can!