2nd Place in JB Kline Gallery Photography Show!

I recently had the pleasure of having 2 of my images, "The Last Waltz" and "Little Bo Peep" accepted into a show at The JB Kline Gallery in the lovely town of Lambertville, New Jersey.  The opening party was a blast- I met lots of nice people, many talented artists in the show, and received some wonderful compliments on my work!  The show hung through the month of June and during that time, visitors to the gallery voted on their favorite pieces for 1st and 2nd place.  I was so excited to learn a couple of days ago that "The Last Waltz" took 2nd place!  It's always fantastic when you win something at the decision of a panel of judges, but it was made even more special coming from the  everyday people viewing the art!

The Last Waltz

The Last Waltz ©2012 - While recently exploring southern New Jersey in and around the town of Marlboro, I came across an abandoned property with a little different twist.  The house itself was not that unusual or interesting, but on the front porch were the crumbling remains of what must have been a lovely old piano in it's day.  I photographed it from several angles but found the close up the most appealing with all the inner workings exposed.  Having never heard of a Kirby piano, I tried researching it's origin online but oddly, found nothing.  I'm very curious, so if anyone has any information on it please let me know!  The "pianist" is one of my backyard birds I happened to catch in mid stretch.  With feathers ruffled and mouth open, he was the perfect addition to "The Last Waltz".

Little Bo Peep

Little Bo Peep ©2012 - This piece started with yet another image from the abandoned property in Middle Valley, New Jersey.  It is, in fact, the front of the house I used in "By the Light of the Moon" a few months ago.  The little girl is a vintage photo that intrigued me with her odd expression, straw hat and stick in hand.  It brought to mind the nursery rhyme from the early 1800's about Little Bo Peep and her famous sheep.  Older residents of the village of Ninfield in East Sussex, England (a former smuggling center) claim that Bo Peep was it's most famous resident.  The story goes that her sheep were walked across the shore to disguise smuggler's footprints.  After learning of her dark side, I decided instead of sheep to use a flock of magnificent black vultures that I happened across on a recent trip to Jackson, New Jersey.  I thought this provided an interesting twist - sort of Little Bo Peep according to The Brothers Grimm! 

The Visitor

The Visitor ©2012 - I've always been a Poe fan and had thought of doing a still life with elements that reference him for awhile but just never seem to get around to it.  With the new movie "The Raven" starring John Cusack opening this week, I was inspired to finally do it.  An antique black table cover seemed the perfect backdrop and the collection of Poe books in my house provided the key element.  The reflection of him in the old mirror is thought to be from the last portrait sitting before his death taken by William Abbott Pratt in 1849. The book open to the first page of "The Raven" was an obvious choice as well as the candle and glass of port wine but the pears were just something that appealed to me.  What could be better on a rainy night than curling up in a comfy chair with some port, pears and Poe?  When my backyard blackbird (a raven wannabe) stopped by "Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door- Only this and nothing more."

The Other Side

The Other Side ©2012 - A road trip through southern New Jersey a couple of weeks ago yielded another abandoned property just days from annihilation judging from the amount of heavy equipment waiting in the wings.  Located on Rt 130 just outside of Bordentown, there were 5 buildings total- a main house, a large barn like structure and several smaller ones.  This smaller one intrigued me with it's roof sloping in the middle like the back of an aging horse while the fingers of the bare branches on the left seemed to be reaching to open the white door.  What I think drew me most to this composition though, was the broken fence.  The posts on each side frame the little building as the top rail splits into the image like a dagger aimed for it's heart.  Taking in the scene, the blackbird must be contemplating what could be on "the other side" of the fence, or maybe "the other side" of the door.

All the Comforts of Home

I captured this image (minus the car, moon, and birds) a few months ago in Eatontown New Jersey while driving home from a trip to Atlantic City.  The old motel signs always conjure nostalgic memories of childhood family vacations and, since they are fast disappearing, I try to document the ones I run across.  I added the rising moon as it seems that was the time of day my father would always begin looking for a place to stay the night during our road trips.  After adding the birds, some textures and different filters to achieve the mood I wanted, it was still missing something.  I began digging through old family photos and found my father's beloved 1949 Plymouth that he restored in the early 1970s.  Perfect!  Just the element I needed along with the color TV, phones and pool for "All the Comforts of Home".

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!

Blood on the Tracks

"Blood on the Tracks" began with a visit to the abandoned property of The Snuff Factory in the borough of Helmetta, New Jersey. Helmetta was founded in the late 1800's by George W. Helme, a former New Orleans lawyer and Major-General in the Confederate Army who built a thriving community around his factory. The huge building sits empty and boarded up awaiting it's probable demise in the name of progress but until then, remains a great place for photo ops with all the beautiful old brick and peeling red paint. As I studied the image, the railroad tracks and the abundance of red in the bricks and paint brought to mind my favorite Bob Dylan album, "Blood on the Tracks". It became a montage of 3 different photos. To get the composition and mood I had in mind, I replaced part of the building on the left with one of trees and birds taken from the window of my house, then added the figure with the crimson scarf blowing in the wind above the tracks. After a lot of filter mixing and blending, it finally became the image I had in my head!

Behind the Wall

I love the texture of peeling paint and crumbling concrete and this old building had an abundance of both. It's so sad and beautiful at the same time. The figure in the doorway is from a vintage photo I came across awhile ago but never found the right place to use him until now.

The Inner Path

Another montage featuring friend and model Mary Anne Christiano. During our photo session I had Mary Anne do some yoga poses to capture that part of her personality (she's an avid practitioner of yoga). The bank of this peaceful, winding stream I captured in rural New Jersey seemed the perfect place to insert her Lotus pose and thus became "The Inner Path".

The Twelfth Moon

"The Twelfth Moon" started with a photo taken at Mill Creek Village, New Jersey several years ago. I always loved the textures involved with the wood of the old shed, the falling down fence and the rocks in the foreground but I never found the right composition until now. I was arriving home a few nights ago just after sunset, looked up and saw a perfect crescent moon with a beautiful lavender sky behind it. Of course, I ran for my camera and was able to get an image that created just the mood I wanted for the background. The title is a Native American name for the December moon which marks the onset of winter.

The Gathering

I took this image at Cross Estate Gardens in New Jersey earlier this year and was pleased with the composition and artwork I used but always felt something was lacking to make it work for me. I tried adding a figure but it still wasn't right. Then, as if on cue, while I was working on the image, I heard lots of commotion outside my window and realized my birds were back! This huge flock of blackbirds comes to my neighborhood every fall filling the trees and sky and covering the ground! I grabbed my camera and got as many shots as I could before they moved on. They were just what I needed to complete "The Gathering"!

Hallowed Ground

"Hallowed Ground" is a montage created from a photo session I did recently with friend and model Mary Anne Christiano. My plan was to photograph her in a local cemetery to make use of the beautiful old trees and architecture of the mausoleums. Luckily, I took a variety of test shots prior to our session because we were rained out that day and had to do the whole shoot indoors. I had Mary Anne pose with some of the locations in mind and I was able to montage the two images to get the composition I wanted. Worked out okay after all!

And Winter Came

Another piece from last week's trip to Annandale. I loved the peeling paint colors in this room but the view from the window didn't fit the image in my head so I replaced it with an image I took last year of a flock of birds headed south for the winter and it worked perfectly! The Converse sneaker (which happened to match the color of the walls) was in a shot I took of another room in the house so I placed it on the windowsill to complete the end of summer feeling I was going for.