Surrealism

While exchanging emails with an art loving bride, I was reminded of the time that I visited the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, FL. At the time I had a mild interest in Dali's work and wanted to see an actual painting in order to better understand the madness to his craft. I feel there's a much deeper connection to the artist when you can look at the original work, instead of a print of the work. A print can only capture so much. In my mind, texture is an essential element of painted art and speaks volumes of the artist's process.

I didn't fully appreciate Dali until I found myself standing in front of one of the largest paintings on canvas that I had ever seen to that point. The Hallucinogenic Toreador was nearly two stories tall, and full of imagery, optical illusion, and symbolism. What the print cannot convey is how he managed to paint images within the texture of this painting. I must have looked at the painting for 15-30 minutes alone.. and I could have looked longer. The longer you look, the more you see, the more aborbed you become in the work, and the work becomes in you. If you ever find yourself in the area of St. Petersburg, FL, do yourself a favor and visit this museum, if nothing else but to stand in front of this amazing work and attempt to take it all in.

Happy Independence Day!

Last night my husband and I went to one of the local fireworks displays and found a great place on the lawn with a front-row view. The sky was perfect for fireworks- not a cloud in sight. Of course I took my camera with me for some long-exposure shots of fireworks. Click on the image above to see other fireworks shots, or to download a copy of this one for your desktop.

Today was a big party day as well. Our friends Mike & Betsy had an open house for their new baby Dahlia, and while I didn't take many pictures, I did get a few touching moments of the family with the new baby. Dahlia is now almost a month old and while she still eats and sleeps a lot, she has an amazing awareness of the world...

July Desktop Images

Every month or so I change my desktop image to a recent photograph I've taken and I thought it would be fun to share these images in my blog so that you can download them for your desktop as well! Every month I'll try to post a new image that is suitable for displaying at desktop size and resolution. Click on an image to download a copy for your desktop.


The texture of scattered clouds against a deep blue sky. I see a wedding cake. What do you see?


An old English-style farmhouse window sits under a copper gutter and wood shingles, with two healthy bushes adding a splash of bright green.