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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

THANKSGIVING MORNING PHOTOSHOOT, A NEW PERSPECTIVE PRESENTS ITSELF

From my bedroom window, it didn't look like a day for a parade. But I took the shot. the white u's on the lower left side is the reflection of my shirt in the window. A line from Auntie Mame, a movie favorite of mine, came to mind,"How bleak was Buffalo." Buffalo might as well have been West Bloomfield this morning.



But I played around with the shots over my first cup of coffee and my bleak woods yielded some interest painting prospects. Pollack? No. Pollack overall dots and dribbles in the round on virgin canvas. This was built up linear texture, extreme density with orientation. Collage keeps presenting itself as a possibility. A collage of what materials, I don't know yet.




I may have been making a mistake with these woods paintings? Standing too far back. I've been making pictures--scenes-- when perhaps what I really like to do is get up close in the thick of it? Three cups of coffee later, it was time to think about getting on the road. A dense fog lay between us and the family and who knew what evils were lurking in the blind?

ROAD TRIP



Just ten minutes off schedule due to missing the sign to Lansing, we pulled up at our son's door. Honey grabbed the jello mold. I grabbed the wine. We were glad to be where you could see.



The house was warm and inviting and partially dressed for the holidays. Everybody was in the kitchen helping to lay out the buffet. No one was standing still. My daughter in-law was a hot pink blur. My son was busy carving the succulent bird basted in a maple syrup reduction worth the effort.


Over dinner I didn't get one good shot of anyone. In spite of just one glass of wine, every photo came out blurry.It seems I can't talk and shoot at the same time. My daughter in-law took the one good people photo--Honey and me and our boy. I also can't seem to stick with a holiday eating plan--all turkey, nothing else. I had to have a bite of everything. It was the best Thanksgiving dinner to date and there wasn't a greenbean casserole in sight. It had been replaced by a lovely pea and peanut salad from the kitchen of my daughter inlaw's sister. Very tasty and delightfully different. I made a note to call her for the recipe.


I got a bit sad when my daughter in-law gave her nieces their Christmas presents in advance--a couple of Kindles to read on the beach. They're all meeting in Cancun for Christmas week where they will celebrate my son's fiftieth. I won't be at the milestone event, which was a milestone event for me too. He was my first born. God I hate this economy! I get teary thinking about it.--BUT GET A GRIP. STIFF UPPER LIP. BOLLSHITE! IT MAKES ME FRICKEN ANGRY, but that's another post December 27th.

The ride home was even more pleasant than the ride there. Dark. Cold. Pouring Rain. White knuckle visibility. To stop myself from driving the car from the passenger seat, I played with my camera in the dark. I couldn't see a thing I was doing. I couldn't change the exposure setting for night. But fussing around got my mind off the road and my foot off the brake that wasn't there.





There's no great photos yesterday, only a couple of interesting ideas for a couple of large expressive paintings and one keeper of my boy, a beautiful man I adore, carving the turkey in his beautiful home full of love. In spite of the travel difficulties and a surge of Linda-The-Ugly. Honey and I had a wonderful time. All the hugs and good camaraderie did it.

3 comments:

  1. Is that one of your pieces u are standing in front of? I like that photo of the 3 of you... Sigh, yeah, keep that lip stiff...

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  2. Yes. That's Winter Woods. My son, the doctor, made the frame from scratch in his new workshop. I was very impressed with his mitered corners.

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  3. A nice day - reading your post makes me smile. Family gatherings are nice.
    ... but 3 cups of coffee in the same morning>

    ReplyDelete