They Never Give Their Right Name

As always, click and right-click gets bigger version.

More Doodling

Pistol Pete

Here is Pistol Pete, normally called Petey or Pete.

Golden Bee

Wasp Wood

Here is a photo I took of some firewood that had some kind of wasps in it. It's white oak that sat for six months after I felled it; not exactly on the ground but maybe 2 feet off the ground. Minor limbs kept the bulk of it from resting on the soil.

As always, if you click on it and then right click on it and pick "view" it will open up in a new window and you can magnify it for more detail.

Right now this is my screen background.

More Pictures

Deep Dreams

I've been fooling with some old images using Google's Deep Dream software. Here's a couple. One can click on them and right click to view largest versions. The first is a collage I made from an older collage and a photo from around 1985 of Jim Morrison's grave near Paris. The second is a painting I did that took about 7 years to finish (!) in about 1998, and which I ran through the Deep Dream software today.

Appropriate

Original image prior to Deep Dream stolen from Joel Achenbach

Doesn't Like Color Pink

This lady has a pink sweater and is sitting on a pink kayak, knitting another pink sweater, next to her pink carryall bag. Her pink water bottle rests on the curb. I got the orange kayak in the background. It leaked.

Bandwagon Jumper

Mitt Graham

It has long seemed to me that Mitt Romney looks a lot like Billy Graham. So much so that I suspect some of the Republican base likes him a bit more than they would otherwise, subconsciously. A morph was born. I guess you can call him Billy Romney if you like.

sqirlz morph

Pictures

Shell Game

It was clear this one had to be done, as Mitch McConnell does resemble a turtle.

What the heck, here's the second take on it, too.
If you buy these I will remove them from here. Rachel!
Sqirlz morph

Fancy That

This dogwood was planted by me from seed maybe nine years ago. It's been through hell, chewed by a bulldog and savaged nearly to death twice by weed whackers. This year is the first it has bloomed. I'm very
pleased.


photos by Carl Miller

One Odd Bird

So I'm sitting in my living room with the door open to the world. And believe me, I've had to hustle and pull a few strings. I searched long and hard for my little secluded apartment backed up against the woods and the creek. God knows the crap I've taken from my totally inept landlord.

But I like nature. This I tell myself. I think of my little secret woodsy neighborhood right smack-dab in the middle of Charlotte with smug glee.

Yet now the mockingbird right outside sets out to entertain me with his song. We are looking right into each others' eyes. He's singing to me. At least, that's what I anthropomorphise its intentions to mean. But slowly the horror grows as I realize the mockingbird's song consists of imitations of car alarms, cell phone ring tones, the walkie-talkie beeps the construction people use, and the curious sounds of brakes and tires squealing and motors growling or purring from a distance. I realize this is now what he knows.

Today it's just this one odd bird. But more birds will soon fly into my yard, and repeat the sounds of the city to me; the sounds I have tried so hard to arrange not to hear.

"Listen!" this one says: "This is my song for you!"



Written by me, Jumper. First appeared in QZ magazine, June 2005, in slightly different form, under the byline of Paavo.

Anderson Maher

Or is it Bill Cooper?
Sqirlz morph

The Horror

Perhaps here we quote Dusty Springfield:

"Something in your eyes I see
Is all I ever wanted
And something in your smile for me
Is calling out my name
Your eyes, it seems
Are mirrors of my dreams
In ways I can't explain.
And my heart will never be the same."

Or maybe we should just listen to Iggy Pop.
Sqirlz morph

Effect of Effects

Decided Maori masks and face tattoos are good for Photoshop filters. Little Shiva comments that such effects are getting old, or words to that effect. I tend to agree. Still, I like this result.

We would have killed for such technology a few years ago. Now it's old hat.

Mike Brown Lives

Little Shiva thought Mike Brown was a fictitious character. How's that workin' out for ya, Mike?

The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World

Here's my first large multimedia piece from '91. I stole the name of it from Harlan Ellison's short story. It's about 3' x 4'. Acrylic paint, colored ink, polyurethane, glue, and fragments of Cannon color copies.

It has many, many layers and normally defies attempts to confine itself to the picture plane. Additionally, it is the first piece I ever deliberately did to accommodate glare. It looks good from any angle or lighting.

It's a bit scary. I have no ability to judge this one. It is in many ways simply atrocious. In others, it's mighty interesting work.

Why, yes, it is for sale.