"Desnudo Reclinado" (Sculpture by Francisco Zuniga)

I'm very drawn to this statue. Of all the statues at the UCLA sculpture garden this one holds my interest again and again. While this angle of the statue is dynamic I feel like I am robbing you by only letting you see one side of it. This statue is so low slung that I find myself compelled to crouch down and inspect at close to its own height. The proportions of the figure are dynamic with a large body solidly placed in a crouch supported by feet that are settled in position like elegant paddles and hands that offer just as much strength. And her head, though small by comparison has a strong presence, a dignity. And with all this strength and dignity portrayed through her body that seems to say something about her character she is crouching down almost as low as she can be to the ground. And she draws you down to the ground as well. There is a lot to consider there. I'd love to know what other people see in her.
(I may have to share a series of photographs of her, so that everyone can experience her more fully.)

"Undulous Leaf Leather"

It is an odd time of year for leaves to fall out of trees. This leaf seems to have been on the edge of dropping for months, which gave it time to dry into a leathery solid sort of reminder of life with a strong undulating form. While I was sitting on  a bench thinking, it landed solidly on my shoulder and slid making a skittering sound to rest on my seat. Every quarter or half an hour another leaf fell solidly in the small sitting area I was spending time in, but the tree above me still held on to a large number of its leaves. Many of those leaves half green and half browning gold holding onto life in a confused state. The tree never got cold enough to make a decisive drop of leaves, so the leaves hang on until they just can't. Until new leaf buds are already forming. 

"Light Infused Pear Blossoms"

Many pear trees are blooming white halos around the UCLA campus right now.

In this image I am interested in the comparison of two different sorts of gradients. The brick building with it's light striping at the base that gradually moves upward to other light architectural details until there is more of the darker valued brick and the light shining through the pear tree creating an almost solid white glow on the right and slowly allowing our eyes to pick up on the green foliage around the blossoms as they move away from the light. 

"A. Rodin Imprinted"

I'm fascinated by signatures. It is not that I claim to be able to read anything into each slanted line or big loop that tells me something definitive about the person who created it, but still a signature does seem to carry more meaning than the name itself. Perhaps it is that combination of the intimate and public in one act.

The act of writing our signatures is unique, practiced, and a moment of natural focus that we all experience. It is in its way artful. And while so much of a signature is just about the person writing it, we more often pull that signature out for public use than private: on checks, receipts, credit card machines, and important documents. We are aware of our signatures' public presentation of us.

So, I guess that is why with the glory of a larger than life expressively wrought statue in front me I couldn't help but have a special private delight in honing in on what felt like a personal detail from the artist's life when I spotted this dirt laden signature.

"These Two Touching the Sky"

In this image I find myself noticing how two very different trees can merge and seem to create one mottled pattern when stared up at from directly below. But while we stare at the satisfying blue versus green patterning we can't help but start to see their overlap and then each tree separately. In that longer stare to puzzle the image out I like how much we can discover about their individual difference in color, small and large shapes, and overall structure.

"And the Sky Softly Came Down to Join the Earth"

I'm fascinated by how despite the full value range in this image there is a subtly, a softness in the transitions so that it feels as if all the elements are melting into one another.
This was photo was taken a few weeks ago in the Ramona Grasslands preserve looking towards Mount Woodson in the twilight of a chilly early January day.

"Three on the Balcony"

There is something powerful in the physical space occupied by pieces of sculpture. The way physical
space, light, and living people, animals, and plants influence the sculpture their is some sort of life that
exists.  I'm quite curious about this enlivening of the inanimate. At some point I hope to do a series
of art that focuses on that unexplainable imbued spirit.

I took this photo at The Getty Center on my recent visit. This balcony was almost empty except
for my Mom, me, and the sculptures in the late afternoon light.

"Growing Contrast"

Sometimes all I need is for an image to be filled with so much texture that my mind is engaged in just that image and creates a world out of it.

"Margins"

I captured this image, because it makes me think about something I can't quite describe. Something in this image is about edges of of things lost and found, strong and dissolving. This water and leaf are removed visually in this image from their original context at the divide between street and sidewalk, so there is even an edge here that is not shown but influences the image.

"Seeing Together"

Two gentle but curious souls I met on News Years day.
I was intrigued by their subtle and seemingly considerate social interplay.

"Gaze"

There is such presence of mind in this duck's posture and gaze. I'm drawn to his golden eye, but not just that.
There is something there that is more subtle and expressive. 

"Leaning Giraffe"

I'm not sure what is going on with this giraffe and I think that is what makes me think about personality, expression, and character when I look at this image. I'm also fascinated by all the subtle diagonals, not only is the giraffe leaning oddly, but the strong shadows around him/her are just slightly angled creating a bit of an off kilter effect that adds to the mood of the image. This makes me want to capture so many kinds of animal likenesses.