Evidence: Riding the Railrunner

OK, so my son John has to do extra credit for his science class and it involved riding the public transportation system. Not an easy feat here in Rio Rancho (much easier in town where there are more bus lines, etc.). So, yesterday we headed out; the plan was to take the bus from Rio Rancho to the Railrunner Train and ride it to Bernallilo, then turn around and come home the same way.

The bus never showed up yesterday (the 3:40 p.m. #151 bus), so we had to abort. I decided that the bus was not reliable, so we drove to the train station today and caught it from there. Great ride; air conditioned; great views. John was annoyed at my shutterbug activites, but I took the shot of him without his knowing (after many failed attempts at geting him to pose for me). He'll be miffed at my posting his image here, but, oh well! Small price to pay for the episode!

Sleauthing in Seattle...

OK, OK, so I lied. I said in the last post that that was it for images from the Artfest 2007 trip. I forgot all about the image files from the day we spent in Seattle. Regina went home ahead of us, so it was Raine, Leau and I. Three shutterbugs...we'd be walking along and without even thinking, someone takes their camera out and starts to take pictures, and the other two aren't paying attention because they're doing the same thing. No one pays heed to where the others are, but somehow or other, we manage to find each other and continue on. "Three minds, one body" I think is what Leau referred to us as!

So, in a "pocket park" in downtown Seattle is this enclosed park with a waterfall, Japanese maples, water chains, and scattered seating areas. Very peaceful, very zen. First image is of a water chain in that park.

Next image: I caught the reflection of an old building in a window. It seemed surreal...

Alleyways; so many of them in Seattle! I'm not used them, so being the faithful tourist, I take pictuers of what is novel and fascinating to me. Added bonus is the eerie glowing light effect.

Looking up at the beautiful archtecture (this town REALLY outdoes itself with its architecture) is the famous Pioneer Building. The patterns, color, texture, reflections in that moment had to be captured.

The next one of the cogs or wheels...well I have no idea what they are. What caught me was the combination of the old and the new (the parking sturcture behind it). Raine took a different image of a different set of buildings, but had the same caption of "old and new" too. I don't think she posted it, though. She's been busy playing with her encaustic art and the glass negatives we picked up on Saturday (http://iconolatrie.blogspot.com/).

The next one is of Raine. We got up early every morning to go out and take photos. The fire station was too good to pass up, but I had to get one of her getting her shot!

Then, we have my friend at the Public Market, the bean eater. The Public Market was a blast! Something to fill all senses with. This is the home of the first Starbucks Store, folks.

I have a whole series of neon light signs that I took and perhaps I'll remember to post those at a future date.

Last image...well, that would be Jesus (of course!). : )

More Artfest 2007 Photos

More images from our Artfest 2007 trip at Ft. Worden. The one with the pink flowers was in a flower bed out in front of a gallery; the orange behind it is a blown glass flower.

Second one is a close up of the cemetary gate at the Fort.

The next one (orange and red) is a close up of Raine's (http://iconolatrie.blogspot.com/) encaustic piece that she did in class. Cool texture, huh?

The next one is of the melted encaustic colors in Patricia Seggebruch's class that we took on Thursday (http://www.pbsartist.com/gallery_ab_encaustic.shtml).

The blurred shot is our first day of artwork that the four of us came home with and plunked on the coffee table for show and tell.

Perhaps the one of Ft. Worden is obvious as to what it is...

Then we have a tree trunk with peeling bark and a rusty eave of the gas station of green peeling paint. Loved all the textures and states of rotting on everything (a homeowners nightmare).

That's Raine and Regina on the beach when we did an early morning run to take photos (brrrrr!!!).

And, last, a spiral rock shrine done by a Melissa Manley(http://www.melissamanleystudios.com/). She was in the class that Leau took on Friday taught by Anahata Katkin (http://www.anahataart.com/page/page/3416007.htm). The work produced by all the students in this class was simply amazing from what I saw at the show and tell on Saturday night. I think she will be a "must take" for me if I go again next year.

Since then, we have done another outing and so this will be the last post of Artfest 2007 images since I feel the urge to post the others that I have taken yesterday.

In the meantime, back to writing my Art History paper on self portraits done by Caterina van Hessemen, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Adelaide Labille-Guiard!

Only three more weeks...only three more weeks...

Artfest 2007

Several of us were at Artfest 2007 in Port Townsend, WA last week (March 28-April 1). The workshops were fabulous and the area is incredibly photogenic! I took nearly 600 images while there. Raine and I started shooting from the plane not long after take0ff (as soon as the announcement came on giving the go-ahead for electronic equipment). We were in "hog heaven" the entire time! It was hard to choose what to post for the first run of images.

From the plane, I believe that the snow-capped mountain is Mt. Hood (any experts out there can go ahead and correct me).

The event was held at Ft. Worden; a state park that used to be a military post. It got me a bit disoriented at first as the direction to the ocean faced east since it was on the inside tip of the peninsula. It's so damp out there from all the rain and ocean air that everything is in a state of deterioration (unlike the dry climate of New Mexico where nothing seems to rot). Raine and I had a field day taking close ups of rusts and patinas and peeling paint...

The other images are from the Abstract Pouring frenzy class I took on my second day there, a very sassy crow, rusty cable, kelp growing on a pebble and the ferry that goes out to Bainbridge Island (that's the ferry we had to take to get across to the part of the peninsula where the event was).

What a fabulous trip that was on soooo many levels!

I'll post more images as time permits...