In addition to being a poet, essayist, and blogger, I am a visual artist. I have goofed around with watercolor for many years. I attended an art school in Germany in the mid seventies, graduating with a gold certificate. Herr Herzfeld was a real task master. We didn't get paints or brushes until we had spent six weeks with a pencil, ruler, and sketch pad. It was maddening. But worth it. I remember the say we got paints and brushes like it was yesterday. The thrill and excitement of it! I put my watercolors away for over thirty years after my divorce and remarriage. I didn't think I cold paint happy. As it turns out, I can. My paintings are more vibrant, freer, and more drenched in light than when I first began painting. I am happy to say I still have my original paints and one of the brushes from that art school time. Treasures.

I came to photography much later, and I admit I am in no way a professional. I love to take pictures, especially landscapes and architecture. I love to crop to get just the right composition. It is, in a way, much the way I enjoy the revision process in writing. I was influenced by my father and his photos. He loved to throw a sheet over the from door of the house, plunk me and my sister down in front of it, and voilà! I share one of those funny photos here so you can see how he operated. Try not to laugh too loudly at the big ole seam right between me and my sister. Perhaps that is prophetic of something. He did get the posing right though, with each of us looking across one another to a distant point.

family portrait

My sister and I are so different; this photo shows that so well. One would never in a million years see us as sisters. At any rate, this photograph still makes me smile. I determined not to have seams of sheets in my photos, or things seeming to grow from tops of peoples heads. I think I am okay there.