Tulip Love

Last week tulips started appearing in our local grocery store. I love how the appearance of these flowers tells me winter is almost over, and of course I can never resist buying a bunch. Some day I will buy myself an armload, but for now these will do just fine, especially as they whisper "Spring is coming".

They whisper spring is coming

Steel and Shadow

Well, this is another in the continuing series of "The Helvetica Variations".  I picked up the laser cut steel letters today, disappointed to find out the they had not processed the order correctly and had discarded the negative shapes. They are cutting more, but I am thrilled with the positive shapes and had to play. Steel shadows today, imprints in snow tomorrow. With luck next week the whole thing; together; in one place. Keep your fingers crossed.

Shadow variation

Steel letters with shadow

1st shot on the kitchen counter, better get some white paper, but great shadows and J.'s hand holding them

And More Signs

Well, we didn't get quite the amount of snow I wanted but it was a start in the right direction. J. has a new way to shovel the driveway when the amounts are small, just keep driving the car over it and pack it down. Before he did that I got some more photos.

Tire track poem in 4 lines

It's Snowing

Yea, this is what we saw when we opened the door last night to take Zoe for her walk. Quiet, snow covering everything, walking was easy again, good by shuffle, shuffle. The silence that only happens when it snows, the world holding her breath. I'm hoping for at least 10 cm / 4 inches. Yes, yes, yes I like this stuff, sure beats rain and freezing rain.

Well, that's more like it

More Signs

Just after the New Year I took a series of photos I called 'Signs for the New Year". Things  looked encouraging, it was a new year after all. When I went out late yesterday afternoon I noticed our road is having a tough winter. There has been so much ice and rain that the town workers have had to use a huge amount of salt, rendering the road almost white. And the asphalt is cracking and heaving everywhere. Great patterns though, and looking very blue, although that is probably due to the twilight.

Cracks in the road

Going Dotty

While last years final alphabet is not finished for A letter A Week; in fact it's still in it's various variations stage, this one is. Of course I haven't quite kept to the rules but I'm getting closer. With Damien Hirst in the news with his dot paintings, my mind went a bit wild and I thought of confetti, settled on waste dots from a punch press and started to play. All the dots live in the box and can be used to shape any letter or words you want. In the spring I hope to take them outside and have a trail of dotted letters or probably words through the woods, but for now here they are.

Dotty Alphabet with its' box of source material

Light and Shadow

This year our very slanted and southern light is hiding more days that I wish. So that when it finally emerges one really pays attention to where it lands and the shapes it illuminates and hides. The exterior world of snow and the interior world of white walls make for a canvas waiting to be marked.

The sun's mark making

Tangled Letters

I had thought, an assumption I now realize, that cutting the letters [For the Helvetica Variations] with the laser [Charm City Laser] would result in the negative and positive spaces releasing easily. In fact I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to document the process. As it turns out it is a time consuming job. Tweezers are vital, [thanks for the tip Will]  I get covered with soot and I may have to revise my estimated time of arrival. The positive shape works well but next time I would give more space in the negative, and use much heavier paper.

Tangled letters, positive shapes

Letters with the burn mark from the laser

Open magazine with bits and pieces of the negative shape floating about, The space between F and G is particularly problematic

Will sent me this link, love the work, http://www.listeningwithmyeyes.com/
 by Ebon Heath

A Need For A Grid

I have been missing making grids and so when the electricity went out yesterday and the house got colder and the windows got frostier and I was taking a lot of photos while we waited to get back on grid, that metaphorical light bulb went off. Well here is the result. Power went off again last night, but as I was reading a seed catalogue in bed [if you had ever told me I would lie in bed reading seed catalogues with utter pleasure, I would have thought you were nuts] I just turned over and dreamed of grids.

Mercury Falling

To say it's cold out these past few days seems a bit of an understatement. Well it is January and it is winter and it's minus 27 Celsius or minus 20 Fahrenheit and all I want is to be rolled up in a blanket in front of the fire place, reading, of all things a book of essays called  Winter, by Adam Gopnik. And looking at the frost on the windows, and so grateful to be able to enjoy winter from inside when it's this cold. Even Zoe has decided short walks are fine. Thank-you Zoe.

Frost on the windows asthe mercury falls