Photo Diary: Eight Days In January

What follows is eight days' worth of photos from home, drives, 

trips throughout Pennsylvania's markets and notes on current events.

Shep Fields  - Picture Disc Vinyl (1947)

New Addition To The Collection:

Dippy Canoes Corn Chip Canister (1960s).

I made a promise to Nate at Merchants Square Mall

That this vintage beauty would have a very nice home.

Last Saturday I happened upon a wonderful surprise which seemed divinely timed with my birthday week. I’ve been searching for an authentic Nkisi N’kondi figure from the Congo for thirty years and today I had the VERY good fortune to find one in Kaba’s booth. The Nkisi figure contains medicine behind glass panels in the eyes and belly. Nails are driven into it as a divination rite in which the inherent spirit is activated. I am very excited and grateful to have one of these beautiful figures for my home. Thank you, Kaba!

Welcome Home Nkisi N’kondi

Happy 75th Birthday

Dolly Rebecca Parton

Living National Treasure

20 January 2021

Good Morning, Friends. A light snowfall was brightening the landscape as I awoke. I’m ready for a brand new day filled with fresh energy, peace, light and positivity. Let’s gather our best energies, raise the vibration and move forward together with optimism. There is so much good we can create. Happy Inauguration Day. WE DID THIS!

• A • D • I • O • S •

...And Just Like That, The Sun Came Out

Thanks, Lady Gaga. We Needed That.

Sweet Memory Alert: These candies always make me think of my great grandmother (or “Granny”) Mae Costello (née Palmer) who lived from 1899 - 1981. I had the privilege of having Granny as a constant presence in my life until I was 8 years old and while I have many memories of her, few are as vivid as the boxes of multicolored orange wedge shaped gummy candies that she would give me every Easter. Some of my earliest color memories (and part of my life long attraction to anything that is brightly colored) began with Granny gifting me with these candies as well as a succession of boxes of crayons. I also vividly recall getting into a bit of trouble with my crayons under her watch. The story, as told in my family, is that I began reading and writing at age 2 or 3. It was around this time that I started drawing and my drawings were often interlaced with random words. One day, as I was seated in my high chair with Granny on my left, I was scribbling in a notebook. “What are you drawing, Chris?” Granny asked. I quickly covered the page I was scrawling on and asked “If you say a bad word that’s bad, right?” Granny assured me that this was bad so I asked a follow up question: “But if you WRITE it, that’s okay, right?” Giving me a disapproving, narrow eyed and raised brow look, Granny took the book from under my tiny hands and examined my handiwork... a series of multicolor circles with the letters S-H-I-T written across the page in black letters. Exasperated, she asked. “Where did you learn to spell this word?” I hadn’t “met” my imaginary friend / twin brother Timmy yet so, searching for a scapegoat, I quickly blamed it on my Aunt Susan. (Sorry, Sue... OK I’m not sorry.) Anyway, Love you, Granny! Here’s hoping you approve of all of my later work. I hope I’ve made you proud. XOXO

Rest In Peace Larry King (1933 - 2021)

For years, Larry King Live was appointment television for me. I was often amazed at the array of guests from the news and entertainment multiverse that he attracted to his desk in front of that Lite Brite-esque backdrop. His keen journalistic talents included an ability to connect to personalities that were larger than life and a gift for presenting them on a naturalistic scale without diminishing their largesse or dignity. Larry had a way of relating to artists that were often enigmatic, misunderstood or misinterpreted and spoke to them as respected equals. Two of my favorite interviews of his remain the ones he did with

Madonna

and

Prince

in 1999. His interview footage smartly contained enough “two shots” to equalize the host and guest and “one shots” to humanize that guest as they spoke their mind and took questions from callers. Thank you, Mr. King, for bringing us closer to all of these cultural icons or (at very least) bringing them into our homes for an hour.

Hello 2021 - I Remain Hopeful

Twenty Twenty-One • I’m starting the new year by photographing the same object I’ve photographed on New Year’s Day for the last few years. Though we’re in a new time space, the same sentiments remain. Love, light, joy, peace, health, prosperity and abundance are already active and alive within all of us. Let’s harness and utilize all of this as we collectively move forward into this new phase of beautiful possibilities. Remember, you are worthy of creating amazing things and every thought, dream, idea and desire is yours, mine and ours if we believe it, allow it and use our powers properly as we actualize our manifold designs. Happy New Year, friends and as always... Stay illuminated.

Bright, Warm Small Town Sunny Day

Over Train Tracks

Just Me & The Moon

Fresh Flakes Brightening The New Year

Sunday Morning Snow

Setting Up My Energy For 2021 On The Turntable • Donna Summer • Odyssey • Grace Jones • The Gap Band • Ohio Players • First Choice • OKAY... STORY TIME: On my first and (so far) only trip to Las Vegas, I arrived with a group of people at 1:30 AM and we wasted no time in hitting the strip. I was hungry, so I bought a turkey sandwich and a soda and proceeded to eat and drink as we walked along Las Vegas Boulevard. Dazed and nearly directionless, we trod through the sweltering heat surrounded by drunk tourists in Ed Hardy gear, many of them drinking from long fluorescent flasks. The heat, jet lag and multi-sensory stimuli really did a number on me and I felt very disoriented as we found ourselves stalled on the packed sidewalk in front of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall And Saloon. My sweat switched to cold chills as the air conditioning from inside the casino washed over me through a set of open doors and the sounds of “You Dropped The Bomb On Me” by The Gap Band filled my ears. Looking into the casino vestibule, I could see the bottom half of three pole dancers on a raised platform gyrating to this 1982 funk classic, their upper halves blocked by the incandescence of the brightly lit entry way. All in a moment, I became aware of the gestalt of my surroundings: 24 hour gambling, legal drinking on the street, available sandwiches and soda in the middle of the night, drunk tourists, 80s funk, an air conditioned sidewalk and (of course) pole dancers. Then it hit me... This is the most “American” thing I have ever witnessed and this entire strip is a simulation of some people’s ideas of the USA... A hyperbolic theme park that could be called Super America World. Years later, I can’t listen to The Gap Band without calling back the many layers of sense memory that colored that moment. I guess whatever happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there. Winner winner! Chicken dinner!

6 January 2021 - THIS IS NOT AMERICA

Peace • Quiet • Normalcy • No Filter

Happy Birthday David Bowie

12 January 2021 - 40RTY 8IGHT #nofilter

8 / 48 • 1981 / 2021 • 40 Years Later

Thanks to my friend

Steve Sizer

for making my dearly departed twin brother / imaginary friend Timmy who got “killed by a pizza truck” in 1977 (according to me) a “Negative 44th Birthday cake”.

How do you teach art remotely? This is a question I am repeatedly asked, so here’s some insight on that. Currently, the high school is all virtual for students. Staff is still working from inside the building for most of the work day. Whether we are all virtual or hybrid (with students having the option to attend school on a staggered schedule or learn remotely) I use a 1080P webcam that I purchased on Amazon. This device can be clipped to my computer monitor or moved as far as the cord will stretch. Lately I’ve been doing colored pencil and watercolor demonstrations for some classes with my eyes moving from my drawing to my photo reference on the screen. All the while I have to keep an eye on the area of the monitor which shows my live feed to make sure that the camera in my left hand is picking up the technical activity of my right hand, doing my best to move the device in such a way as to give the class both wide and tight shots as I render and layer. As this occurs, the floor is open for dialogue and questions. For other classes, when it’s time for discussing works that students are completing or refining, images of work are uploaded into a group or “team” space for discussion. In addition, I receive many direct messages (at all hours) with any number of technical, conceptual or procedural questions, many accompanied by photos of work in progress. Sometimes these require a short response on my part. At other times, the message exchange can become very detailed and more voluminous. These are just some of the many ways that educators like myself across all disciplines are using technology to meet the challenges of our global pandemic. With that, I’d like to remind everybody within reach of this message to stay safe, remain calm and look for every possible opportunity to continue to do what you do with inventiveness and optimism. We are all still in this together. Oh... and one more thing... ART DOESN’T QUIT.

Early Morning • I Remain Optimistic

What a year these past two weeks have been.

Moving Onward • Toward A Better Tomorrow.