Mystery Monday!

(click image to enlarge)

I just stumbled across this old shot and was struck by its aura of mystery and magic. I wonder if anyone out there can understand just from looking at it what it is all about. Just for fun, no prizes! ;->

June Colors

My street is loud with
crashing clashing colors shrieking
"It's spring! It's spring!"

The Death of Plaid Man

The Death of Plaid Man, colored pencil and graphite, artist: Hugh J. Downs

Another Friend Friday!

Joe Sweeney, painter & Tony Boyd-Heron, gallery director

My friend Joe Sweeney has a show which opened last weekend in Lewes, Delaware.
Along the Coast
Peninsula Gallery
520 E. Savannah Road
Lewes, Delaware, USA
May 28 through June 28, 2011
http://www.peninsula-gallery.com/

This is Joe's first time exhibiting at the Peninsula Gallery and the first show in his career to consist entirely of oil paintings. Thirty paintings are on display featuring coastal scenes from Delaware, Ireland, Maryland and New Jersey.  Best of luck Joe! For more information about Joe's work, click here.

A relatively new friend, Jennifer Baker, is in a show opening tonight in Philadelphia:

Northern Liberties: A Transformation
June 3 - July 30, 2011

Projects Gallery

629 N 2nd Street

Philadelphia, PA USA 19123
First Friday reception June 3, 6-9 pm
Readings start at 7:30 pm

Jennifer's paintings and monoprints chronicle the death and rebirth of a city neighborhood as she experienced it during three decades as an artist living and working in Northern Liberties. The work of Baker and nine other Northern Liberties artists tell the story of this unique place.

During the First Friday opening reception, short readings will be given by

Nathaniel Popkin, author of Song of the City: An Intimate History of the American Urban Landscape and The Possible City: Exercises in Dreaming Philadelphia; Inga Saffron, Architecture Critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer and author of Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World’s Most Coveted Delicacy; Stephan Salisbury, senior Culture Writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer and author of Mohamed’s Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland; and Jennifer Baker. A John Thornton “Northern Liberties” video will also be shown.

 

Summer gallery hours are Friday and Saturday, noon to 7 pm

For more information about Jennifer's work, click here.

Unhappy Eggs

The latest batch of hard-boiled egg faces came out a little sad and angsty this time. Perhaps in preparation for a new dish:  oeufs durs et tristes?

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! (A scene from my town's parade, about an hour ago.)

Homegrown Peonies

The poor, struggling peony that was here when we bought the house has managed to produce three viable buds this year. (Last year it had none!) I was briefly undecided if I should let it continue to  grace the side of the house with its small splash of color, or cut the blooms to bring indoors for more study and admiration. The latter decision is what I went with, obviously. The color is almost too intense, too incandescent for my eyes, but as Ralph Ellison said, "Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked."  

Another Ralph's poem about May flowers and the nature of beauty also comes to mind:

The Rhodora

On being asked, whence is the flower.

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew;
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1847)

The End of Days

...of my current show at Artists' House Gallery! Exhibition dates May 6-29, 2011, and I can't believe that we are nearing the close of this run. It feels like only yesterday that I was hamming it up at the opening reception:

(Thanks to Elaine Lisle for this strange but interesting photograph!)

Here's a few images of some pieces in the show:

Arrangement for Ukulele, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

Coconut Cupcake, oil on linen, 7 x 5 inches

Duck in a Box, oil on cardboard, 6 x 6 inches

Green and Yellow, oil on Cardboard, 8 x 10 inches

Joined, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Little Crocus (Blue Pearl), oil on canvas, 6 x 4 inches

Open Hand, oil on linen, 9 x 12 inches

Amber Dreaming, oil on canvas, 28 x 24 inches

Mill Pond (Somesville Library), oil on linen, 12 x 16 inches

I'm grateful to the many friends, neighbors, collectors and family members who came to see the work in person! To read a sweet write-up on the show click here. More information, if desired, can be found on the Artists' House website. Any exhibit, even a one-person exhibit, is always a group effort, and my grateful thanks to all involved: gallerists, framers, bloggers, writers, buyers, viewers, visitors, commissioners, encouragers and well-wishers.

Summa Cum Laude

Life has been a real roller coaster these past few weeks. My one person show opening in Philadelphia on Mother's day Sunday... up! That same night my Mom being hospitalized in Connecticut...down! And many many more ups and downs coming thick and fast, sometimes seemingly within the same minute. But here's a nice solid thing that happened in the midst of much confusion: Hugh was awarded a gold medal in the National Latin Examination, receiving a certificate Summa Cum Laude for Outstanding Performance!

Labor omnia vincit (I hope!)

Henry's Spring Break

Henry comes home

As usual, Henry's recent two-week spring break reminded me of Hemingway's words: The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.  Sometimes while I am squaring up to a six-foot-five 250-pound young man in a rage, I get a sudden objective flash of vision of myself doing this, and I am momentarily shocked at how strong I have learned to be. (Not always though. Sometimes I turn weakly away.)


All in all, this was a nice sojourn with Henry. Overall, his aggressive behaviors seem to be diminishing. What is increasing is his deficit in finding ways to entertain himself. So, there was more driving Mr Henry around than ever before (one activity that soothes and pleases him seemingly endlessly is being driven around. A shame that the gas prices are going up! ;-)


Here are some random photos from his break. We had many happy times:

We also had some dark times:

But we got through these rough patches. What helped was the love and support of friends and family. In no particular order here is a gallery of Henry Helpers and Friends:

Henry's favorite person on earth: Miss Janice!

Wonderful Ynnon brightened our days

Peter was a huge help with his twin brother. Here we are delivering some of my work to the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Peter drove, parked and Henry tended with grace.

Taz and Zai: but Henry is not at all  interested in new babies

Shaking hands with his emergency care coordinator Joel (the guy whose number to call if there is a huge emergency involving hospitals and/or police)

Hen and his neurologist, Dr. McHarg

It's hard to take Henry clothes shopping without help. Thank you Janice!

 One thing people don't hear much about is the occasional intense loneliness of being a special needs parent. You are often cut off from a lot of normal interaction others probably take for granted. So it was a special blessing to have several visits from friends and family over this vacation:

Our dear friends Andy and Diane Strauss

The Downs brothers  Tony and Paul measure up to each other

Friends we rarely get a chance to see Paul and Rose-Helene Spreiregan

My girlfriends were the best support imaginable. Bouquets to all of them:

We visited Sarah on her birthday

There was a lot of driving involved! Mary accompanied me on the night shift

Alex

Theresa

Carol heroically did day AND night shifts

Eliza

Sarah and her delightful, intrepid children came with us for a long nature walk

We had mixed feelings when it was time to say Goodbye:

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