Donald’s Whittling and Scrimshandering Soiree

Pippa Murray, Donald Fortescue and John Randolph, a-whittlin’ at the Headlands Craving both a mental vacation and physical challenge, I decided to embark on an impromptu four day bike trip down the coast, eqipped with the barest possible essentials of food, clothing and shelter. My destination would be the Headlands Center for the Arts near […]

Tales from the Whale Tail

We layered the texture over coats of flat grey paint to see the contrast. As Ene and I near completion on this phase of our Fluke sculpture, having spent the week fairing the form and applying a texture to the entire surface before molds are made prior to bronze casting, I realize how much I […]

Tree Consciousness

One of my few surviving drawings of trees from first and second grade My fascination with trees and wood dates from early childhood, when I would spend hours staring at trees in different seasons and trying to draw them as accurately as I was able, carefully mapping every branch, leaf or blossom. I remember getting […]

Coincidences of High Summer

It’s been a bumper year for wild plums, and our few trees, bent to capacity with ripe fruit, have been feeding the birds, raccoons and a solitary bobcat, who harvests from our rooftop at night. We’re eating our share as well, and Ene has already prepared a few gallons of ‘plum brandy’ that should be […]

Fluke Progress

Ene applies a scratch coat of plaster to a section of our Fluke sculpture We’ve begun to apply a surface texture to the foam sections comprising our Fluke Project, featuring a life-size sculptural interpretation of a humpback whale tail, to be cast in bronze and permanently installed at the NOAA Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in […]

Hancock Shaker Village

I especially love the simple tools the Shakers made, like this dust pan. We took a jog off course on our recent East Coast college tour to visit the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass. This was my first visit, though I made frequent excursions to the Shaker Museum in Old Chatham, NY when I […]