Art. Life. Place. - A Blog
Sassafras my a**, we’re calling it Cape Cod!
It was 1602 near present day Provincetown, and as a morning fog was lifting the sweet smell of sassafras wafted offshore to where the crew of the Concord sat at anchor gazing at a foreign land. A lowly mate recognizing the distinct smell exclaims “Behold! Cape Sassafras!” The captain of the vessel, Bartholomew Gosnold, retorted “Sassafras my ass, we’re calling it Cape Cod!”
Maybe it didn’t go down exactly like that, but it could have … Cape Cod could have just easily ended up as Cape Sassafras.
On Starting Over
It’s not easy to start over. You’ve invested the energy and time into something and you’re left facing the prospect that despite all that, it’s time to go in a different direction and start over. When I start to doubt myself I’m learning to show up, put my nose down, get to work, and trust the process. By focusing on what I put into things, and not worrying about the expected outcomes, I’ve freed myself from what I have no control over. Starting over is daunting, but I’m embracing the journey and looking forward to it. I have no idea where it will go, but in many ways it doesn’t matter.
Skin-Deep Beauty
When I was gathering reference photos for the long-finned squid drawing, I was struck by the beauty of the chromotaphore patterns in the squid skin. This is a short image blog of long-finned squid inspired designs.
Headed in the Wrong Direction?
A client couple recently asked for an original hand-colored striped bass done with the head pointing to the right. Seemed a simple enough request, but I found myself flat footed with no options. In this blog post I explain why, and more importantly announce that both left and right facing prints are now available through the online gallery!
The Hanko Stamp
A hanko stamp, or seal, is a Japanese custom used in lieu of signatures dating back millennia. Instead of a signature, I stamp all of my artwork with my personal hanko.