well... it has been quite some time since i last posted, hasn't it? the last few months have been very busy!

in october, i attended sophie drouin's and bill buckingham's listen to the stones: abstract stone mosaic workshop in chicago. my friend ruth and i flew in a few days early and had a great time hanging out and exploring chicago. the workshop was very good, although i found myself struggling and blocked... for various reasons... but still, a wonderful trip.

in november, i went to vienna, virginia... which is right outside of d.c..... for a portraiture workshop at maverick mosaics, taught by shug jones. this was a 5 day workshop... very, very challenging. shug is a great teacher and a lot of fun too, and bonnie fitzgerald's studio is wonderfully equipped and pleasant. but i found myself very challenged on several levels... despite this i feel like i learned a great deal. so far, this is the best workshop that i have ever taken. i have a lot of work to do still on my portrait, so i can't post it yet.

i submitted 3 entries for the MAI 2009 exhibition, and am very pleased that my 3-panel piece, pulse, was accepted. i also submitted a couple of entries for the sum of all parts 2 exhibition in dallas... and my newest piece, we, was accepted.

i am almost finished with my monthly series, rhythms... just one more month... december. i will be starting on that this week. it will be nice to get that entire series finished... i am happy that i had the discipline to finish it.

ruth and i are busy planning a trip to italy for next spring. we are lining up a couple of mosaic courses... including ravenna... and allowing for a few extra days for just hanging out and sight-seeing. 3 weeks in all....

and... christmas and new year's in hawaii this year. my son and i are looking forward to photographically exploring some new areas of hawaii and maui... the pics should be great.

i have been watching this little leaf on the red maple in front of our house. "what's the hurry?"... i ask?

well... we've gone and done it! my son and i have published a couple of photography books on blurb. how cool is that!?! really! it is so amazing that anyone... with the time and inclination... can publish a book! truly a wonder!

my new addiction... i mean... hobby... of photography has lead me down a side road, it seems. alex and i, sharing my camera, got into some photographic exploration on a couple of recent trips. this exploration has lead to the publishing of these two books. you can check them out through these nifty little badges:

see more of alex's photography at his flickr photostream.

well... i suppose it has been a while since i posted, hasn't it? a lot has happened, but not i felt like talking about. i'll try to do better. and to make up for it, here is a little aloha from our recent trip to hawaii. this is one of my favorite sunset photos. you can see all our (my son's and mine) good pics on flickr... just click aloha.

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gosh... it sure has been a while since i have posted anything, hasn't it? not sure why that is... guess i have not had much to say.

the SAMA conference in early april was great! i really enjoyed meeting a lot of new people. i also had 2 very good workshops: one with bill buckingham and sophie drouin on working with stones; and the other one with sonia king on the business of mosaics. volunteering was a wonderful experience which gave me an opportunity to meet even more people.

the MAI 2008 exhibit was very exciting... so, so many good pieces representing a lot of different techniques and materials. i think that my favorite mosaic in the exhibit... the one that wowed me the most when i first laid eyes on it... was by scott henderson... i believe.. and was titled swan lake. absolutely stunning! kind of surprising, as i am really more into abstract these days... but it was beautifully done and so, so striking... it just kind of took my breath away. click on the thumbnail to see it.

still working on my monthly rhythms explorations, and i am enjoying both the process and the challenge. i also finished up my latest floating planes piece from my above and below series. i am calling it subtleties. i am not sure how i feel about it... it just did not turn out as i had envisioned it. it was very experimental... but really nothing like i anticipated. i will expand on all that some more when i post some pics in a few days.

not much more to talk about right now... i will post my april rhythms piece now.

more later...