Unconcerned
Unconcerned
I forgot to post yesterday’s snow photo! The catkins have finally begun to open, but the catkins do their thing even under the snow.
Reflections of Snowfall
Reflections of Snowfall
Trees and rocks and snow on a the steep banks of the creek; I only wish I’d had my better camera handy since the little one fails me except in bright sunlight.
Diamonds in Air
Diamonds in Air
When that fine powdery snow blows around in the wind on a cold morning so that the early golden sun highlights each tiny crystal it looks as if diamonds are floating around in the air, flashing as they turn and fly. I tried to capture it, some even have little rainbows; I think I’ll try my cross-screen filter next.
Carefully Balanced
Carefully Balanced
We had a lovely snow squall last night, big fluffy flakes swirling all around for about an hour, and in the dark, later, all was frosted in powdered sugar. This morning, all the snow still carefully balanced on every branch and twig, no matter how narrow. Here, just a few big snow clusters fell at the right angle to cling to this tiny twig, and then others fell atop, leaving lacy spaces in the miniature snowdrift on the twig. You can see one sparkling snow crystal facing the sun about the middle, and the rose of sharon seed pod is about one-half inch, to give it scale.
Surprise Snowfall
Surprise Snowfall
A little bit of a surprise snowfall began mid-afternoon today and fell heavily for about two hours; though it didn’t amount to too much, the big soft flakes falling straight and then at angles were lovely.
This Way and That Way
Tracks
A thin layer of snow covers the ice in a barrel in my yard, birds walked all over it to explore.
Settling Into Evening
Settling Into Evening
Sunset fading orange casts a warm glow on snow-covered rooftops and streets; shadows tinge violet. Houses, mill and more houses march across the valley in courses, filling from one hill to the next.
Good Night Little Town
“Good Night Little Town”
Tonight’s sunset reminded me of this photo I took several years ago from a ridge above Carnegie PA. It’s one of my favorite places to observe the sunset or incoming storms, and the valley includes nearly all of Carnegie. In this view you can see the snow-covered rooftops of houses, businesses and industrial buildings with a slight violet glow and the winding course of Chartiers Creek reflecting the pale aqua of the sky as it meanders through town and the sun slowly sets on a bitter cold winter evening. Tonight’s sunset looked like this, even down to the snow on the rooftops, but I couldn’t get to this vantage point in time to get the photo. Still, I wanted to share this moment; I’ve never posted this image on Today before.
“Good Night Little Town” is one of 14 images of Carnegie PA in my exhibit, “Carnegie Painted”
A Straight Line
A Straight Line
Possibly a good way to begin the year, but virtually impossible for most of us.
But train tracks always fascinate me in their absolute perfection of line in this part of the country. This line variously clings to the side of a hill before running along the edge of a hill and crossing a number of tunnels and trestles. The topography is everywhere here—hills come in every shape and size, creeks and streams run down every hill and along the bottoms of hills, little back roads wind back and forth with creeks and yet the railroad lines predictably go in a straight line off to the horizon, aside from ones that make lovely gentle curves like another local line I photographed last week.
This line actually does go gently around a curve where it disappears in the distance.
Song Sparrow at Dusk
Song Sparrow at Dusk
A few birds always gather at dusk to find their last meal for the night, and there is always enough seed on the ground for them to feed, dangerous though it is. One little song sparrow balances on a branch near the ground to scout for the best spot before dropping down to eat. A male and female sparrow joined him in the gathering darkness.
I’ve always liked a song sparrow’s little round and striped body. Below is the same song sparrow in a view from the front.
Song Sparrow
Around the Curve
Around the Curve
The single line of tracks follows the bends of Chartiers Creek and the heights of a natural highwall as it has for at least 100 years. Tracks, trees, dried plants, on an overcast day there are no shadows, only black and white, like an ink drawing.
Holiday Lights
Holiday Lights
Whatever holiday you celebrate, the return of the light is a part of it. Happy Holidays everyone!
Celebrating the Solstice
“Solstice”, pastel, 6″ x 6″ © B.E. Kazmarski
This painting is indeed from the Winter Solstice about a decade ago. As the sun began to set on a zero-degree day with a foot or more of snow the light was so beautiful that I took off in my car with my camera and art supplies. At the top of the hill the gentle pink and coral tones of the sunset melded with the blue of dusk on the field of unbroken snow at the old Christmas tree farm, one of my favorite spots. It was too cold to draw outside since I can’t wear gloves and would soon be dropping my pastels in the snow, so I positioned my car on a convenient side road and sketched this in my front seat. As it does sometimes, the sun seemed to hang in the trees just before it disappeared: solstice, “sun-stand-still”. It’s just a little thing, 6″ x 6″, one of my favorites, especially now that the place is gone to development. It became the inspiration for an exhibit I hosted in 2004, “Winter White”.
And this painting, which I’ve always loved so much, has a wonderful home with a friend who also loves it very much.
Ridge:2011
Ridge
Last night’s wind and snow formed an interesting ridge on my neighbor’s roof, painted warm and cool on either side of the edge.
I miss my winter!
Tributary
Unnamed Tributary, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski
On a quiet sunny winter afternoon this little unnamed tributary surely had a lot to say, babbling along over rocks and shelves of slate and limestone on its way to Scrubgrass Creek a distance away. I see a few things I’d still like to do with it but I’m pretty pleased. The light changes quickly at this time of year, and I had to work quickly.
Off in the woods today, I stood in the snow and painted a little pastel sketch as well as took photos of the snowy hollow at Kane’s Woods in Scott Township, PA. I’ve been waiting for a significant snowfall, enough to give good even cover to most of the leaf litter. Much of this conservation area faces north and doesn’t catch significant sunlight, especially in the winter when the sun’s angle is low, but this little hollow and the hill next to it face south. Once the sun gets into the hollow it just fills it up, especially when snow can reflect it in all directions.
The Kane Woods Conservation Area is a place I’ve known since I was a child, before it was conserved and trails were established, but my lifetime of visiting and that of others is what inspired Scott Conservancy to consider the site worth working for.
There's me, feeling a little silly.
I’ll be featured in one of the newsletters I design, this for Allegheny Land Trust, in a feature called “GreenTalk” to say a little bit about what conserving green space means to me. I needed a photo to go along with my Q&A, and since I’m the photographer I have very few of me. I asked a friend to take a few with my camera.
Along with the benefits of preserving water quality and air quality, protecting steep slopes from erosion and landslides and managing stormwater naturally, greenspace at the same time provides natural recreation areas that require little maintenance compared to a playground or formal park with accommodations. And for me, it provides a subject for my creative efforts, my paintings, photos, poems, and just a place to rest my eyes and ears from the onslaught of digital and social information and just listen to the breeze and the birds and watch the sunlight play across the snow.
Snow on the Tracks
Snow on the Tracks
We had a lovely snow shower today, very little wind, nice big flakes, and it make the whole world look like a shaker toy. These tracks cross Main Street, yet always look as if they lead off to the wilderness.
Snow (2011)
Snow
Another from last year, magical.
Okay, more snow, but I really liked this closeup of snow in the gentle light of this morning, the rich blue shadows contrasting with the buttery highlights.
A blanket of snow is lovely to study as the light passes over it, all the colors reflecting in both shadows and highlights, sparkles flashing momentarily on the edge of an ice crystal, the landscape transformed by this gentle cover. But looking closely at the snow, especially a deep snow, filled with light that changes and fades as it penetrates from the surface of the snow as it does in deep water, the individual crystals are revealed showing in detail that the snow is not a blanket, not one item, but layer upon layer of tiny crystals, a collective, each an individual, all having fallen arbitrarily to cluster together and create the illusion of one undivided unit. A microcosm of the macrocosm, again?
Ridge
Ridge
Last night’s wind and snow formed an interesting ridge on my neighbor’s roof, painted warm and cool on either side of the edge.
Weatherfish
Weatherfish
The weatherfish shows the wind is blowing in that direction.
I normally move my weatherfish inside for the winter so it won’t fade or get tattered in winter storms, but I missed the colors out in the garden. I think it looks great against the snow which was busily melting on yesterday’s strangely warm and very windy morning. Without the burden of an extra ten inches or so of snow, all the grasses and asters and goldenrod were dancing in the wind, dry fronds flapping like ribbons, the weatherfish pointing the way.
The weatherfish doesn’t do much but spin its propeller tail and turn the way the wind is blowing, get wet when it rains and get covered with snow when it snows, but it truly is a welcome sight out in the yard in this still life of all the things I didn’t put away last year.
Land Ho!
Land Ho!
My favorite little garden gnome frogs dig themselves out of the snow piled in the bird bath. They sighted a thin patch under the pine trees at the edge of the yard.
Snow
Snow
Okay, more snow, but I really liked this closeup of snow in the gentle light of this morning, the rich blue shadows contrasting with the buttery highlights.
A blanket of snow is lovely to study as the light passes over it, all the colors reflecting in both shadows and highlights, sparkles flashing momentarily on the edge of an ice crystal, the landscape transformed by this gentle cover. But looking closely at the snow, especially a deep snow, filled with light that changes and fades as it penetrates from the surface of the snow as it does in deep water, the individual crystals are revealed showing in detail that the snow is not a blanket, not one item, but layer upon layer of tiny crystals, a collective, each an individual, all having fallen arbitrarily to cluster together and create the illusion of one undivided unit. A microcosm of the macrocosm, again?
Three Cardinals
Three Cardinals
I often see several male cardinals together but I’m not always able to get them in one photo, especially with snow as a backdrop. They were hovering in a protected shrub as the snow was quickly falling and swirling around.
Snowfall
Snowflakes
You can actually see some individual flakes in this snow squall, and yet it also looks like a galaxy of stars. Microcosm of the macrocosm?
