NEW from Milton Slough Walk -

"Suburban Renewal"
manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

I'm still surfing back through the walking art files, in particular the Milton Slough Walk project. As the trees continue to leaf out it occurs to me that another walk at the slough may be called for at some point as a frame of reference between two seasons. Until I move further along that path here's a little something that seems like it might make a good center spread for the book.

NEW from Gandy Dancers Walk -

"Long Walk (with Flags Flying)"
digitally manipulated photographs by Mick Mather

I was poking around in the files and came across this image, posted almost two years ago. It was tucked away in the Gandy Dancers Walk series folder and, being rendered in my old posting format size, I wondered how I might add it officially. After cropping the hobo drawing seen on the right I tucked it alongside the old work just for fun. Since I've been waiting all winter for good weather and enough time to walk the rails again, it seemed like a nice little nudge all the way around.

Straight into summer -

"Hot Day at the Black Sea"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It's one of those years where we're getting 80º & 90º temperatures in April! Hot enough to go to the beach ... if only the beaches were open!

Hot and green -

"April's Teahouse"
digital collage by Mick Mather

The weather continues to warm, gentle rains soak the bulbs that are sending shoots high above the ground and the pastel hues of spring seem to be, suddenly, everywhere. Today feels like a day to sit in a field and admire the handiwork of nature with a sweet breeze blowing across my face.

Yakety yak -

"Talking With Marge"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Canapés, hors d'oeuvres, martini, high ball, cocktail dress, business suit and a good conversation. Yes, we're going to a party party!

A Progressive lament -

"Too Late for the Misinformed Voter"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I've never thought it polite to insert ones political views where unsuspecting visitors are expecting anything but ... and I won't start now. The meaning of today's post is a simple one and completely bipartisan: look before you leap ... forewarned is forearmed ... don't jump into the deep end of the pool ... question authority ... follow the money. More to the point, know how things work, understand your own culture, learn the lessons of history and realize that in a common language 'words' mean things.

Illustration Friday: Theater -

"Theater"
digital collage by Mick Mather

... the flowering trees and shrubs
performed their emergent dance
like theater-in-the-round
in riots of color and bloom ...

Thursday Challenge: Communication -

"Communication II"
manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather
- click on image to view full size -

Thursday Challenge offers the theme of communication this week. Here's a manipulated image of an intercom in an apartment building.

...to get to the other side!

"Crosswalk"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Busy streets and busy sidewalks inspire me today and I always wonder where people are rushing away to while enjoying the dance of getting across, over, around and through. It's like a fine choreography in many ways and I've been known to watch such performances for hours.

Who, what, where, when, why -

"An Old Photograph"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Old, found photographs of people I don't know are always fascinating to me. Trying to imagine something about them or their lives from such a narrow window of information (only what you have at hand) is always a curious entertainment of sorts. Anyway, once again I leave it to all of you to decide about today's post.

Say what?

"The Inter-Galactic Translator"
digital collage by Mick Mather

From "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to "This Island Earth" and "Forbidden Planet" I've always wondered about such things as Intelligent Communication between species, robots and computers. After these classics of the 1950's things only got more and more curious for me in this regard. So, here we have my fertile imagining of one instrument that makes it possible. Inspired by The Krell and their giant knowledge machine in Forbidden Planet my only next guess is about the scale of this particular translator.

The 88's -

"Another Practice Session"
digital collage by Mick Mather

"I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people." - Carter Burwell

Slender as a marbled vein -

"Princess of Diamonds"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Here we have a simple monument to things classic. A style, a fashion, a mode and a look that tends to stand up to the test of time.

Illustration Friday: Impossibility -

"Impossibility"
digital collage by Mick Mather

... "returning home across this broad expanse of beach seemed
an impossibility considering that the tide was rushing in" ...

Thursday Challenge: Signs -

"No Dumping"
digital photograph by Mick Mather
- click on image to view full size -

Signs is this weeks Thursday Challenge theme. While recently engaged in this years first walking art project, The Milton Slough Walk, I came across this bit of flotsam caught in a little waterfall. While the slough itself is a sort of holding pond for storm water runoff, it also seems to collect more than it's fair share of windblown detritus. The title of the piece references the spirit of the wind as well as any unintended consequence by man in this regard. Sometimes simple measures can be very complicated when they reach the working phase, for how can one regulate or legislate the individual to "pay attention".

Myth and match -

"The Vestales"

digital collage by Mick Mather

"O Vesta, if I have always brought pure hands
to your secret services,
make it so now that with this sieve
I shall be able to draw water from the Tiber
and bring it to Your temple"
- Tuccia in Valerius Maximus

NEW from The Maple Leaf Series -

"Maple Leaf II"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather
- original drawing by Leighlund Ruth Vincett -

As promised a few weeks back here's number two in The Maple Leaf Series that's rooted in one of my granddaughter Leighlund's recent drawings. You can see the first one here ... more to come.

NEW from Database Series -

"Fractures I"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Here I am again with another multi-layered collage as I'm dragged further into the concept of database and art practice. While looking at photographs of the recent earthquake in Italy the idea struck me that some of the geological fault line data available might lead to something. It has ... if there's more to say about this new approach to my work, I can't be certain, yet, what that is.

Two celebrations in one -

"Post 1,000"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It's quite a coincidence that my one-thousandth post falls on this day ... HAPPY EASTER to one and all ... "He is risen".

Compliments to the Chef -

"The Dinner Date"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I'm quite often more interested in small details found in the background than of the main subject in many of my photographs. Such is the case in today's post. If there's a story to tell, I don't have one to share, being too busy with a family dinner of my own at the time. Perhaps some of you know more?

Illustration Friday: Fleeting -

"Neither Safe Nor Sound"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Destructive forces, be they earthquakes, fires, weather related or crumbling infrastructure, are always illustrations of how fleeting and fragile life can be.

Thursday Challenge: Silly -

"The Girls Get Silly"

digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

Silly is this week's theme at Thursday Challenge and what could be sillier than a group of teenage girls having a giggle at camp. From left to right we have the toastmistress, the butt-in-ski, the let's drink root beer with a spoon, the timid mouse (they were all doing it, but NOT me, Daddy) and the organizer. Ahhh, the joys of summer and the lighter side of life. :)

Database? -

"Red River I"
digital collage by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

This will likely be the only piece to escape the Secret Visual Laboratory as I fiddle with the idea of database art. My early research tells me that I'm in the "after-the-novelty-wears-off" phase of layering data as a digital collage. While a valid way to express the voluminous amount of data available even in a single event or subject, I doubt that I'm making any meaningful inroads to new media. My suspicion is that I'm going to need more programming knowledge than I think I'm willing to tackle at the moment but, who knows.

Another blast of winter -

"A Grand Low Day"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Today, the sky here looked too much like this as a cold front scurried in. Pushed along by rain squalls and the threat of 3" of snow by tomorrow afternoon, I wonder if the luck of this Irish lasses' green dress is enough magic to hang onto our cool spring this year. Oh well, in a few more weeks we'll be mopping the collective brow and bemoaning a heat wave!

Another disintegration documentation -

"Stimulus Package I (Purple Haze Version)"

manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather

As promised yesterday, here's another version of "Stimulus Package I". Please see yesterday's post for a number of links if interested in knowing more. Here I'll reveal that the piece was constructed from an advertising insert in the Sunday papers, hence the title. As the piece itself disintegrates, let the individual power of the consumer return quickly to normal as the sort of real stimulus that will serve to disintegrate these difficult economic times. That said, it appears that the piece was recently taken away by an individual as opposed to the sort of entropy that was hoped for. Now, I need to decide if there should be a Stimulus Package II ... the answer is, "I think so." Stay tuned.

Disintegration documentation -

"Stimulus Package I (First Day of Spring)"
manipulated digital photograph

I meant to post this one a few weeks ago but forgot all about it. The work hails from Seth Apter's wonderful net art project, Disintegration Admiration, that is up to 118 participants at last count. It was a bright and sunny day compared to the weather seen in "Disintegration Admiration - The Movie". On Monday I'll post another version and, perhaps, reveal a bit more about my participation and the current stautus of this piece.

NEW from Greymoor Walk -

"Night Passage"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I've been wanting to post this image from The Greymoor Walk Series for months. It's a favorite of mine and, don't ask me why, but I linger over images that hold sway over my attention. Anyway, at last, at last ... here 'tis!

Illustration Friday: Talisman -

"The Talisman"
digital collage by Mick Mather

" ... the talisman she clutched,
hanging 'tween her breasts,
was for her;
the bow of her lips
was mine ... "

After so many years -

"She's Leaving Home. Bye, Bye"
digital collage by Mick Mather

After finishing today's post this wonderfully melancholy melody from the Beatles Sgt Pepper album began to insert itself in my mind. I'm uncertain of it's significance within the wider scope of change that's not only happening to me, but to millions of others all over the world. The song itself is sad and rife with implications of some dreadful, weighty secret ... too, there's a sliver of hope that all challenging turmoil brings with it. I'm looking for a silver lining.

Another Book Cover -

"Milton Slough Walk (Book Cover)"
manipulated digital photograph & graphic design by Mick Mather

I suppose today's post is fitting for the day, All Fools Day, even though this isn't a joke. The book itself doesn't exist, yet, and therein lies the connection to this infamous April day. The cover art is quite real and, having recently completed the Milton Slough Walk, is only waiting for me to push through and complete the required number of image manipulations to make this into the coffee table book it strives to be. I plan to make this limited edition book available at $25 US (plus shipping) sometime in the next few months ... more info to come.