Category Archives: Media Monday

Osprey, Cape Cod, Late April 2018

43 Replies

 

osprey

I spent a chunk of the last week in April on Cape Cod.  On one of my walks down a Bell’s Neck in Harwich I watched about a half a dozen osprey hunt/fish.  I took well over 200 photos!  The sky was awful – it was cloudy and about noon.

Heres looking at you

 

My camera also did a weird thing in its focusing and exposure.  I have noticed that occasionally some settings will seem to change randomly.  Long and short, the exposures were awful for anything not pointing at the water.  The sun did eventually come out and a couple of osprey flew by, so I have a couple of “sunny photos”. Continue reading →

Quick Sketch – Notre Dame

27 Replies

Notre Dame

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you’ve seen at least one post about my favorite city, Paris.  I’ve been there three times and have been in the city perhaps 20 to 25 days total.  The second time I was there I did some sketching.  It was fun to carry a sketch book around and just doodle.  I spent a lot of time drawing the rose windows of Notre Dame.  I filled pages of studies, but of course I can’t find them.  But then there is this sketch.  This is a study based on those original sketches plus a photo I took for reference.  I was planning a large scale very detailed drawing, but never got past this quick pencil sketch.  (I obviously didn’t use a straight edge for this sketch!)

I hope you enjoyed this bit of hand-drawn Paris!

Photos from Ohio (Mostly Birds, Eagles)

18 Replies

Back in May I visited my parents.  Well, it was a little more than that since most of my immediate family was there.  Unlike normal people, I took few family pictures.  What I did instead was take pictures of wildlife.

When I was a kid there were few, if any, eagles in the area.  Now they are almost common.  Almost.  I’ve seen four or five at once.  Yes, half a dozen eagles at one time.  But that doesn’t mean every time I look up I see one, not by a long shot!  So part of the picture taking experience was finding eagles.  One was easy, since it was in a nest.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures of the young chicks this year.  Nor did I get any taking off or landing. Continue reading →

The Art of Trent’s World (Again, again)

3 Replies

(This is another summer rerun.  Actually, I’ve posted this twice.  This time, however, I’m going to add a few more pictures to the gallery, almost doubling it.)

It began innocently enough.

Last December (well, December 2013!) I wrote a story about a hiker caught by a blizzard at the top of a New Hampshire mountain. I wanted an illustration. I was away from home and didn’t have any resources beyond a bland version of Windows paint. I spent a few minutes to make a quick B&W computer sketch and put it up.

snowstorm

Continue reading →

Paris

22 Replies

Buildings by the Seine - 2002

I know this sounds like a cliche, but Paris is my favorite city.  I’ve visited three times, the first in 2001 and the last in 2011.

Latin Quarter - 2011

One of the first short stories I posted on Trent’s World was set in Paris and is based on something that did happen the first time I was there. Continue reading →

Images of a Rusty Bridge

12 Replies

abridge-1

When I posted the picture of my revamped studio did you notice the paintings?  The best one, the one near the center, isn’t mine.  The other, the red and purple one on the right, is mine.  Looking at that photo made me go back and take a look at the painting and it’s history. Continue reading →

Black-Eyed Susan – Art Song

5 Replies

Frozen Blackeyed Susan

This is based on a post from 10 November, 2014.  If you read the old one note that I add quite a bit..

Several years ago I noticed the Black- Eyed Susans every time I turned around.  All summer and through the fall they were everywhere.  I went out of town for a week and on my return I didn’t see a single one.  I wrote an orchestrated “Art Song” about the disappearing flowers. Continue reading →

Prelude in Ab Major (Again)

13 Replies
My Piano Sings
My Piano Sings

(Originally Posted 17 February, 2014)

Several years ago I wrote a set of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys.  In some future post I will talk a bit more about the series including why I (stupidly) chose the order they’re in.  For now I want to concentrate on just one prelude, the Prelude in Ab Major.

Listen to the track below.  Don’t read on until you’ve listened.

Finished?  OK, start it again while you read. Continue reading →

Pictures of Rome – 2003

14 Replies

Roman Forum

I did a lot of international travel at the beginning of the millennia.  The trip to Paris in April of 2001 had been planned for almost 2 years.  But then after the shock of September 11, 2001 people stopped traveling.  I was literally still missing Paris from the trip in spring, feeling almost home sick, and wanted to return.  So at New Years of 2002 I decided to look.  Sure enough, we could fly to Paris for less than to Ohio.  And I also found lodging for about a quarter the price of the cheapest place in Boston.  We were planning a ski week on a local mountain and discovered it was far cheaper to fly to Paris.   And the exchange rate was fabulous, I think about 75 cents for a Euro.  Oh yes, in 2001 we used Francs, in 2002 we used Euros.  Well, Paris for half the price of the planned ski trip, no brainer.

Roman Forum 2

I thought that was the end of it, but then in late 2002 or early 2003 I saw an article in the Boston Globe about ultra cheap travel.  There was an advertised trip to Rome that included airfare and lodging for even less than what we paid for Paris in the winter of 2002.  I called, added a couple of days for next to nothing, and went. Continue reading →

Bresis – That Was Yesterday (Repost)

9 Replies

Achellis-n-BriseisSeveral years back, during the darkest hours of the US’s involvement in two wars, I revisited an ancient war. I reread The Iliad. I don’t know if it was because of the political atmosphere or a more mature outlook, but my interpretation of the poem was completely different from any I had had or seen before.

I can’t go into all of the details, but I bring up a few points about my different interpretation of this old classic. Continue reading →