Pouring My Art Out

Throwing shade; A study in light and shadow… part 7…

Posted on February 5, 2021 by pouringmyartout

For eons our eyes have been adapting, evolving, if you will, to the world on which we live.

They are attuned to the spectrums of light and color surrounding us.

Other animals have eyes that see in different spectrums, and they see more or less than we do.

But our brains have gained the ability to see the beauty in nature, and to enjoy it.

Our eyes are not just specialized for night vision; in fact, we have very poor night vision. We do not have the telescopic sight of the hunting birds, the finely tuned ability to spot movement of the cats, but we have very good all-round vision for many situations.

We do not use our eyes merely to acquire food or other necessities.

We can revel in the awesome beauty of a flower, or a sunset, yes, but even the simple aspects of nature catch our eyes.

Sun-dappled leaves, shade dancing in the breeze, the interplay of light and shadow.

The very symmetry and asymmetry of nature are marvelous.

Light allows the colors, and the colors and shapes make us feel at home on this planet.

The beach, where we first dragged our forms from the sea, those many millennia ago…

Where we struggled to take our first breaths, our first steps…

And where our eyes began the adaptations that led us to where we are today.

Posted in thinking about stuff | Tagged art, colors, evolution, eyes, light, nature, people, photography, plants | 2 Comments

Okay, tRump supporters, let’s talk about stolen elections…

Posted on February 3, 2021 by pouringmyartout

Democrats have had one election that was decided in one state, by a governor who was a relative of the republican that won by just a few votes.

Not long after, a guy became president even though he got less votes than the woman running against him, and he had the aid of Russian computer systems helping sway public opinion towards him.

So you know what? Democrats felt robbed. We felt that our voices were not heard. We felt that the election had been stolen, and that our country and way of life was in danger. And our feeling were based on things that really happened, not conspiracy theories started by the person that lost the election.

You know what we didn’t do? We didn’t storm the freekin’ Capitol building and threaten to hang people we didn’t like. We didn’t start an insurrection that killed people.

And as long as we are on the subject of the new president, I would like to say to all the tRump supporting women out there; Gee, I am so sorry we took away your pasty-white pussy-grabber-supporting guy who can’t even be in the same room as you and gave you an actual woman as vice president. I hope you can forgive us.

Posted in funny famous people pictures, thinking about stuff | Tagged america, art, current-events, donald trump, humor, people, political humor, politicians, politics, social-media, trump | 6 Comments

Catching the perfect wave…

Posted on February 2, 2021 by pouringmyartout

While we were in the San Francisco By Area, saving Christmas and visiting my 97-year-old mother, and we were on that day trip to a beach very near the Golden Gate Bridge…

I mean very near… I started a new photographic experiment. I want to get the perfect photo of a wave just as it curls and begins to fall.

Like my attempts to take the perfect photo of a dog shaking water off itself, or the dew-covered flowers and spider web photos, this is a little harder than I originally expected.

That is a good one, you can see the shade of the curl inside the wave. But timing is everything in this game.

Also, it didn’t help that this beach, being near the opening to the Bay, is at an angle to the surf. That one was taken too late.

That one, too early.

One microsecond late on that one. Hurry up, shutter!

I like that one.

I think I tried something like this with waves crashing against rocks on a beach somewhere.

But it does beg the question; why didn’t I think of this in San Diego, where I now live, where it is warm all year long, and the beaches have the common decency to face the ocean?

Even when your timing is off, you still end up with a nice photo of a wave.

And I suppose I could crop the images to the best part of each wave.

But whatever, man, it’s all for fun, right?

Posted in My travels | Tagged america, art, california, golden gate bridge, humor, nature, Northern California, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay area, water, waves | 4 Comments

I promised you some new birds… part 2… (or); is that the Thanksgiving Day parade???

Posted on January 29, 2021 by pouringmyartout

Every morning, a huge herd of wild turkeys pass my mom’s house.

These are almost all females. There is also a group of Tom’s, just three or four, that roam around.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on turkeys, but they are interesting to watch.

I think this is all part of some plan to reintroduce turkeys to the wild, because I never saw them when I was a kid, now California is swarming with them. Someone should Google that.

Turkeys in the wild can’t have been this easy to find and get close too… they would have been hunted to extinction by humans and animals alike.

On the other hand, even if they have gotten used to being around people, they are rather large and slightly intimidating.

I know I didn’t get too close.

Like some kind of fat chicken street gang.

But they are beautiful too.

Those feathers do not work as camouflage in an urban environment, but in the woods, they sure do.

But hey, not just more photos of little birds at my mom’s bird feeder, right?

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, art, birds, california, humor, nature, photography, turkeys | 4 Comments

I promised you some new birds… part 1…

Posted on January 27, 2021 by pouringmyartout

Every time I visit my mom in the Bay Area, I take lots of photos of the birds at her feeder. Not this time.

That is a very young Redtail Hawk that I spotted when I was doing something that will show up on the blog soon. The hawk was right near the elementary school I went to as a child. I guess they call them middle schools now?

This hawk has obviously only recently left the nest, and is out hunting on its own. Maybe this is its very first time.

Note the extra fluffy feathers, the not-quite-so-sleek shape of an adult.

And this ain’t no bird feeder bird, it is more like a feed on the birds at the bird feeder bird.

This bird will be an apex predator soon enough.

He already has the “I’m hungry” intense stare down.

And he was paying attention to me as I tried to work in closer.

But he wasn’t giving up on looking for a snack either.

Okay, I am back in San Diego now. Late Christmas and New Year is over. Back to real life. But don’t worry, I still have a lot of photos from the trip to share. HA!

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, art, birds, hawks, humor, nature, photography | Leave a comment

Throwing shade; A study in light and shadow… part 6…

Posted on January 25, 2021 by pouringmyartout

For a photographic study of light and shadow, dog prints on a beach can’t be beat.

On an historical note, I took an animal tracking class at a nature preserve once. We learned all about tracks, tracking, and animal poop… scat. Then we went out and did surveys of the public lands in San Diego, to get an idea of how many coyotes and raccoons and so on that were out there. Never did see a mountain lion track.

You can tell a lot about an animal from its prints.

Its size and weight, how fast it was moving, and so on.

A running dog does not leave a neat print.

Coyote tracks are almost identical to dogs, but their toes tend to be closer together and do not splay out so much. Also, they do not wander aimlessly like dogs. They are looking for food.

Tracking dogs on sand is way easier than tracking animals on hard dirt.

It was best to go out after a rain, when you might find tracks in wet areas. Hey, that one looks like a flower.

A tiny dog. Looks almost like a raccoon print, but not enough claws.

That dog was stopping after running. Look how the sand pushes up in front.

But yeah, light and shadow.

Posted in Everything Else | Tagged art, dogs, humor, nature, photography, tracks | 2 Comments

A ‘Saving Christmas’ and ‘saving democracy’ hybrid… the final chapters…

Posted on January 25, 2021 by pouringmyartout

Okay, this is the last post of two separate series. It is also my last day at my mom’s house in the Bay Area. We did it. With much quarantining and covid testing, multiple vehicles and some help from Amazon, we managed to pull off our late Christmas in the Bay Area at my 97-year-old mother’s house.

We also managed to have a great… late… New Year party during the presidential swearing-in, complete with life-sized Uncle Joe, who is now watching over all of us. So we saved Christmas and democracy, at least for our family.

My younger daughter, Mollie, with Uncle Joe.

My older daughter, Jessica, thought up the Joe idea. I had dreams of many photo shoots, with the family and individuals doing funny things and poses with Joe.

I started doing it, but I have been busy.

So I have only managed to get Mollie and my son-in-law, Jason, so far.

The secret is to get Jason when he has had a few beers.

But not too many. Now Jason and Jessica are back in Oregon, where they recently moved from New York City. And I am bring Joe to San Diego, so we may see him again.

Mollie did give Grandma a haircut. For someone studying nursing, she gives a good haircut.

Did my mom fall asleep?

Looking good, Grandma!

Jessica order so many thing on Amazon that one delivery guy let her keep one of the company tote boxes.

Even though I am going back to San Diego tomorrow, this is not the end of the Bay Area photos. I am still doing my ‘light and shadow’ series, and I have some awesome bird pictures. Not the little birds from my mom’s feeder… oh no. And I am learning how to use a new Christmas present I got, and that is going to add a new level to this blog.

So see you around.