Sunday, April 21, 2013

Not exactly springing into Spring...

It may be a completely subjective and inaccurate assessment, but it seems to this observer of the seasons that this past Winter was very reluctant to loosen its grip upon our area, and Spring has been slow to follow... almost hesitant, as if fearing that blooming flowers might inspire the gods of snow to let loose with one last blast of the freezing cold white fluff.

But today I saw some signs which encouraged me.

I was on a bicycle ride through the lovely campus of Smith College, and stopped to admire -- and take photos of -- several colorful bits of flora. This beautiful flowering bush resides behind John M. Greene Hall...




... and this lovely tree bedecked in white blossoms stands next to the Smith greenhouses.







While searching for a bench upon which to sit and drink my decaf coffee, I noticed this tree in full bloom, surrounded by a field of yellow flowers, on a slope below one of the dormitories, and took a series of photos from which I could make this panoramic view.





After I'd put the bicycle away and headed home on my motorcycle, I decided to take the long way back, and stopped by the beaver pond in Conway, to take a few shots of this lone duck -- or is it a goose? -- and its reflection on the gently rippling water.






Yes, it's taking its own sweet time, but I do believe Spring is finally coming. -- PL

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Turtles in the library, part 2

Here's another view of the visit my brother Bruce and I paid to the new installation of the TMNT bronzes I donated to UMass.


 I used Panorama Maker 5 to stitch together several shots to make this panoramic image of Bruce getting serious with his photography.

You can see more clearly in this shot the beautiful display case UMass commissioned for the sculpture group on its granite pedestal. -- PL


Saturday, April 13, 2013

Turtles in the library




Here's a link to a recent post on my brother Bruce's "blARTblog":


This past week he and I took a trip over to our alma mater, the University of Massachusetts in Amherst,  to check out the recent installation of some small bronze TMNT sculptures (all four Turtles, plus Splinter) I donated to the university. They made a beautiful display case for the sculpture group (and its granite base), which is currently situated on the twenty-first floor of the library, between the children's books and Asian studies sections.

I have a few more photos that I might post later, but I thought you might get a kick out of seeing what Bruce posted. -- PL

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Von Engman's Shirt Vault... now open!



My long-time good friend and fellow graphic designer (and to be honest, when I say I am a fellow graphic designer, I mean he has probably forgotten more about Adobe Illustrator than I have ever known) Rob Engman has started a new venture -- he's designed a whole line of quirky, whimsical illustrations using his own fresh new take on the "heart" (❤) symbol (as in "I ❤ Whatever") to express his fondness (and, hopefully, yours as well) for a variety of fantastic critters, including Vampires, Zombies, Robots, and Werewolves, to name a few.

These unique designs are printed on a range of various types of shirts, and you can see them all at what Rob is calling "Von Engman's Shirt Vault", found at this link:

http://www.vonengmans-shirtvault.com/

I think I may have to break my self-imposed rule of not wearing t-shirts with designs on them... these things are pretty cool! (I especially like the robot one.) -- PL