Spring waterfalls

Like many people, I am fascinated by waterfalls, big and small. Actually, I think I find the small ones even more captivating than really huge ones.

In the hills of New England around this time of year it is common to find what I refer to as "spring waterfalls". These are small watercourses created by the melting of the winter snow in the spring. During this time, these little streams will run freely, but as the snow finishes melting, they tend to dry up and disappear until the following spring, occasionally reappearing before that if there is lots of rain.

But it's cooler in the spring, because these things are easier to spot while you are driving around, given that there are no leaves yet to block the view.



I found these little waterfalls last year, just a hundred or so feet off a road which I travel quite a bit. For some reason, I had never noticed them before that. A few days ago I was out on the Victory and decided to stop to take some shots, as the snow around here has been melting rapidly and I could see that there was quite a bit of water coming down this hill. I put some of the photos together into this panoramic view. -- PL

Blast from the Past #290: "Chickens" cover for Hampshire Life

This is another piece done on coquille board, in this case as a cover for "Hampshire Life". I like the egg-shaped doorway to the chicken coop.



Although it's difficult to see in this image, I also used a small piece of Chartpak pattern film -- the kind with opaque white dots instead of black dots -- to fade out the silhouette of the trees in the background. I usually didn't combine media like this.

I also found in my archives these rough sketches I did while trying to work out the idea for this cover drawing. (Don't ask me what that strange face in the upper right hand corner is doing there -- it's probably just a random doodle having nothing to do with the work I was supposed to be doing.) -- PL

Thoughts on the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of going to the movies with my wife Jeannine and Dan Berger and his wife Jess. The movie we saw was the new "Alice in Wonderland" by Tim Burton.

The pleasure was mostly in the company, not in the movie itself -- I found it quite underwhelming, and sadly one more example of a movie in which visual spectacle wildly outstrips the story being told.

I've greatly enjoyed several of Tim Burton's movies, especially "Nightmare Before Christmas", which I've probably seen ten times (most of those viewings with my daughter). He has quite a wild visual imagination, and that quality is very much on display in this new "Alice". I applaud everyone who had a hand in crafting the look of this movie -- it's really quite something, a truly sumptuous feast for the eyes. I found it far more compelling than, say, the visuals in "Avatar". In "Alice", the world being created is surreal and ridiculous, and thus (in my opinion) much harder to render convincingly "real" than the more prosaic jungles and spaceships of "Avatar". I might even go back to watch "Alice" again just to look at the images.

But I wouldn't be returning for the story, which is woefully thin. Not that the source material is a masterpiece of plot, mind you, but even that "collection-of-incidents-which-passes-for-a-story" would be preferable to the thin gruel of this new tale. In fact, when, for a brief moment in this movie, we see a short flashback to the original Alice and her first journey to Wonderland, I found myself thinking how much more fun it would have been if Burton et al would have just turned their considerable talents to a straight adaptation of the original. They just might have produced the ultimate cinetmatic iteration of "Alice in Wonderland".

And I must also say that I groaned loudly when, near the end of the movie, Johnny Depp's "Mad Hatter" busted out some boogie moves to a funky beat. Ugh. -- PL

Blast from the Past #288: "By the Waters of Babylon" adaptation

Many years ago, my brother Don, knowing my interest in tales of a post-apocalypse Earth, turned me on to a story written by Stephen Vincent Benet titled "By the Waters of Babylon". I was quite taken with the story, and thought it could be cool in comic book form. So I set about adapting it (sometime in the late 1970's, I think), just for my own pleasure, with no thoughts of publishing it.

For some reason, I decided to draw it on heavy illustration board, and in a large size (about 10 by 15). I finished about seven pages of it, and partially drew five more, before I abandoned the project. At this late date, I can't recall why I didn't finish it. -- PL

It's Spring! (almost...)

This Thursday, for our regular weekly meeting, my friends Rick and Rob and I decided to drive out to Pittsfield, hauling the bicycles in my truck, so that we cold take our inaugural 2010 ride on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail which goes from Pittsfield to Adams. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were very much looing forwad to this ride. I fully expected that the bike path would be clear of snow and ice, as the trail between Northampton and Amherst has been for several weeks, and Pittsfield (or so I had always thought) had more or less the same climate as the Northampton area. Rick kept telling me that it would be colder out there, and I didn't believe him.

So off we went down the trail, grooving on the sun and sky and the wide-open trail. I snapped this photo of Rob and Rick shortly after we started riding -- I think there's a kind of "Easy Rider"/Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda vibe to it.



My first clue that I might be wrong about the climate difference could have been this still half-frozen lake along the first part of the bike trail on the Pittsfield end.



ABout two-thirds of the way down the trail, after having to skirt a few tiny snowy patches along the way (no big deal), we were confronted by a section of the trail COVERED in snow and ice. Rob voluteered to jog down the trail a bit to see if this was just a small aberration -- here's a photo of Rick waiting for him.



Rob came back with the bad news the as far as he could see, the trail continued to be covered by the slippery stuff. (I should note that this part of the trail is the shadiest section of its entire length, which is nice in the heat of the summer, but apparently not so great for the melting of snow and ice in the spring.)

So we decided to turn back, and didn't make it all the way to the center of Adams as we had planned. Bummer. But it was still a very nice ride, and we got to have a meal at Ozzie's, one of my favorite restaurants, so it was definitely not a total loss. -- PL

Blast from the Past #287: Gourds on coquille board

I recently found this piece in my files, framed it, and hung it on the wall in our kitchen. It's almost certainly something I did for "Hampshire Life", but there is a remote possibility that I drew it for a "Big Y" advertisement.



I especially like the "flying saucer"-shaped gourd on the lower left -- not sure what kind that is. -- PL

Blast from the Past #286: Homeless man making coffee

I can't recall exactly what publication I drew this piece for, but I suspect it was "Hampshire Life".



It's one of the few times I used ink wash for grey tones in an illustration. -- PL