“Blackbirds and Black Willows, Close of Day”

Posted on Nov, Tue, 2022 in Black & White

“Blackbird and Black Willows, Close of Day”  C.G. Baker, 2022

 

“The Blackbird”, (last stanza)

“Two golden stars, like tokens from the Blest,
Strike on his dim orbs from the setting sun;
His sinking hands seem pointing to the West;
He smiles as though he said—”Thy will be done”:
His eyes, they see not those illuminings;
His ears, they hear not what the Blackbird sings.”  Frederick Tennyson

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“Autumn Grass, Hudson River Valley”

Posted on Nov, Mon, 2022 in Gallery Image, Landscapes, Musings from Still Point

“Autumn Grass, Hudson River Valley”

Back home only a week, missing and musing about this inspirational landscape for the Hudson River School artists. A scene from our hike of Frederic Church’s estate, “Olana”, perched above the banks of the Hudson River. The unseen reverse view captures the full sweep of the Catskills and the Hudson River valley below; a dramatic backdrop to the home of Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School. He well might have opined on the role of providence putting us in the valley at the perfect autumn moment. We counted our blessings.
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“Willow in the Window”

Posted on Nov, Mon, 2022 in Uncategorized

“Willow in the Window”

Scene out our window last week (Nov. 2) in Hinesburg, Vermont., a small New England village outside Burlington. The restored barn where we stayed provided ideal quarters for the first half of our trip, not only for its beautiful landscape but for its interior views that evoked memories ranging from Kertész to Wyeth.
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“Late to Flush”

Posted on Nov, Sun, 2022 in Landscapes, Musings from Still Point

“Late to Flush Mallards”

This morning (Wednesday, Oct. 19) provided for an unanticipated closeup as migrating mallards, after holding tight through freezing rain and the season’s first trace of snow, burst into flight at the west end of the marsh . In deeper water, 100 yards to the east a pair of redheads and a raft of lesser scaups, more backsides visible than heads, were tipping and resurfacing like “drinking bird toys”, as they foraged below.

A reluctant yet serendipitous decision to hike through freezing rain provided rare color as poplars, maple and wild cherry were already brilliant. White and red oaks are in early stages of rust and the sedge, rush and reeds range from red to light green at this moment. For a few days only, it is the latter, the light green grasses, that give the landscape another dimension.
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