Timeout for Art: Mirrors and More

Hmmm.. Are you curious?

Mindo, Ecuador —- I am about to attend a concert but wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and to share a sneak peek at a project from this week in Urcuqui Ecuador.

What’s real and what’s paint?

Any ideas what object this is?

While waiting to leave Quito and its congested traffic, I snapped this image of effigies, sold to burn away the old year and bring in the new. I plan to make my own mosquito effigy and burn away the chikungunya and dengue baggage!

Ready-made effigies for sale for the New Year’s Eve tradition.

I’ll be back perhaps this weekend.

Clarksdale, Mississippi -Tornado Update

Tags

Clarksdale Mississippi Christmas Eve Tornado

Leaving Lake Chicot, Arkansas and crossing over to Greenville, Mississippi  (2014)

Being offline most of the time, I usually scan the subject of emails to get a gist of what’s happening in other parts of the world. Headlines of a tornado that hit near Clarsksdale Mississippi got my attention, as I once lived in Clarksdale and several other Delta towns in that area.   John Ruskey at Mississippi River Dispatch/Quepaw Canoe Company sent this report to his subscribers this morning:

Christmas Eve Eve Tornado
Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No 328
Posted Monday, Dec 28, 2015

                             We’re Okay, but Here’s How to Help

“Thanks to everyone who has been calling or writing in concerned about how we’re doing after the Christmas Eve Eve storms, one of which produced an unusually long-lasting tornado that swept a diagonal path 145 miles across northern Mississippi into Tennessee, reportedly staying on the ground the whole way. We are okay in Clarksdale, but outlying areas in the county got hit hard. Homes and airport were damaged near Clarksdale; emergency crews said about 25 homes are severely damaged in Coahoma County, and many more have minor damage. An entire subdivision was wiped out in the Bellevue area. No loss of life reported in Coahoma County, but nearby Benton and Marshall Counties got hit hard with multiple deaths reported.

Several of you have wondered how to help… Thank you! See below news story from CNN for ways to help those who have suffered:

Mississippi communities destroyed: Mississippi was hit just before Christmas and many injuries and deaths were reported. The governor has declared a State of Emergency. Many communities have been damaged and in many cases, families have been left homeless. If you want to help, the Mississippi Emergency Management has ways to donate or volunteer on their website. The small towns of Holly Springs and Clarksdale, Mississippi, are among the hardest hit. The Mississippi Red Cross is providing shelter, food and supplies and you can make a donation here. If you live in the Holly Springs area you can drop off aid at the Eddie Smith Multipurpose Center, 285 North Memphis Street and in Clarksdale at the Civic Auditorium at 506 East 2nd Street.

Direct Relief is sending medical supplies to the region and is just one of many organizations getting ready to respond.

(Click here for story From CNN News)

The tornado was visible from the Hopson Plantation, the Shack Up Inn, and must have come across the Sunflower River somewhere south of there, maybe in the Dublin/Roundaway area. Clarksdale narrowly missed being hit by the tornado. It passed within five miles of town. But nearby communities were hit hard. Belleview especially, we’ve heard that 25 houses were destroyed in the county and many more damaged. And the rain was torrential. We got 6 – 10 inches of rain in a short intense burst of storms, and now all the fields and drainages are full of water, and the Sunflower River rose 10 feet in about 6 hours on Christmas Eve morning, and is now flooding big time, the highest its been since 2011 I think, judging by the muddy water creeping across the parking lot at Quapaw Canoe Company.

Update from John around noon Dec 28th, 2015:

1) I just got a report of one person died in Coahoma County as result of the tornado (details forthcoming)

2) Sen Robert Jackson shared this report from Quitman County: “We also have many families who lost their homes in the Marks area as well and need your prayers and assistance. Call Don Green at Ms Delta Council for Farm Worker Opportunities. 662-627-1122.”

The Mississippi River near Greenville

More from John:  Mississippi River Forecast- The entire Lower Mississippi and Middle Mississippi River Valleys have been experiencing heavy rainfall in these same storms, with flood walls being closed and the big river rising above major flood stage in St. Louis, and forecasted to crest around 48.5 in Cape Girardeau on Jan 2nd (which is at record height — as high as it got in the catastrophic floods of 1993!). The forescast for the Lower Miss is not as dire, 57 feet at the mouth of the Ohio River (Cairo, IL) on the 5th of January. (This is 17 feet above flood stage in Cairo), but it is expected to crest at 41 Memphis (7 feet above flood stage), at 43.5 in Baton Rouge on Jan 19th (8.5 feet above flood stage) and at 17 in New Orleans on the 20th (which is alarmingly high — the levees protect NO only up to 20 feet).

Whew! 2016 is going to be an interesting year on the Lower Miss!

For more photos of the Lower Miss and more reading, go to http://www.rivergator.org

The Lower Mississippi River Dispatch
is a service of the Lower Mississippi River Foundation
Clarksdale, Miss ~ Helena, Ark

John Ruskey/ RiverGator.org
Quapaw Canoe Company
Lower Mississippi River Foundation
291 Sunflower Avenue
Clarksdale, MS 38614
http://www.island63.com
cell: 662-902-7841
office: 662-627-4070
john@island63.com

 

HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM THE CLOUD FOREST!

Tags

christmas in ecuador, jama ecuador, red

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Holiday Red!

Short and sweet, this post spotlights some of my favorite ‘red’ images as I extend my best wishes to all of you for a wonderful holiday season.   Thank you for your support for my drawings, paintings, whimsical art and for my epistles, stories and serious writings as well.

For those who have time to venture back to old posts, here’s how my Ecuadorian friends observe Christmas in the town of Jama.  (Manabi Province/Ecuador)

https://playamart.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/through-foreign-eyes/

and here:

https://playamart.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/christmas-at-latitude-zero/

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clausette!

Siblings Cira and Fernando (Left, Middle) greet their ‘surprise’ friend from Europe!

Un beso para madre!

Now let’s turn back to more images in red!

Awakenings…

Tags

agent orange victims, Bob Ramsak, iinspiration, Piran Cafe

Dawn awakenings in Ecuador’s cloud forest.

Most every morning I awaken with a plate-full of dreams still lingering in my psyche. They war at times with lucid thoughts, and I question, “Where do these thoughts come from?” (Perdon, but “from where do these thoughts arise,” just doesn’t flow well!)

(Ecuadorian Thrush) As I inspect my awakening thoughts, the thrush is the official Inspector of the Gardens.

This morning a cyber headline from last week played over and over, much like a banner running nonstop across a viewing screen. “Monsanto charged with Crimes Against Humanity” and I wondered just what crimes are named or if it was a headline to prompt visits to the site. Without being online for the ease of a search tool, I decided the most-obvious reason might be connected to Agent Orange and its use in the Vietnam War.

In 2011, Bob Ramsak of Piran Cafe wrote about his visit to “Thanhxuan Peace Village, or Lang Hoa Binh Than Xuan, an orphanage, school and clinic in Hanoi set up specifically for victims of Agent Orange. It was also the last time I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before an appreciative audience.”

Timeout for Art -“The Chemicals of Inspiration”

Tags

Solitude and Creativity, Solitude and Inspiration, Timeout for Art Chemicals of Inspiration

What’s making that croaking sound?  By George, it’s a toucan!

Now that I am living in the cloud forest near Mindo Ecuador, I am distanced from urban areas and spend most of my time in blissful solitude. Every so often someone will ask, “Aren’t you scared?” or “Don’t you get bored?” or even “Are you sure you are happy out there?”

Sometimes I smile  (smirk?) and reply, “I’m not wired like most…”

The toucan calls for me to celebrate the day!

Even when very young, I preferred the sky as my roof and a fallen tree as my chosen furniture, and I’d seek out my favorite places in the woods and sit for half an hour or more before moving to another area. I craved the hushed quiet of the wilderness, though the nuances of subtle sounds filled my hours with joy. The wind whispering through the trees provided the most-constant soundtrack as I admired and inspected wildflowers that dotted the landscape. I learned to stomp on the ripened fruit of the ‘Maypop,’ and I sometimes tweaked my attention to a sudden splash in the water, which might have been a fish or a snake or a falling limb. I explored the thickets for Brer Rabbit, though I always failed at sneaking up on prehistoric-looking softshelled turtles basking on sun-drenched banks.

I preferred the quiet solace of tranquil waters – and still do!

Rio Cinto always offers a different mood and another facet of beauty.

As an adult, I adapted when necessary, but I have always been my best when alone with nature. My senses come alive, and I merge with the subtle rhythms. Years ago when I spent a month in the city, I asked my birding friend, Michael Godfrey, “If I feel starved for connection with nature, what must the Indians feel when they’ve transplanted to the concrete jungles? How do they survive?”
Michael’s reply was a sobering one, “They don’t. They die a little each day from soul rot.”

Sun and Shadows

Tags

light and shadows, Otto Munchow, palo santo jama ecuador, photographing light

This photo freezes a display of stunning light and shadows last year at Canoa Beach Hotel. (Ecuador)

Todays assortment of images reflect my response to Otto Munchow’s post, “Let the Sun In.”       A gifted photographer and teacher, Otto stated, “Light is one of the most important factors that influence the quality of a photo.”  He followed with, “There is no such thing as bad light, only suitable or not suitable light for whatever you are trying to express. ”  His post offers pointers for photographing in the harsh mid-day light.

 

View from the dining room… 10 a.m. light…

This bromeliad hitched a ride to the edge of a public gravel road via a large limb that fell to the ground. After watching it for several weeks, I decided that the road graders would one day consume it, so with no guilt, I transplanted it to a space where it would be treasured.  Several of its canopy mates joined it – friends for life!

As I read his post, I thought of the ‘Plant Rescue Garden’ (pictured above) at my friends’ property in the cloud forest near Mindo.  During certain hours, the sun stretches its fingers into the deep shadowed area and showcases several of the plants.  The light is very dramatic, and I almost always reach for my camera and try to capture what makes it so special.  Just how many photos does one need of the happily-transplanted bromeliads, begonias and orchids?  For me, they serve as reference photos for those rainy days when I’m housebound and looking for inspiration for paintings.

A begonia lived on the tracks of an old excavator that was about to roll for the first time in years.