elizabeth at home

Newspace Center for Photography in Portland Oregon

2011-12-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

I am very grateful that I have had a black and white image chosen to be in this fantastic gallery in Portland, the Newspace Center for Photography. Thank you Newspace!

Winter - Lucy's Water Bowl, Baby Field Mouse

2011-12-05T18:32:00.001-08:00

Beauty in the bath

2011-11-29T11:34:00.001-08:00

Black Dog

2011-11-18T17:05:00.001-08:00

How do you speak about all black dogs?

In love with gray

2011-11-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

I went on a whirlwind road trip to the Oregon coast a few weeks ago. It's fall so colors are starting to mute and there was a lovely palette of gray on the water, I can't resist it.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Blue and Gold

2011-10-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

On the road again

2011-09-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Another hotel room, but at least I remember my own pillow from home, a poor substitute for a warm body.

Anticipation II

2011-08-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Anticipation

2011-07-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

Roxanna

2011-07-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

My college roommate and family came to visit over the 4th - beautiful family, beautiful children. I broke out the Polaroid NPS camera and some color film. Here's Roxie...

An afternoon on the lake

2011-07-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

Barriers

2011-06-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Cages, wire, fear.

A bird can't fly on one wing

2011-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Looking back to old black and white negatives, I feel like I've gone so far and then I feel like I'm standing still.

Poppies

2011-06-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Overcome by nature's design

Starting seeds

2011-05-28T09:03:00.001-07:00

Hiroshi Sugimoto Interview

2011-05-22T12:53:00.001-07:00

Becoming an artist

Peeps

2011-04-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than stale sugar-coated marshmallow?

Winter is hanging on

2011-03-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

Butterflies and Anvils - New Photographic Journal

2011-03-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Visual artist and educator Eileen Rafferty has just published the first edition of Butterflies and Anvils, a quarterly photographic journal filled with inspiration and art. The journal is available through Magcloud and you can purchase it through this link: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/168106/follow .

In each issue there is an extensive artist’s interview, beautiful photographs, creative writing, articles about technique and creativity and best of all - you actually hold it in your hands and feel the pages.

I was honored to be chosen as the first artist interviewed in this journal. You can see my work, read my words and see a photograph of "Bad Sandy".

Don't let this journal slip out of your hands. We all need inspiration and Eileen Rafferty has succeeded in making something tangible and beautiful that we will return to over and over again. (And best of all, the spring issue will soon be available!)

Thank you Eileen!

Caught

2011-03-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

i like this one better

2011-03-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Wyoming under water

2011-03-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

This part of Wyoming, Ucross, used to be a redwood forest and completely under water a long long time ago.

Zoo Montana

2011-03-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

On the way to my studio this morning

2011-03-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

This one has ink on paper too. I've discovered that by adding, drawing, wiping, smudging, my marks feel more solid.

First impressions

2011-03-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

White sky
Green chair in my bedroom
Red barn
Rock house
White walls

On the way

2011-03-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

On the way to the Ucross artist in residency program for two weeks.

2011 Who Let the Dogs Out spay - neuter clinic

2011-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

2011 Who Let The Dogs Out Spay Neuter Clinic from elizabethstone on Vimeo.

My husband Jack and I went to the Bahamas again in January to volunteer for the second annual spay-neuter clinic. As soon as we landed, I was energized, not only from the sunshine and warmth, but from doing something that feels good and right. We were part of an amazing group of individuals who came together to help animals on the island of Exuma. I was chief photographer but also got involved in picking animals up for the surgeries in some of the small communities. Gas was $5.19 / gallon which made it impossible for individuals to drive their animals to the clinic and then pick them up after the surgeries. The major economy for the island is tourism and they have been at 20% capacity the last couple of years. You can see this down turn in the lives of the animals and the faces of the people.

For more information see this link on FaceBook and contact the Bahama Humane Society .

Dry spell

2011-02-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

Mountain Lion

2011-01-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

Rabbit Skunk Red Fox Bobcat

2010-12-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

When I was in Maine in November for the artist in residence program, I taught a class to rural Maine eighth graders. I had to teach at night. For their assignment, I had each small group of students create a still life out of objects provided by the rangers. There were lots of skulls. I was able to borrow the skulls over one weekend. I am fascinated by what lies below skin and muscle, the sockets that hold the eyes, the size and shape of the teeth and the beauty in the curve of cheek bone.

Two trees

2010-12-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

At The Horizon - The Atlantic

2010-12-09T13:58:00.001-08:00

Heart beats

2010-12-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

What makes my heart sing

2010-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

There are some environments that make my heart sing, no matter where, no matter when. I don't know why. I've never gotten tired of it. If I intellectualize it too much some of the magic disappears. If I let the dastardly little voice in that says, its just a bunch of grasses in the snow, then of course more of the magic disappears.
I know that we all have these environments and situations. So, to borrow words from the word goddess Eileen, this is what I saw today.

Acadia

2010-11-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm finally home. Unfortunately I got the flu the last day of my stay... the full nasty flu...Thank goodness my sis came up for the last two days to play as she got me to her house in one piece. The whole residency experience was joyful and satisfying. I wish every artist could have this kind of experience once each year. Thank you Acadia.

Acadia postcard number 13 - bluebird of happiness

2010-11-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

Acadia postcard number 12

2010-11-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get tired of writing on the blog and really just want to show the image with hopes it would speak for itself. But as I put this photo up this morning, I started thinking about memory.

What will I remember of this two weeks in Maine. Will I remember the feeling of that cold fog mist on my face and the inability to see where the mist ended and the water began? Will I remember the little brown bunny that watched me ride my bicycle down the lawn to the water before dawn two days in a row? Will I remember the feeling of the sun on my face as I lay on the pink granite rocks on the ocean? Will I remember those twinges of guilt as I talked with my husband on the phone as he juggled his work and all the family animals and a kick ass cold? Will I remember the sounds, or the smells of wet leaves and thick deep green moss? Will my words bring me back? WIll my photographs bring me back?

I took one of the kid chemistry classes that was going on this week as part of the Schoodic Education and Research Center. The discussion for sixth graders was the water cycle of the world: evaporation, condensation, perspiration of all living things and how a drop of water inside of me could be the same drop of water a dinosaur drank ( or sweat or urinated) 10 million years ago - that's amazing and comforting all at the same time, water making the world go round.

Acadia postcard number 11 - election day 2010

2010-11-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Acadia postcard number 10 - erosion

2010-11-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween - creature from the deep

2010-10-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Acadia postcard number 8 - take two

2010-10-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

One of this things I've recognized about this time in Maine is the feeling of being able to act on whim. I had a little drawing I did of the ocean yesterday and I copied it and layered it in to the postcard - take two.

Acadia postcard number 8

2010-10-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

"What will you do with your one wild and beautiful life?"
-Mary Oliver

( I don't have her book of poems with me, but I think that's how that line goes)

Acadia postcard number 7

2010-10-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Little red cruiser bike I borrowed for my remaining time here.

Acadia postcard number 6 - syzygy

2010-10-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

At first it looks like a made up word for a Scrabble game, but the definition of syzygy has to do with the "spring tide" when the sun, earth and moon are all lined up. When this happens there is a large tide.

One of the reasons I wanted to come to Acadia was to try and understand (visually) my fascination with the horizon where the air meets the water at the ocean and the rise and fall of water along the shore. I studied tides today and learned that the human race has long been intrigued with the tides and the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the large water bodies of the earth.

How do I describe my longing to be near this tidal movement which seems so very essential to our existence? I've started with multiple images of water and air in varying densities on top of each other, we'll see where it leads.

Acadia postcard number 5

2010-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

I skipped a day

2010-10-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Already the commitment fell short. I had good intentions (really what are those?) of posting yesterday but I got caught up reworking the class to kids that I am teaching in exchange for this wonderful opportunity. Thirty kids last night and we talked a bit about design and then observed and photographed skulls, leaves and animal pelts. I still get a charge seeing someone's face light up as they "do you see this? look at this?".

I was a frantic woman this morning. I didn't get out of bed when I wanted to and then spent the morning chasing waves and fog in frustration and discontent until I realized that what I really needed to do was just sit and listen to the waves. That's really why I'm here, to watch the curl of a wave and the way the light skims the top of it and rolls through it as it crests and falls. And it does it again, only different, time after time.

The Fish

I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled and barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.
Elizabeth Bishop

Acadia postcard number two

2010-10-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

"Everyone needs beauty as well as bread" - John Muir
From the visitor center in the park.

This image is in honor of my friend and artist, Jenni Fraser, lover of trees...

acadia postcard number one - little fishies where have you gone?

2010-10-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

fall

2010-10-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

The first morning

2010-10-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Where do I go, what do I do? What do I see, what do I write? What do I hear?

On the way

2010-10-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

I was awarded an artist in residency at Acadia National Park for two weeks, October 23-November 6th. The excitement and anticipation have been bubbling and rumbling since I received the news earlier this year. I flew in to Albany to visit my mom and then headed up to Maine. Yesterday I stopped at the Maine Wildlife Park to work on my Captivity series. Every time I cry. I try and be open minded about what each wildlife park and zoo is trying to accomplish. But when I see a bald eagle that is in a cage too small to extend its wings for more than a moment of flight, or two barred owls characterized as shy and solitary on the information sign displayed in their pen on tree limbs with no place to hide, I question the park's role as stewards and protectors. The park grounds are spacious for picnic groups and concerts but I am continually surprised at the size of the enclosures, a bobcat pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Golden Eagle behind glass

Fisher

Skunk

Raccoon

Opossum

Barred Owls

Bobcat

Red Tail Hawk

Gate

2010-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

mom

2010-09-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Bait

2010-08-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Slicker

2010-08-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

in passing

2010-08-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

she sleeps stretched out flat
on cool hard slate
she whimpers
her tail lifts and thumps briefly on the floor
her desires are revealed in her dreams

Obituary for the grasshopper

2010-08-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

Another little life lost yesterday in Lucy's outdoor water bowl. It sank to the bottom of the bowl. Grasshoppers only live three to five months. I'm marking its death, its fantastic and beautiful structure.

More muscle memory

2010-07-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Muscle memory

2010-07-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Using new muscles

2010-07-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Drawing class of live raptors at MAM in Missoula
Great Horned Owl

Slathering buttery oil paint on boards
The beauty of the "beginners mind" , uncertainty and bravery at the same time

Chicago Art Institute

2010-07-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Light and steel doors

Song Bird Song Exhibit at the Emerson Art Center Bozeman Montana July 2010

2010-07-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

At the Emerson Art Center, Song Bird Song exhibit
wire birds and all

Doll house

2010-07-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Lucy's Water Bowl 1 2010

2010-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Oh Susanna

2010-07-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Chicago Zoo

2010-06-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Back to Vegas

2010-05-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

This and that

2010-05-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

I was house/pet/kennel sitting all last week and while I saw a lot of the faces above, I also saw a bit of below.

captive - captivity

2010-04-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

I went to the Las Vegas zoo last week and it was everything I thought it would be: clean, small and employees who clearly cared for the animals. Too small.

thursday march 11

2010-03-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

thursday, march 4

2010-03-04T07:26:00.001-08:00

tuesday afternoon march 2

2010-03-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

tuesday morning march 2

2010-03-02T07:43:00.001-08:00

monday march 1 take 2

2010-03-01T13:35:00.001-08:00

monday march 1

2010-03-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

Visiting Mom in Florida

2010-02-28T05:20:00.000-08:00

beach grass

2010-02-27T15:18:00.001-08:00

in honor of my friend jenni fraser

2010-02-13T13:13:00.001-08:00

I saw, as in really saw, these grasses the other day... they've been outside my front door since last summer and I just saw them. They are in honor of my friend Jenni Fraser who photographs grasses like no other...

the beginning of 2010

2010-02-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

The year started off with a positive spin as I traveled to the Bahamas in January for a free spay/neuter clinic for Exuma island. It was one of the most incredible experiences I have had. We worked with an an amazing group of volunteers and vet. techs. from Nassau, Exuma, the UK, Canada and MT, local Bahamians and a vet. from MT. We did 115 surgeries over 3 1/2 days. I was able to photograph the whole thing from the admissions to the surgeries to the recovery and some of animals at their homes. I'll be posting these soon. And, I'll be using the images to help develop a protocol for free clinics on other islands.
Everyone had such a great week that we are hoping to return at least annually. I ended up bringing a dog back to MT. Sandy Potcake is her name. Sandy Potcake got her last name "potcake" from what the local Bahamians call their stray dogs. She was the last pup that was spayed and didn't have the best situation to return to, so I adopted her and brought her home on the plane. Thankfully she sailed through customs and she checked out at our vet with no problems. I am totally smitten.

The end of 2009

2010-01-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

My family rented a house in Lake Placid, NY for Christmas. It was cold and the snow fell almost each day.

Morning fog a few days ago

2009-12-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

The morning after at the Wilma

2009-12-09T14:00:00.001-08:00

I had the utmost pleasure to stay in Athena's studio in the Wilma building on Friday night after the opening of my show, Wood Cuts. This is the morning after.

more from the show

2009-12-09T12:40:00.001-08:00

Here's the show...

2009-12-09T12:31:00.001-08:00

"Wood Cuts" show at the Catlayst

2009-11-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here's my postcard for my upcoming show at the Catalyst Cafe in Missoula, Montana for the month of December. I'll be posting all the images here on my blog on Friday when the show opens.

The show revolves around recycling and reusing. I've created two collections of imagery that center around the concept of "wood cuts".

One collection involves old slide photographs of tree silhouettes that I have reversed in black and white to mimic the spareness and beauty of an actual wood cut print. The other collection is created by cutting and pasting. I've enjoyed cutting and pasting since I was a kid when I would glue macaroni to cardboard to make pictures for my mom. For this show at the Catalyst, I've taken old photographs and test prints that have been gathering dust in boxes for many years and cut them up and pasted them to create new visual landscapes. The process has been new and challenging for me. Each piece is unique and one of a kind.

Check back on Friday to see all the art if you can't make the opening at the Catalyst.

Looking back

2009-11-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

New feelings and insights emerge when I go back to look at old photographs. It happened this morning as I was searching for a particular image and got waylaid by these pictures. The images are of my college roommate's children this past summer.

just can't stop looking

2009-11-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

the ocean still calls me as i look out my window to snow covered grasses, trees and and mountains. i've been back for two days and i'm longing for the cold wind, rain and hard sand. what draws me to the ocean? for all my ruminating about it, i think that what speaks to me the most is how clear it seems: where water meets sky. somedays, they are so alike that its hard to feel the difference between the two and some days, they are as different as cold coffee and warm brownies.

distraction #2

2009-11-09T15:32:00.001-08:00

self portrait inspiration - wet

2009-11-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

i just spent four days with two of my favorite people, they (Athena and Eileen) are inspiring to watch as they create knock-out after knock-out of self portrait images. Here I am after returning from a really wet walk in the rain and a warm shower...

2009-11-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

"Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view

the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a

voyage of seeing."
- Hiroshi Sugimoto

Thanks Eileen for turning me on to Sugimoto's seascapes.
His words capture what I feel every time I come to the ocean: ancestral and elemental with a sigh and sense of calm.

baby lucy, beach

2009-11-05T16:05:00.001-08:00

distracted

2009-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

twice in two days, i was heading down to my basement to work on my "wood cuts" work and i get pulled away, oh so very easily...
yesterday, i got caught up in jack's left over bee boxes sitting outside of his shop (will post those soon) and today i had an idea for another idea that has been swimming inside of me for a few months, centered around books...
i'm deciding to put this one up even though i'm feeling protective of it, its so new and because its so new, it feels private and exciting and still in its shiny paper wrapping...

apple head days #2 and #5

2009-10-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

progressing nicely, its sitting on top of a corn cob holder punched in to a paper cup.

a few ideas for "wood cuts"

2009-10-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

a few ideas from the series "wood cuts" for the december show at the Catalyst in Missoula...

apple head day one

2009-10-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

how long has it been since you've made one?
my mom was big on doing craft projects on the weekends and i had some pretty artistic teachers in grade school. i just got back from a visit with my mom in upstate new york and it was apple season. we went for a drive in to the country to look at the leaves and stopped at Indian Ladder Farms where you can pick apples, get cider, get squash ( i counted over 20 varieties) and smack your lips over homemade donuts. for some reason i thought about making apple head dolls...i started today. unlike the healing brush in photoshop or creating a curves layer in photoshop on an image , you can't go back on a cut in to an apple, its a whole different way of working - immediate and permanent. i'll keep you posted on the progress.

random impressions of Bulgaria

2009-10-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

Jack and I were most fortunate to do an extraordinary cycling trip with extraordinary friends, Gary and Karen about a month ago. We were on tandem cycles for three weeks. Here is an array of images from the experience.

Bogged down in blog thinking

2009-10-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been bogged down thinking about the validity of my blog. I've had the big bat out over my head anyway as I'm preparing for a show in December in Missoula and I'm trying to do new work (cutting up old photographs and test prints to make something new). Art and yes fear, has raised its ugly head. I woke up this morning and realized that what this blog does is show me, me. My difficulty in committing, my struggle with self doubt, my self absorption, laziness and ok, something positive, my longing for beauty. So buck up, as my husband says and just get to work. Get some posts going and put it out there, visual journaling, with no lock on the cover of the diary.

Flurry

2009-10-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

The snow showers last night produced a flurry of compositions...

breath on cold glass

making tea

baby lucy on the couch

Two more lost

2009-09-25T10:42:00.001-07:00

These little lives were from a few weeks ago.
I got to the point where I would grab my camera first thing each morning and run outside to see what had died over night in the water bowl. This seemed bizarre and in some ways wrong.
I had lost the reverence and reflection that I felt when I first discovered the dragonfly in the first image of the series. When there was nothing in the water bowl, I was disappointed.
The process seemed to have become just about me and getting "the next image"; this made me kind of sick to my stomach.
I haven't stopped checking the bowl but now at least I've started questioning my motives and intent.