making something out of nothing

i spent the morning fertilizing trees

and looking for the beginnings
of tree budburst.

its all for research
but i was also
searching for color in a rather
monotone early spring landscape.


i am so inspired by color.
coloror colorful is a word
often used to describe my style.
i love bright bold colors.

here’s some color that
i found in my old digital photo stash
that caught my eye today.

the walls in a restaurant in Amsterdam:

my plate after i ate all the
mandrian crispy beef
that i could manage
(the best dish at the vegetarian teapot in seattle):

my brother’s sculpture
made out of caps, pins and plastic sticky-feet:


my brother is amazing at
making something beautiful
out of the most ordinary objects
or
seeing beauty in the most otherwise
unnoticable things.
here he took an old piece of wood
and covered it with silver gum wrappers
(the kind on juicy fruit)
and next to it is an old smashed up
rear view mirror that he found on the road.

here he took the absolute vodka caps and carefully
put them into holes he drilled on a board:

he still has big plans for this piece
with wax and lights but it’s nice the way it is.

he filled a cup with plaster…
turned it upside-down
added a plastic ball
and made this:


one of my favorite pieces is this one
that hangs over his fireplace:

it’s a huge board that he found
and covered it with those gum wrappers.
he simply boils them so the silver part separates
from the wax part and then uses gloss to attach them.
the overlay is an old piece of wallpaper.
so simple. so elegant.
i am trading a couple of my value village finds
for this piece.

here is my brother.


he is a bartender and makes
the perfect perfect manhattan.
he also likes to take baths outside.

don’t you just heart him?