“Collaborating with a painter, a poet, a garment-maker and a choreographer has presented more and different challenges than I imagined…

It was a very meta thing: an improv dance concert based on photos taken at an earlier improv dance concert.

Putting a photo book together was more challenging than I expected, but I learned a lot, and found a great printer for the project.

How a collection of images became the inspiration for a live dance performance.

I’m having a wonderful summer and I hope you are, too.

I love the notion that earth is a living spirit. It’s so deliciously pagan. It pays massive respect to the environment while simultaneously thumbing its nose at sanctimony. Go, Pagans!

Video chat about my work with Bryan Voell from Johnson County Library! Several pieces on display (and for sale) at the Corinth Branch through April 21st. (Note: the JocoLibrary site mistakenly says I’ve been in 3 public shows — it’s actually 16.)

The pandemic has been especially cruel to small towns, where many believe they’re safe, the public health resources are limited or nonexistent, and, let’s face it, they’re more vulnerable to the rapid spread of disinformation.

The skills needed in the individual events are barely, if at all, relevant to daily life on a ranch or in the livestock business, as some, like calf-roping and bronco-riding, once were. (I doubt if any sane person would try to ride a bull without being paid to do it. And even then…)

On May 20, I left on a 1-week road trip that was to take me into Colorado, where, outside my normal range of visual stimulation, I would find much-needed inspiration. During the week, I reunited with a bunch of great people and had a lot of fun. But what I found most interesting happened on the first day, just 200 miles from home, in a town I’d never heard of.

I’ve sold more prints this year than ever before and that’s good. But accompanying the sales is a bit of baggage. I’m too new at this to speak with any authority about the challenges faced by artists as a group, but I can talk about how I feel. The demon of avarice is definitely bad for my work. And even worse is the demon of wanting to please others.

As I get older, I’m more and more fascinated by uncertainty and its effect on people. Exploring ambiguity to find meaning may be the main reason behind all art, but in 20th Century American Expressionism, for example, creating ambiguity is the point. “What exactly am I looking at?” might be the most important question in the world, for people who can see.

Coming out of the coldest winter and the longest year of my life, I find myself wanting to assess the state of things. I suppose I’m a bit like a rancher checking to see which cattle survived and which fences and buildings need to be fixed or replaced.