Skywatch Friday, Pier Park

These pictures were taken before dawn, at dawn and just after dawn at Pier Park. This morning (as I write this), my 15-year old son woke me earlier than usual and wanted me to drive him to school because it was abominably cold out. And very windy—bad wind chill. Normally he walks. And he was wearing his pajamas. They aren’t very warm.

So I got up, dressed warmly, put on wind pants and drove him to school—then drove down to the lake where I saw, in the dark, that the ice was piled up along the lake wall—frigid-looking but beautiful.

I drove to Pier Park and got there at 7:36 AM—it was still dark and the park was closed but the attendant let me in when I told him I just wanted to talk a walk.

I’d bundled myself up but was still shocked by the cold. Brr—and the wind tore through me. But I walked through the dark and the slow growing of predawn light until gradually it was nearly light out—and then I witnessed the dawn over the frozen and partly frozen lake and bays. It was lovely. I took lots of pictures with my tiny digital camera. I walked over the frozen sand of the lake and the frozen docks past the frozen boats slips and up on to the viewing platform and around to the gazebo. I was out for about an hour and some man came looking for me, because it was so cold the parking attendant was worried about me—also maybe worried because a couple weeks ago, a local woman parked by the lake and walked into it and was never found. It was so cold they said she’d have died of hypothermia in about ten minutes—and it’s colder than that, today. Oh, how I hate to think of her there . . .

But I was okay—my hands hurt when I took pictures, because I couldn’t do it with my glove on.And I couldn’t take the time to be precisely careful about the pictures.

I had a warm car and a warm house to return to, but I worry about the homeless in this bitter cold. And the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I took lots of pictures ad will be sharing them over the next few days (or weeks?)

And here are two of the new art pieces I've been doing:




The first is called "At the Black Canyon of the Gunnison" and is made with Christmas markers. It is 8 x 10, on watercolor paper. The second is gouache--I was just fooling around testing the transparency/opacity of the gouache. I haven't had time lately to post my art.