Journal: January 2006 Archives

Perspective-

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but theyserve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Nikon, a company that produced the FM3A, is begining to phase out it's line of 35mm SLR(sinlge lens reflex) cameras. Following suit, Kodak announced it would stop selling 35mm cameras in the U.S. and Europe. A great transition is upon us, those of us that have grown up with film canistors and D-76 will witness a change to digital files and flat screens. It is exciting to see the change come, as artists, we have constantly experienced fluctuations in our mediums- at one point we marked on cave walls with charred wood, now we have the ability to plot points on computer monitors, as painters, we once ground pigments, creating our own labor intensive oils, now we simply head down to the local art store and pick up a tube of paint...the list could go on and on.

back in the studio- the creative process is a meditation.

Sunshine, you will be missed by many.

Sunshine Purcell (1996-2006)

The orchid in the office window is preparing to bloom again. Thank you Elizabeth, the orchid has been facinating to watch grow, blossom, shed it's petals, and then present a new stalk, now covered with buds as it prepares to bloom yet again.

Happy New Year!