Placido Domingo

Today was Placido Domingo, that is to say, Serene Sunday.

My mother used to make that joke, how Placido Domingo translated literally to Serene Sunday, Placid Sunday. I think she got it from my aunt. But today my friend Zach came up with it independently and it made me laugh because it made me think of my mother.

A small group of us were on the beach and enjoying our Placido Domingo. That is a picture I took up above of the grain elevator near Gallagher Pier. After I took the picture I was thinking, it looks like one of those weird pictures that Google throws up at you for your wallpaper or whatever. Some weird picture from some corner of the globe that you cannot guess. Usually it is in Thailand or Qatar or somewhere but in this case it is Buffalo, N.Y.

I have sketched that grain elevator many times as have many artists around here because it is just so world class. Here it was last week when it was so cold and windy I could not get out of the car.

Today was so warm and wonderful, it was like July. Except it was November and it got dark around 5 p.m. Still it was magical.

Today it was beautiful. It was warm -- hot, even -- in the sun, even though here we are well into November.

We watched the sunset and spoke of this and that. Other people had gathered too and were sitting on the Adirondack chairs, opening beverages and watching the sunset. Speaking of beverages a couple of women spoke up and addressed the gathering, asking if anyone had a bottle opener on his or her key chain. I did! And they were able to open their Angry Orchard cider.

Placido Domingo.

We will remember it!

From summer to fall

 

Yikes, all at once it is Autumn~!

That ~ symbol ended up there by mistake but I like how it looks so I will leave it there.

Just a few days ago it was warm, sweltering even, and I drew that little sketch up above. Actually the sketch is about a foot long. I drew it in my Long and Narrow sketchbook which I choose to use when I want to have fun.

I did that sketch at Wilkeson Pointe on Buffalo's Outer Harbor. I was there with my friend Ryan and we had noticed how cool these people looked walking on this ridge. They were silhouetted against the sunset and looked like shadows. The woman second from the front was wearing a sari and I did try to get that sari in there. It is fun working in ink because there are no second chances but also you do not erase and fuss over things too much. 

Anyway there it is, my portrait of people walking along the ridge at Wilkeson Pointe!

I like any drawing I did that I can look at and say: That is pretty much what I saw. This drawing does that.

Soon I will be going back to drawing at least some of the time in my car. How things change! The other night I made it to the Outer Harbor but it was, I must admit it, pretty chilly.

Today I wore a scarf when I went walking in the park. I took this picture.

 

 

I met my brother George and he had a knit cap. It was one of those days in Buffalo when you saw people in shorts and people in parkas.

I am working on getting Christmas cards printed! There, I said it ... Christmas.

It is closer than you think!

Charles Burchfield and the Cheerios plant

I love industry. I do not know why this is.

I love observing and taking pictures of factories and such!

Once when I worked at the Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, I went to an art exhibit that was called "Smoke." The person took pictures of smokestacks and the smoke coming out of them, smokestacks that belonged to big plants. They were huge photos, beautifully framed.

Looking back now I am sure he or she aimed to make some kind of statement. I do seem to remember there was something, about pollution. But the message was lost on me. I am standing there staring, thinking: These pictures are beautiful! I want to do that!

So I packed up my Instamatic and the next day on the way to work I detoured down Buffalo Avenue so I could look at all the factories and take pictures.

I wish I knew where those pictures are now! But I do not. So I am sharing a picture I took a week or so ago, of a landscape including the Cheerios plant in downtown Buffalo, near where I work.

I used the above picture as my Facebook cover photo. Everyone was really nice with their kind words. One friend said it looked, ahem, like the work of Charles Burchfield. After that I was walking around with this big ego, I can tell you that.

And today I got a great surprise.

My friend Barry is turning my photo into a painting!

I believe Barry works in oils. He already posted a picture on Facebook of my photo roughed out.

I was thrilled. I asked him if he could post pictures of the painting's progress. It would be like "Sunday in the Park With George," where you see a painting coming to life!

Being into watercolors I would like to try my hand at my photo. Maybe some day. Right now I am too busy with Leonard Pennario, plus I think I should try easier stuff first, like wildflowers or a cup of coffee or something. The other day I painted my oatmeal. That is more my speed.

I will let Barry do the heavy lifting.

And I promise to post his progress!

The sun sets on summer

I took these pictures of the sunset the other day and it makes it look as if the waterfront is on fire!

When I passed the construction site near The Buffalo News there was a guy in a hard hat taking pictures too. The sunset was that stunning. It was funny because that morning I had been up early working on my Leonard Pennario book and I had been admiring the moon. Now I was admiring the sun.

I have titled this picture "Sunset With Port-O-Potties."

Summer is certainly going out with a flash and a bang. I do consider that this is summer ending. Heck, I was just swimming at the beach a fortnight ago!

It is a most mesmerizing time of year!

My ride is here

A big expensive yacht has been sighted on the Buffalo waterfront. It has been there for over a week, I do reckon. It is To-Kalon!

That is it up above.

Here is a write-up about it.

Here is the dining area, not that I have been inside. It is off of the 'Net.

It is striking to have this ship parked downtown where we all can look at it. Now Buffalo can be known as not just the birthplace of Leonard Pennario but as the docking place of the To-Kalon yacht.

I have been looking at it for a week and yet I see no people coming or going. There is a pair of sandals sitting by one of the doors as if somebody kicked them off in the last few minutes. But no one is there.

Reading up on the yacht I find, the best thing about it is the company that designed it.

It is Burger Boats!

All you can think of is...

... I am sorry.

Still an impressive boat. Although if it were mine, I have to confess, I would have to dub it not To-Kalon but Burger King.

Come on, how could you resist?

By the sea, by the sea

I went walking on the waterfront and while I walked I listened to Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman."

That is the opera to listen to while you are walking by the sea! And looking at our old lighthouse which dates to when Wagner was alive. I listened to some of Act I of the opera.

The overture, with the waves crashing against the rocks. We did not exactly have waves crashing but we had rocks at least ...

... and I was able to use my imagination.

I also love the Norwegian sailors' songs, like the famous sailors' chorus. I love how the sailors are trying their darnedest to pretend that everything is OK. It is not OK! Not when you are faced with the Flying Dutchman's ghost ship it is not.

Here is a great video of the chorus featuring Errol Flynn.

That is great music! As sea music goes it is almost as good as Leonard Pennario's "Midnight on the Cliffs." There is another piece where you can hear the waves crashing.

I was not the only one moved by the atmosphere of the wind and the water.

And there was this stark scene.

Such atmosphere!

It seems like just yesterday I was photographing the waterfront and it was early spring. It was April 1.

The year is flying!