Fine Art Tuesday

 

Charles Marion Russell was born in Missouri in 1864 and died in 1926. He produced an astounding 2000 cataloged works during his lifetime.

Even though many of his paintings seem "starved" for detail it is part of his technique for producing the dusty, barren feel of the desert in his paintings, that is, a thin (fast drying) wash of paint. The nubbly texture of the canvas adds a washed-out coarseness that simulates the cobble of the wind-scoured ground.

For example, from the picture above we have

Russell was also notable for his sympathetic but not overly romantic portrayal of Native Americans.

In his spare time, he also did sculpture.

Russell was blessed to live in a time that adored his work. Cowboy novels sold for a nickel or a dime each, Wild West Circus shows toured the east, and Teddy Roosevelt, the icon of a sickly eastern dude who had gone west and returned as a virile man, had done much to bring "The West" into the awareness of the average American.

A tip of the hat to the erudite 10x25mm for suggesting this artist. 

Can you see me now?

 

Can you see him. I didn't at first

I mowed the lawn. I secured the garden to keep the ducks in and to discourage rabbits, woodchucks and deer from entering. I did a few smaller, fiddly things like tilling half of the potato patch and planting some cucumber seeds inside. Four hours time-on-task.

Can you see him now? The cameras on phones are outstanding but still cannot compete with the human eye

Mrs ERJ made scrambled duck eggs with fresh asparagus and assorted vegetables from the refrigerator.

Can you see him now? Tree frogs are fairly active even when it is cold outside.

Today's work-tickets include watching Quicksilver, filling trenches, throwing around some fertilizer and planting some tree seeds. The trench filling should go fast since I will be able to shovel directly from the back of the truck.

This time of year I am a gardener who blogs rather than a blogger who gardens. 

First Rule of Flying: Fly the D@mned Plane, everything else can wait

 

2:30 run-time. Bird-strike at 1:11/1:12 mark. Underpants soiled. Propeller imbalanced.

I am curious as to why he picked THAT field. It looked like there were plenty of other candidates. Was he landing into the wind to reduce forward velocity? He landed in a puddle...is that good? 

Life goes on

I am working around the house today. Consequently, I am in-and-out of the house and you get more, shorter posts.

Two teenagers make a day-trip to the-big-city. They spend time at an amusement park. It is a very pleasant day. The park is not crowded. The Japanese Cherry trees are blooming. They play games, eat pizza, walk through a market. The link ports you into the video as they step off of the bus and they get back on the bus for the return trip at the 31 minute mark. It all seems very ordinary.

The amusement park is a scant 75 miles from "the front" in the current Urkaine/Russian war. Women outnumber men by about 4:1 and there are virtually no men walking around who don't have gray hair.

A big tip of the hat to Anon who was able to deduce the location of the amusement park. Many thanks! 

Perverse incentives

The papers are full of stories of judges refusing to sentence convicted felons to sentences that are consistent with guidelines because they believe that the convicted felon has a low IQ and is therefore not responsible for their crimes.

In other news:

So, let me get this straight...if a black student or immigrant proves that they can master middle-school math then they face prison sentences if convicted of a felony (whether rightly convicted or not). Meanwhile, if they fail 5th-grade math the judge parks them in a cushy half-way house for six months and then they are released back into society.

So who are the idiots? The students or the judges and school administrators? 

A few pictures

 

Mixed tray of Freedom primocane bearing blackberries and Tagetes minuta

Top trays left-to-right: Tomatoes, Lovage, Tobacco, African Marigolds.

Bottom Trays: Tomatoes, Tagetes lucida, more tomatoes

Bottom-right tray is my problem-child.

 

Deterring theft from community garden plots

 

Signage is important. It sets the tone.

Selection of varieties can help. There are heirloom tomato varieties that are extremely wrinkled.

Bitter melon or dragon gourds can be grown up the trellis and mis-labeled "Cucumbers"

I observed recent immigrants from Nepal planting extremely thorny varieties of eggplant in their garden plots.

Quicksilver music moment

Hoe down 

Food plants that tolerate flooding

I find myself besieged by questions about food-plants that can withstand flooding and soils with high water-tables. It probably has to do with the exceptional, but not unprecedented, rainfall we had this spring in Michigan.

Most resistant

• Wild rice
• Domesticated rice 
• Watercress
• Cattails
• Cranberries 
• Lotus 
• Water Chestnuts
• Chufa 

Very resistant

• Mint (almost all kinds)
• Currants
• Some species of Gooseberries
• Elderberries
• Aronia
• Some viburnum species 
• Some brambles
• Mayhaws 
• Some "Asian" greens
• Sorrel (Rumex) not including Sheep Sorrel
• Daylily
• Hardy Hibiscus
• Some species of oak; Q. bicolor, Q. palustris, Q. lyrata, Q. nigra, Q. phellos, Q. nuttallii/texana
• Some species of roses; R. palustris, R. multiflora (sometimes used as a rootstock for grafted roses) 

Resistant

• Black Walnut
• Pecans and some other hickory species 
• Some strains of American Hazelnut
• Chives 
• Most non-root garden vegetables when grown on raised-beds
• Soybeans
• Grapes with Vitis riparia in their pedigree
• Highbush Blueberries (raised beds)