When I stepped from the porch this morning, I saw a stand of French blue “Texas Petunias,” goldfish in a tin horse trough, bluegreen limes, new bamboo and a frog smaller than a baby’s fingernail, the gifts of a southern morning.

Like most artists, I’ve always sketched and photographed the small creatures, large insects. leaves, flowers and branches close to home. The sculptural lily, the musical amaryllis and blue agapanthus, “Queen of the Nile,” the delicate frog and elegant luna moth - these I return to every year. And there is always a discovery or something familiar to be seen anew: the field that became an ocean at sunset or the chameleon gently touching a papyrus stem that finally took hold - in water. There’s a narrative: taking hold in water.

Many negatives will never be printed, are simply warm hellos to nature while some photographic greetings lead to visits and a few to collaborations. As with each of the bodies of work, Fellow Travelers could appear elsewhere or easily include images from other “galleries.” These images are an attempt to greet and share everyday visual moments. If we were taking a walk together, we would say, “Look! isn’t that amazing, the way that flower cradles the light, the way that leaf curls and the way those pods are poised like birds.”

Some of the these elements appear in other pictures, gracious models, near at hand and blessing each picture they are a part of. The hand and leaf with a wishbone is an early comment on ecological balance, just a shade less out there than the birdclaw carrying a transparent envelope with a message. These days, we are trying to live simply and listen to the oaks. Return to top.