Beacon's Dog Parade: Saturday at 11

The Barkery in Beacon, NY, is once again sponsoring a day dedicated to dogs.  At 11 the dog parade will begin.  It's a well-attended event with a very eclectic group of paraders, some au natural, some in lovely and interesting costumes.

I've donated this double dog portrait, Friends? Foes?, to a raffle to be held tomorrow.  I took this shot in Leon, Spain.  I wish there were fewer blue jeans in the background, but with this kind of quick caught shot, you get what you get.  In this image, it's all about the dogs.

For more information about the day's events, go to www.beaconarts.org.

At The County Fair

The spring show -- Art in the Loft at the Millbrook Winery in Millbrook, NY -- is up, on the second floor of their beautiful sales building and it features three artists.  I was juried in this year by the Dutchess County Arts Council for my county fair series.

This is one of 11 images I put into the show.  I used ASAs from 100 to 1600, depending on whether I wanted to stop the action or use the blur to show the action.  For this shot, I wanted to stop it.  I like the outer-space look of the swing, and the unexpected swoop of the framing element on the bottom.

This image is for sale at the Millbrook Winery.  They are having a very special weekend for wine lovers.  Come see the show -- it is up through June -- and sample some great Hudson Valley wine.

For the entire county fair series, check out my website www.maryannglass.com.  They are also available at my gallery, www.riverwindsgallery.com.

Easter Weekend

From a fresco in Narnia, Tuscany -- Mary as she fainted at the cross.

Hudson River Crew

RiverWinds Gallery and the Wells Fargo Advisors office in Rhinebeck is putting together its next show -- Boats and Bridges.  Four times a year we curate an art show -- paintings and photos -- for their offices.  The show will be hung Tuesday, April 26 and will run for 3 months.  This is one of my pieces for the show:

It's a little hard to see at this size, but those things on the river are crew sculls -- one on the lower left, along with the boat with the coach/barker on it (don't now the technical name for it) and another in the middle right side.  But what makes this photo work for me is the sense of scale - the tiny sculls on the the huge silver Hudson River, the dark colors of the shore on the upper right. It's an eccentric image -- there's a lot of space without detail but for me the constant color modulations pull me through it.

More details about the show will be on the RiverWinds Gallery website next week - www.riverwindsgallery.com and the image is available at the gallery in any size.

I took this image during one of my Hudson Valley Photo Tours -- when you're in the area, make sure you are in the right place in the right light.  For more details, check out my website www.maryannglass.com.

Sophie the Supervisor

Every spring a couple of black birds -- starlings? -- build a nest in the upper corner of my porch.  Last year we heard chirping, and then nothing, and no little birds appeared.  Not a good year.  The year before we saw 2 baby bird heads squawking out the window.  This year the parents are back, bringing straw and weeds into the hole, making a nest.

Any building project needs a supervisor, and my cat Sophie is a good one.  She supervises any work around the house, for example, watching the painter and then inspecting the finished job.  She woke me out of a sound sleep at 5 a.m. one morning because the toilet was running....And she takes a keen interest in the bird project.  (I retrieved the plaster cat from someone's garbage and she has reigned on the porch ever since.  I waited years for Sophie to pose with her plaster doppelganger...)

She posed long enough for me to get a few shots and then...enough already.

Looking Ahead to When the Rain Stops

It's cold, dreary, drizzly day.  So I'm looking forward to sun.  We haven't had much sun this year...

I took this one sunny summer day.  I had been weeding and decided to lie on my back to rest.  The world looks different at soil level!  I liked the viewpoint and took some shots of my favorite flower silhouetted against the blue sky.  The red/green are contrasting colors so the zinnia pops against the blue sky -- a little basic color wheel theory.

Walkway Over the Hudson - Poughkeepsie NY

When built in 1889, it was the longest bridge in the world.  Built for trains, it suffered fire damage and was closed for many years. It reopened in 2009 and has been a big draw for tourists and locals alike. The walkway is wide, stable and way way above the Hudson, giving the walker fabulous views.

This is a view of the bridge, looking east.

This is the view looking south at the Mid Hudson Bridge and the Hudson River.

And this is the view looking north.

These were taken at around 6 am during a Hudson Valley Photo Tour with Nancy.  A Floridian, she was in the area dropping off her son at a West Point camp and she wanted to take some great shots while she was up north.  We photographed for 8 hours - 4 in the evening, getting sunset shots at a couple of locations and 4 hours the following morning, getting sunrise shots at 2 more locations.  We wound up at an antique car show and photographed those beautiful automotive works of art.  Both of us got some wonderful photos and had a very good time together.

For more information about the tours, check out my website www.maryannglass.com.  For copies of these images, they are on sale at my website and at my gallery www.riverwindsgallery.com.