Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

The river is up and when it crests this weekend…it will be right under flood stage.  I’m fairly sure that this piece I call “Brass Eagle” (after the plastic sign on his head) is gone.  He was guarding my stash of Styrofoam in the Willow Habitat in the eastern section of the park.  This area of the Falls is usually the hardest hit by the rising waters, but when the river recedes…there will be riches in detritus, maybe.  The Ohio River has fooled me before.

In the angle formed by two large logs, I had stashed away materials for future art use.  I’m not averse to recycling my past projects.  As you can see, Brass Eagle is a bit of a head hunter.  Searching through the winter driftwood, I located a few noggins that formerly belonged to previous sculptures.  On rare occasions, I have even come across parts of works that I had made years a go.  Now, these foam chunks are either down river or scattered in different sections of the park where I might find them again.

At the moment, there are a number of friends and co-workers who have either recently had or are about to have babies and I drew this picture in the sand for them.  I like how this pregnant figure seems protected by the wood and the light on the water seems hopeful to me.  I did find an anonymous sand drawing that I thought was fun.  This squid reminds me of the sea monsters drawn on the old maps as a symbol of the unknown!

I recently came across the remains of a camp fire that caught my eye and camera.  Doing a little detective work, I’m guessing that this fire was started using some flammable substance as an accelerant.  If you look at the unburned edges of the wood, they are just so crisp and clean.  This fire amazingly stayed in place and didn’t burn all the wood available to it.

This weekend I will be visiting the Falls and seeing what’s new.  The park is always in a state of perpetual change which attracts me to it.  If the river is too high to work my familiar locations, then there is always birding!  For me, this signals the arrival of spring in the way that crocuses and daffodils do for gardeners.  I even have an individual bird that I look for!  For the last three years, what I believe is the same male, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has defended a particular Sweet Gum tree at the edge of the Interpretive Center’s parking lot.  I will be looking for him again.  For the moment, I have been enjoying the birds that stayed over the winter…like this Song Sparrow.