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Coal for Christmas…2018 Comes to an End

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, environmental art, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, Ohio River, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, art and nature, creativity, photography, plastic on December 31, 2018| 6 Comments »

Coal Barges trapped against the dam at the Falls of the Ohio State Park

Runaway coal barges on the upstream side of the dam at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

What a poor excuse for a blogger I have turned out to be! Just my second post of what has been an extremely active year which, however, is not ending on positive notes! Just in from the news room…2018 was Louisville’s wettest year on record. We are just over 69 inches (it is pouring now as I write this) of rain for the year breaking a record created in 2011.

That’s not that long ago and welcome to the new norm. When I started my Artist at Exit 0 River Project, I was partly curious if could I “witness” climate change within the relatively small confines of this well understood park situated in my own backyard? Certainly, the increased levels of precipitation over time point to this. The Ohio River during 2018 had high water moments and February set a new all-time record for rainfall for that month. The river had high water moments during July, September, and December a couple of times. We have had monsoon-like storms that literally have dumped billions of gallons of water on our area. Almost everything dealing with the weather is becoming an event. The city is digging out a couple of massive stone catch basins for all the excessive rain water that overwhelms our sewer system with some of these storms.

The disaster currently playing out breaks my heart. On Christmas day we all got coal for presents. An upstream tow pushing 15 barges loaded with coal broke loose hitting our Second Street Bridge. Of course, the river was way up and at least six of the barges have sunk releasing by a current estimate about 9000 tons of coal into the river! There are still barges trapped against the dam (see above photo) This is an ongoing, unresolved situation and even more coal could end up in the water. I will stop here with this, but 2019 will begin this way.

Final Styro-figure group of 2018.

This is an image of my last figurative group of 2018. The river has knocked them down now, but parts of them haven’t completely drifted away. After the loss of my first absurd Styrofoam group of the year, subsequent high water events and vandalism prevented this from going much farther. Much of the second half of 2018 was taken up in maintaining my various “plastic gardens” scattered throughout the park and skirting around encroaching waters. This, however, has always been my main site which is easy to access and plentiful in terms of found materials. At this site, I continued working with found flip-flops creating double spiral designs and meandering patterns dug into the sand. I continued working with found cigarette lighters which remains this year’s medium for me. I have estimated that I have picked up at least 800 spent cigarette lighters this year alone! I continued to create and maintain other plastic assemblages from debris found in the park. I have worked with found balls, soft drink bottles with questionable contents, and aluminum can bottoms which are the only part of the aluminum can that survives the river here and yes I have worked with coal too. Rather than tell you…here are a few images to show you.

Found plastic assemblage in the western section of the park nestled in the root system of this wonderful tree.

Found plastic assemblage created on site in the eastern section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Found plastic assemble with purple jack-o-lantern in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio.

Last look at this plastic assemblage set up in the western section of the park. High water eventually took this piece down.

Double Spiral Found Flip-flop Arrangement

Found flip-flops were used to create this double spiral design.

Meandering pattern made with found flip-flops.

This piece eventually incorporated over 160 found flip-flops picked up in the park. Wiped out in early December.

Found Flip-flop piece at my outdoor atelier at the Falls of the Ohio

Final flip-flop piece before the river rearranged my studio site during late December.

Found cigarette lighters on a great pine stump.

A great pine stump was the site for this found lighter project.

Lots of sunken tires out here and they make good micro sites for projects.

Meandering found cigarette lighter design on found mattress

This mattress came in with the river and makes a good site for these found lighters.

Sunken tire and found soft drink bottle with contents piece

Found soft drink bottles with contents set in a discarded tire.

Found soft drink bottle with contents piece.

The colors come from sport and other soft drinks in their plastic bottles.

I also did my share of smaller figurative pieces. Here is a favorite that originally was a slow motion video shot with my iPhone. I started to play around a bit more with video by offering small video “tastes” of some of the things I do to amuse myself at the river.

My bird observations have manifested themselves in found objects that have become their own creative ornithology. Here are a couple recent favorite sightings of these very rare birds.

A high Ohio River has this Butcher Beak searching for food near the water’s edge.

On Sand Island by the Falls of the Ohio, I spotted this rare Black-tailed Tern in migration.

A 2018 highlight was coming across this Violet-tailed Bower bird finding river treasure for its bower.

I realize that I can’t post everything I made this year, but here were a few of the projects that still resonate with me. I will keep making art and seeing where life goes from here. I hope we all have a great 2019! I will be watching with interest what happens with our coal spill. I have already tested out a few ideas. See you next year from the Falls of the Ohio.

From this Summer…a coal man formed in a drift of coal dust and gravel.

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Flip-flops, Mystery Fluids, and Spent Cigarette Lighters

Posted in Absurd, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, creativity, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, flip-flops, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Installation, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, tagged Art, art and nature, artist at exit 0, backwash, cigarette lighters, Color spectrum in art, driftwood, environment, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flip-flops, Genius loci, material culture, plastic, repurposed art, sense of place on June 5, 2017| 6 Comments »

Each year has a different character to it and for what I do at the Falls of the Ohio, a lot depends upon what I find. Last year, there was an abundance of plastic bottles in a full spectrum of colors that stood out among the natural driftwood. This year, we have had a mostly high river due to locally intense rains throughout the Ohio River Valley. There have been successive waves of wood and plastic that have had me wandering the wrack lines filling my collecting bags and stuffing my computer with images. The Falls are not a big area, but the dynamic changes that rearrange the riverbank keep it interesting. This year I have concentrated mostly on formal arrangements on site using flip-flop sandals, plastic soft drink bottles with colored backwash in them, and I have also been astounded by the number of cigarette lighters I have been finding. Following are a few of the many compositions I have already made this year. Chromatic arrangement in Flip-flops, Falls of the Ohio, Feb, 2017

Made this one on a sunny day in February. I found all these flip-flops on a single walk along the riverbank which is how I still like to work out here. I get ideas for projects based on what that day’s walk presents. Kind of like going to the grocery store and seeing what’s ripe and in season.

Flip-flop arrangement on the sand, Falls of the Ohio, March 2017

Why flip-flops? First, they are a ubiquitous part of human life around the river and they float and travel great distances to reach the park. I also like the idea that these sandals are unique to the people who wore them and have their “soul or spirit” imprinted on them. They come in a variety of colors and sizes and can be as variable as people. There is also that saying about not understanding others until you can stand in their shoes.

Flip-flop ring, Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

A work from April of this year made with flip-flops. Some colors seem to be harder to find than others particularly a true red or yellow. Once in a while, I will also pick up and use the sole of some other kind of foot ware if I think it will come in “handy”.

Cottonwood Tree Composition, late May 2017, Falls of the Ohio

My latest flip-flop composition from late May. Sited in the western section of the park, this piece is situated by a favorite cottonwood tree that I have shown in posts many times before. It uniquely has a space under the roots that you can stand under. It is a favorite place for locals to party. Now for the next part of this post…”Mystery Fluids”.

Found soft drink and sport drink bottles with partial contents, Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

Usually found floating in rivers and other bodies of water are these partially consumed sport and soft drinks capped and in their bottles. At the Falls of the Ohio I find them intermixed with the driftwood and everything else too. Often, it is the bottom of the bottle that is sticking up from the wood. I think being starved for color is why I gravitated towards this common element of our waste stream. When the light hits these bottles just right…the colors can be very jewel-like and attractive. Here are a few of the projects and images I made with them this year.

Found bottles and contents with the skyline of Louisville, Feb. 2017

Found bottles and contents, western section of the Falls of the Ohio, April 2017

Found bottle composition with contents, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

I have photographed these bottles in a variety of contexts and combinations over the year. Their contents are amazingly well-preserved and I have never found one that had mold growing in it. It could be that conditions have rendered these bottles sterile? Did they get too hot, too cold, not enough oxygen? Certainly, there is plenty of sugar, electrolytes, and preservatives in them. On site, I usually have arranged them on the back of stranded logs or boards that have floated in here and then I take my pictures and walk away. At my main outdoor studio…I have now been caching some of these bottles and flip-flops too for later in the year when the water level is low. Now for the final category….found cigarette lighters.

Found cigarette lighters by various manufacturers, Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

Took this photograph a few days a go and represents my record for found cigarette lighters in one day out at the Falls of the Ohio. I think there are 103 lighters here all gleaned from the driftwood. I have always known that cigarette lighters are out here, but not until now have I concentrated on them. When you begin looking for them, they can be everywhere up and down the riverbank and intermixed with the driftwood. Once upon a time, the ability to create fire was a special and important skill. It’s more than the climate that is changing. Before I show you what I made with a hundred lighters, here are some earlier attempts.

BIC lighter color line, found cigarette lighters from the Falls of the Ohio, 2017

This found lighter composition is unique in that only “Bic” brand lighters were used. The are arranged on the back of a log. I still like referencing light through color. The irony of our dependence on fossil fuels to make things like plastic and energy is that it comes from sequestered carbon created from sunlight by plants living millions of years a go. Now we need to just look up in the sky to see that same source of energy in the here and now.

88 Cigarette Lighter Oval, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

I think from April?, but definitely the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Created this oval from 88 found lighters. The river was still very high and this arrangement is up against the riverbank.

Found Lighter Circle, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

68 Found Lighter Circle, Falls of the Ohio, 2017

Lighter circle made with 68 found cigarette lighters. You can see the marks my fingers made in the sand adjusting the lighters to expand the circle.

Nearly forgot about this one! “Stump Star” composed of 48 found lighters, a yellow reflector, and of course…a stump. Made under the willow trees, the light playing through the tree canopy made this piece hard to photograph. It just occurred to me that I have no idea where butane comes from? All of these once stored compressed butane. As these physical objects age and are exposed to the elements, their metal components are the first to corrode and rust away.

Another day and visit to the river. I try to maximize each opportunity out here by making as many site specific pieces from the various materials I encounter. Here’s a quick piece with my the toes of my shoes poking in for good measure. I call this one “Keep Calm” because there’s one lighter that says that…or “From Clear to Blue” because if you look closely you can see between the white and blue lighters is one clear one. So far, that’s the only one like that I’ve seen out here. Okay, one more to end with and it’s the one with over a hundred lighters. I made another composition with these lighters, but decided to try a more open design and it turned out better than the first. Double-spiral Cigarette Lighter Composition, Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

When given the chance to go to the river or write about past experiences…I will opt for the river, unless the weather is bad and it has already rained hard today. I’m staying busy and engaged with art all around me which has had a calming effect on me considering all the political decisions people are making regarding the health of the environment and everything else too. If you are interested in some of what’s in the Ohio River and other rivers in this country…then I’m your blog. Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

Double Spiral found cigarette lighter composition at the Falls of the Ohio, June 2017

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Update from a One-eyed, Blue-tongued River Rat

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, creativity, driftwood, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged art exhibition, artist at exit 0, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Kentucky artists, material culture, plastic, river art, sense of place, Styrofoam, the environment, trash on April 30, 2017| 4 Comments »

The One-eyed Blue-tongued Devil at the Falls of the Ohio

The river is rising as I write this. Just the other day…we had a storm that just sat on us and poured down a massive quantity of water. This is to my count, the fourth time this year that we have experienced high water on the Ohio River. Fortunately, none of them have been true floods on the big river. All the art projects and the materials I have collected and cached at my various sites this year are gone or in different locations within the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Having the time and opportunity to access the life at the Falls is a still a big priority for me, but the river and weather don’t always cooperate.

One-eyed Blue-tongued Devil with Blue Ball

I’m out here as often as I can get away and since time is usually limited…I work quickly forming plans for projects as I take advantage of what that day presents. A typical visit starts off first with a walk checking out what’s new in the area for potential materials and sites for projects. I’m also looking for new birds, what fish the fishermen are having success with, any new flowering plants and the insects they may attract. Because of the river, the areas I frequent are dynamic and change frequently which is a big part of the attraction. After making the rounds, I will return to one of my outdoor studio sites where I store materials for later use or to take home with me at the end of the day. If there is one change in my creative process over the past year, it is on relying on my home work space more to get things done.

Petrochemical Rainbow in progress in my home studio.

Work in progress, late January 2017

And, as you can see by these especially well-curated and selectively chosen images, there’s also plenty to work with here! If the river was to evaporate away tomorrow…I will be in good shape for a while as far as materials go. Drinking water and taking a hot shower, however, may be another story. Since I participated in a recent two person exhibition that I haven’t mentioned yet, this looks like a good opportunity to share something about that.

Post card invitation for Cross Currents exhibition, Feb. 2017

My friends David McGuire and Karen Welch formed Craft(s) Gallery and Mercantile in Louisville to help promote the work and sale of Kentucky’s creative people. I accepted their invitation to show with Mack Dryden who is another Falls of the Ohio enthusiast who also happens to be a professional comedian. Mack likes to collect the driftwood that he finds and makes more formal compositions with them. We decided to title our exhibition “Cross Currents…” since while we appreciate nature and what the river gives us…our approaches to art making are different. Here are a few installation shots from this show.

Taking my "Foamies" to market, late January 2017

I threw this picture in here because this is something most people don’t see or consider…how an artist gets their work from one place to the next. Fortunately for me, most of the shows I participate in are within a day’s drive of Louisville. In this case, I’m just going across town. Shipping can get problematic and costly. Ironically, since most of my Styrofoam projects don’t weigh anything…they do however, take up “dimensional space” meaning I’m charged for how much room my box occupies on the truck or cargo jet regardless of the weight. As you can see, I’m rather careless with my own work with minimal or nonexistent packaging. I think there is something about knowing where my materials come from that causes me to be casual and not at all precious about what happens to my projects. I still leave a lot of stuff behind at the river.

Cross Currents exhibition, Crafts and Mercantile Gallery, Louisville, KY, Feb. 2017

Cross Currents installation view, Craft(s) Gallery and Mercantile, Louisville, KY, Feb. 2017

Installation view of Cross Currents exhibition, Craft(s) Gallery and Mercantile, Lousiville, KY, Feb. 2017

Our exhibition was up for the month of February and was well received. I brought projects that hadn’t been seen in Louisville before including some new colorful, plastic bottle pieces I had been working on during 2016. My bird sculptures also did well and they seem to be many people’s favorite works by me. I also included new dye sublimation prints on aluminum that I had made of river works that no longer exist. Most of my Falls projects after all these years of doing this project remain preserved as images only. Styrofigure with found, plastic battery operated car, Falls of the Ohio 2017

Relatively speaking this has been a warm spring and delightful when it wasn’t pouring buckets of rain on occasions. When the opportunity presented itself…I started several new series of works taking advantage of and calling attention to the many other materials that I find in the park. I look forward to sharing them with you and hopefully…I won’t let so much time go by. Until then….

One-eyed, Blue-tongued Devil holding a white bottle, Falls of the Ohio, Feb. 2017

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Rare Winter Birds

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, birds and birding, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, lost and found, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, photography, plastic, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, at the intersection of nature and culture, driftwood, eco-story, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, material culture, nature, nature story, photography, plastic, sense of place, Styrofoam on March 7, 2017| 5 Comments »

A late winter landscape at the Falls of the Ohio and what has to be one of our warmest February’s ever! I can’t recall ever having an 80 degree day in winter before…not in Kentuckiana in mid February to boot. We had just a trace of snow to speak of and while nobody missed living through the freeze and gray monotony of winter…somehow we know “pay backs will be hell”. The cost will come in more insect and weed pests at least. It will be interesting to see how many and how severe our spring storms will be. Will they be full of energy violent and remembered for deluges of rain?

With a name like the Falls Pheasant, you would expect to find this bird here. Alas, our only native pheasant started disappearing when stands of river cane became less numerous. Once thought extinct, this colorful pheasant has started reappearing in once familiar places. I wish I could also report that the river cane is also coming back, but it hasn’t so far. Perhaps what’s left of these pheasants are the ones who will accept other habitat? It’s all about being able to adapt with the changes? Some birds pushed to the fridges of their comfort zones found new areas to live.

This is a young male of the species. As an adult, the center tail feather becomes twice as long and the head becomes a bright shade of turquoise. I chanced upon it during a period of high water investigating small islands of trees and driftwood where potential food would become concentrated by the rising river. The females are so cryptically colored that you can’t see them when they sit on their nests. The Falls Pheasant produces a small clutch of four white eggs with brown speckles on them.

From his driftwood mound vantage point, the pheasant sees noisy Canada geese he would rather avoid. Hopping from one bleached and weathered log to another it was soon on the ground. Reaching a stand of weed stalks, I was so surprised at how quickly the pheasant could completely disappear. I doubt this bird decided this area was a good place to stake a claim. The Canada Geese here are aggressive and then there are all the other predators too. Stray cats, dogs, compete with coyotes, foxes, raccoons, minks, humans, and birds of prey from the air patrol this space. Better to keep moving on.

Our story doesn’t end here. Just a few weeks later and at a spot not too far away from where I saw the pheasant…I came across another great rarity. I have always maintained that “chance favors a prepared mind”. I think subconsciously, I am always looking around for something different or out-of-place.

It was late in the day with the sun slipping quickly to the horizon line, when I spotted this distinct red color moving through the willow trees. Hiding behind the trunks as best I could, I was able to get close enough to snap four or five images. I would need to wait until I got home to make the identification which was a personally exciting thing to do! This was one bird completely unfamiliar to me and a new Kentucky and Falls of the Ohio record. This is the Elfin Flycatcher or Sugarbill as it is better known in Northern Quebec. This bird can truly be considered an “accidental” because it is so far away from its usual home range. In its winter home of Cuba…it is an insectivorous bird known for its aerobatic hunting of small flying insects that live in the warmth of the tropics. During the spring breeding season, the Elfin Flycatcher undergoes a long journey along the Atlantic coastline until it crosses over into the coldest reaches of Quebec. It arrives before the northern insects have hatched and to supplement its diet, it drills into hardwood trees (similar to our Yellow-bellied Sapsucker) to collect the nutritious sweet tree sap that pools in the drill holes. It feeds on sap until clouds of mosquitoes and midges arise from the waters of the north to change this bird’s diet.

The bright yellow tail and the purple crest mark this as an adult male of the species. The brown wings were continuously flicking like some nervous tic this bird was experiencing. How this bird got so far off track is a mystery. Sometimes large storm events along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast will cause birds to travel great distances to get out-of-the-way. There is another concern, less with this bird, but more so with other migratory species. As climate change scrambles the natural clocks, timing is crucial to migrating birds. Routes have developed over time to source food when it appears and if it doesn’t…what happens to these long distance migrants?

This is what has so many biologists concerned. What happens to all those species that find the changes too challenging and can’t readily adapt? For now, I will keep making my anecdotal observations from the Falls of the Ohio State Park and work my best to try not to get too depressed about it all. Drawing a deep breath of fresh air, I picked up my collecting bag and that day’s trophy river finds and turned for home.

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Fish Stories from the Falls of the Ohio

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, creativity, ecosytem, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, lost and found, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River, Photograpy, plastic, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Styrofoam, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, creativity, Culture, earth, environment, fact and fiction, Falls of the Ohio, fishing, Fishing tackle, found fishing lures, Kentuckiana, life, material culture, nature story, photography, plastic, sense of place, short stories, storytelling, Styrofoam, White Bass on December 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The Falls of the Ohio offers a variety of fishing opportunities throughout the year. Whether you prefer light tackle action in the shallows or the pull from a fifty pound catfish while sitting on a boat…you can find that on the Ohio River flowing by Louisville. I always check out what’s happening on the riverbank when I come out here. I am especially interested in seeing what species are being caught and what’s being used to catch them. On this warm December day the action was happening in the shallows. Fisherman were using soft-bodied jigs to catch Sauger (a smaller relative of the Walleye) and this nice White Bass.

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The White Bass, (Roccus chrysops) was first described by the eccentric naturalist Constantine Rafinesque who was familiar with the fish life at the Falls of the Ohio. The White Bass is a big river fish that is also found in impoundments. This fish can get to be 15 to 18 inches long and a maximum of around five pounds. We also have a smaller relative, the Yellow Bass that is also found in the Ohio River. Both species are related to marine sea basses and scatter their eggs without further care of their young.

Since there is a lot of fishing activity on the river, I also find a lot of lost fishing gear. Broken poles, snagged line, and lots of plastic fishing lures like this recent example. It’s very easy to snag and lose a lure in the rocky bottom out here. Usually, when I find a lure, it is minus its hooks which either have broken off or have dissolved away. I also pick up lost fishing floats and have been amazed by how much design variety that fishing tackle can encompass. On the negative side, I also have a fairly full sandwich bag of lead fishing weights that I have accumulated over the years. When the river is down during the height of summer, I will check out the dried holes in the rocky bottom that catch and tumble lead and other metals.

If nothing else, 2016 will be remembered by me for the quality of the fishing. I was able to catch three species new to me to add to a growing list of species I have documented at the Falls of the Ohio. Check out the next couple of images of a rare Ohio River Bowfin (Amia ohioensis) I angled from under the railroad bridge.

The Ohio River Bowfin is only marginally related to the better known Bowfin, (Amia calva). The Ohio River Bowfin has adapted its life to living in shallow rocky streams where it ambushes other fish, frogs, crayfish, and other river invertebrates. Uniquely, its anal and caudal fins have fused into one large fin that comes in handy for scraping out nests in the gravel bottoms it prefers to breed on. After the male entices the gravid female into his nest and with a little luck and persuasion, a clutch of about fifty eggs is deposited and fertilized. The male assumes all parenting duties. Can also be distinguished by it long slender body and bright orange-colored eyes. After a few pictures and measurements the fish was released unharmed back into the river.

On another river expedition in November, I visited a different Falls of the Ohio location near the Interpretive Center to sample the fish life there. Within a minute or two of my first cast I caught this near world record Copperbelly Suckermouth, (Catostomidae cupricana). I was using a hook baited with clam meat which is the principle food of this Ohio River oddity. The boats anchored in the river are probably going after large catfish. This view gives you a good indication of the body type that evolved with some fish that inhabit swift flowing water. Drag has been minimized and the pectoral fins are strong enough to anchor the fish in place as it hovers over the clam beds it prefers.

Here’s a symbiotic side note…several fresh water clam species use the Copperbelly Suckermouth as an intermediate host during part of their life cycles. The nearly microscopic clam larvae attach themselves to the fish’s gills where for a short time, the larvae suck blood and grow before dropping off the fish to complete their life cycles in the gravely bottom. The host fish are left unharmed during the process.

A sneak peek on why this species is called the Copperbelly Suckermouth. It’s undersides are a deep, rich, red to orange ochre color that is particularly intense during the Spring breeding period. The strong sucker mouth is located on the fish’s ventral side and is flanked by barbels that help it locate food in the river’s bottom. This was also strictly catch and release as was the case with my next fishy find. As with most bottom dwelling fish at the Falls, one should limit how big a meal you make from your catch. Toxins are more prevalent in the lower reaches which then are ingested and stored in the fish’s fatty tissues. This particular species, however, has minimal food value.

Another day and location at the Falls of the Ohio and another unexpected catch! Using a grasshopper I caught on the bank and a beaver-chewed willow pole I found nearby, I fashioned a rig with an old line and a hook and caught this Kentucky Killifish, (Cyprinodontidae gargantua) by jigging the grasshopper around the shadows cast by the fossil-loaded limestone. I dropped the grasshopper into just the right dark hole and pulled out this beauty.

This is a giant among the killifishes as most are under a few inches in length. Its blue eyes are distinctive. Small invertebrates in the form of insect larvae are its main food item, but experience has shown it will go for whatever it thinks it can swallow using its relatively tiny mouth. This fish has no food or sport value what so ever. During the summer breeding period, the males of this species can get very colorful in an attempt to impress. Still, a very nice way to cap the year with a new fish to add to the life list!

Fishing on Mars or the Falls of the Ohio? The setting sun has colored the dried riverbank a lovely Martian red. Here explorers are doing what we do…searching for life in the most promising place we know which happens to be by the water. I hope 2017 manages a way to be kind to our rivers and freshwater everywhere. I’ll end my fishing story with a look inside the box where I keep my found fishing lures. See you next year…from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Plastic, Plastic, Everywhere

Posted in Absurd, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, lost and found, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, repurposed art, sense of place, Site specific art, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, discarded plastic containers, energy from light, Falls of the Ohio, life, nature, photography, plastic, site specific art, the Earth, the environment on December 22, 2016| 8 Comments »

It’s the end of the year and I have a handful of posts and projects I intended to present here before the date on the calendar changes. I will do my best to try to catch up. I’ll start with this outing along the Ohio River that happened in November.

I have finally had a bit of a lull from my day job and so I want to start catching up on posting images and stories of my Falls of the Ohio adventures over the last few weeks. It’s also a bit of a relief from the disappointing presidential election we have just endured. Hanging out at the river is always a good tonic for the soul. May it always be that for me and other “river rats” who are drawn to moving waters. For this post, I will concentrate on an assemblage I made using found bottles, jugs, and other plastic containers that I have collected from the banks of the Ohio River in this small state park in southern Indiana.

The Falls of the Ohio State Park is not a very big place as parks go, but it is a very historic and dynamic environment. I remember when I first started coming out here it really bothered me to see so much junk along the riverbank. It still does and I tried standard recycling before settling on making art from what others preferred not to see or acknowledge. What this unique space lacks in size, it makes up for by being a very dynamic environment.

For most of the year, the river behaves itself and lets the Army Corps of Engineers pretend that it is in control of its flow. Every once in a while, however, the river reminds us through flooding and by going around the barriers set in its way to control it. It is during these high water moments that all the rubbish sins of the world come down the river from environs both local and from parts north in our watershed. As this blog documents, I find “stuff” all the time and unfortunately discarded plastic is high on the list.

Here is found plastic that I brought back to my outdoor atelier under the willow trees. I didn’t have to travel far to pick up all I wanted. I realized as I drove to work this morning that my “outdoor atelier” is now under water. A few days ago, we finally received enough rain to raise the level of the river. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I have tried to do anything with plastic on this scale. Only when I couldn’t deny the bright, unnatural colors any longer that it occurred to me to try to do something “artistic” with all this waste plastic.

After I have selected a site for a project. I move my materials to the chosen location and when I’m ready, I start sorting objects according to color. I like to reference the electromagnetic spectrum and rainbows because they are about light. Plastic is made from petroleum which is sun energy that has been harnessed by prehistoric plants and stored in their tissues. Over deep time, heat, pressure and the vagaries of geology either liquefies this ancient material into crude oil or compresses it into coal. It is interesting to think about how much our contemporary world is dependent on using the energy from our sun that shone millions of years a go!

It will be a leap for some, but “light” in my mind is not only a part of the problem here, but also implies a solution. We need to do a better job of using our innate creativity to capture the light of today’s sun. Leave that “ancient energy” in the ground and we certainly don’t need anymore plastic. Through a little trial and error, I found an arrangement that suits me. If I am lucky and park visitors or the river decide not to erase what I’ve started then I expand and tinker with my outdoor composition. If I’m correct, then this piece is already gone taken just today by the river. It lasted many weeks longer than I thought it would. Thanks for tagging along with me! Until next time from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Rare Birds and the Month of July

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, birding, birds and birding, collections, creativity, ecosytem, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, lost and found, material culture, nature, nature photography, Ohio River flooding, photography, plastic, Plastic art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sense of place, Site specific art, Styrofoam, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, butterflies, creative ornithology, Dodo of the Ohio, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, Mosquito Bird, natural and artificial, nature, nature and culture, plastic, rare birds, recycled art, sense of place, Silver-spotted Skipper, Styrofoam, Tawny Emperor, the great outdoors on July 28, 2016| 5 Comments »

I have always felt that if you did the research, you must publish your results. Here it is the tail-end of July and what?? not a single post this month from the Artist at Exit 0! Of course I have been out to the river on a couple of occasions and had a wonderful time. So far, it has been a relatively easy summer. We haven’t had spells of daily high temperatures pushing a hundred degrees that have marked some previous summers. Knock on wood. Every year and every season is different and 2016 will no doubt climatically distinguish itself locally in some way before this annual orbit around the sun is history.

According to the WordPress folks, this is Riverblog post #450! They are much better at keeping count than I am and so I will trust them on that. I mention this not in the way of a boast, but rather from personal amazement that I have found enough content out in the Falls of the Ohio State Park to help keep it going! I have a good friend who is also an artist and he used to blog on WordPress. He stopped writing right around his 500th post! He became a little disappointed that it was so time-consuming and didn’t lead to more sales or artistic opportunities. I guess he also got to a point where he had said everything he wanted to say? This post will combine a couple of river adventures together and is set for the western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park. It’s getting to be high summer. I can tell by the heat and the blooming trumpet creeper vines growing on some of the cottonwood trees. Have you ever noticed that many of these trumpet creeper flowers have large ants in them?

Where moist conditions are prevalent out here, you will find great patches of Purple loosestrife plants growing under the cottonwoods and willows. The loosestrife is by far more common in the western section of the Falls of the Ohio. Despite being a very invasive species, they do add a beautiful pinkish-lavender color to the landscape and insects (particularly butterflies) seem to love their nectar.

I am sure to visit this area several times while the loosestrife flowers continue to bloom. Over the last several years, I have come across more butterfly species feeding off of these flowers including many swallowtail species (Tiger, Black Swallowtail, Spicebush, Pipevine, and Giant Swallowtail). These flowers are also favored by several different skippers which occupy this strange position between being true butterflies and true moths. It seems skippers possess qualities of both lepidoptera groups. Here is a nice Silver-spotted Skipper ( Epargyreus clarus ) I came across also feeding on the odd blooms of a Cephalanthus buttonbush.

There were other butterflies out on this sunny day, but I didn’t get good pictures of all of them. I did see my first Red Admirals of the year. I did manage this image of a Tawny Emperor ( Asterocampa clyton ) butterfly using the camera on my cell phone. It takes a bit of stealth to get the phone near enough to take a good image without scaring your subject away. Over the past two years, I’ve become accustomed to taking my cell phone with me on my trips to the river. I love that the device is so small, lightweight, and fits in my pocket and gives me a few more options than the digital SLR that I have. I have to imagine that these little digital cameras are just going to continue to get better and even more useful.

I am also on the alert for any bird movements or sounds in the area. On this expedition to the Falls of the Ohio I scored big by sighting two new bird species for my life list and getting decent pictures of both to show to any of you unbelievers out there! After walking in direct sunlight for over an hour, I decided to cool off by walking in the shade of the large cottonwood trees that grow along the edge of the river. I especially like the way this cottonwood tree fills the whole photo frame. When these trees release their fluffy, light seeds it can almost appear as though it is snowing in slow motion. The cotton fluff builds up and forms wind aided drifts on the ground.

I had directed my reverie up into the canopy of the trees when an unfamiliar bird flew just above my head. This bird is fast and I got a quick sensation of colors…light blue, white, and green. I was extremely lucky to get such good pictures of it in full flight. Check out how the tail feathers help with lift and aerial maneuvering…perfect for high-speed flight between the tree trunks.

I was elated when I realized that what just went whizzing by my ear is a species I have not seen in the park before. It has a couple of common names. Some people refer to it as the Cumberland Mockingbird (Mimus appalachians ) and around here I’ve heard people call it a “Mosquito bird”. This specimen was actively picking off in midair several small flies that I could detect in the sunshine flying over my sweaty head. The thought occurred to me that this bird and the Zika mosquito have moved into our area at about the same time.

The Cumberland Mockingbird seemed to be able to “read” the air and wind currents around structures like trees and high river banks. I observed it daringly flying and diving very near objects in its pursuit of an insectivorous meal. I saw it chasing another Falls of the Ohio specialty, the Eastern-eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus ). This is the largest member of the click beetle family and can get 2 1/2 inches long. It is said that its cryptic coloring is meant to mimic bird droppings. As it happened this beetle was able to escape becoming the Cumberland Mockingbird’s lunch by hiding under some loose tree bark.

These click beetles always seem to be out at the Falls of the Ohio during the summer months. They are harmless as adults. Their larvae grows in decaying wood and are carnivorous. Our area usually has an abundance of decomposing wood because of periodic flooding and the water-logged trunks that come with it. I decided to move out of the shade because the mosquitoes were catching up with me and using me for snacks. Not even an actively feeding Mosquito bird could turn these small flies away from their blood mission.

Returning to the sunlight seemed to do the trick of chasing the noisome insects away. I moved away from the shade of the trees and returned to the intermittent light by the fossil outcroppings nearer the riverbank. All was right with the world. A cormorant was swimming in the river as an osprey flew overhead with fish in talons. I was happily engaged in my little world…when I heard the most unusual animal call of all. I just had to find out what could make such a mournful noise! I found a likely spot along a trail and just went quiet and motionless. If the gods were with me then I had a good chance of seeing this mystery animal which was continuing its two-syllable call as it drew nearer to me.

There was a movement low to the ground and a parting of vegetation when a dingy white bird emerged onto the trail in front of me. It puffed its body up and displayed its tail feathers in a showy fan. A few wiry blue feathers on his head forms a crest that moves and down with the hopping dancing motion this species requires for courtship. With a certain amount of fanfare, my first ever “Dodo of the Ohio” ( Pseudo dodo kentuckiana ) let itself be known that it was looking for companionship. I had also found it in the context of a flowering and fruiting Passion flower vine ( Passiflora ) growing over the sand. A pair of round, green fruits seemed to be the object of the dodo’s attention. Our dodo is not at all related to the extinct species, but it is far from being a common bird. Fortunately, it can fly, albeit weakly. This at least keeps it off the ground while it sleeps at night. I watched the dodo for several more minutes before it flew off. The chance meeting of these two exotics was an amazing and unforgettable happening that helped make July an incredible month. See you again sometime soon from the Falls of the Ohio.

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Late March Petrochemical Color Composition

Posted in Absurd, animals, art and environment, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, birding, collections, creativity, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, Installation, lost and found, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, plastic, Plastic art, public art, recycled art, repurposed art, repurposed materials, sculpture, sense of place, Site specific art, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, discarded Teddy bear, Falls of the Ohio, Genius loci, lost and found, material culture, nature, petrochemical junk, photography, plastic, plastic art, public art, rainbow spectrum, site specific art, toy bear on April 3, 2016| 2 Comments »

It’s the end of March and Spring is in full swing at the Falls of the Ohio. Today, I have a bigger block of time and so I’m going back to the western section of the park to see how flooding has affected this area. I am expecting to find lots of plastic and who know’s what else…and this trip did not disappoint. Just about everywhere I looked, I found plastic and other trash. I will begin with a few images of stuff I came across.

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself immersed in a bear theme. I found this little blue plastic bear intermixed with the driftwood. It may actually represent a panda, but I think the latest thinking on this unique animal is that it is indeed more closely related to bears than to raccoons. Looks like it’s sucking its thumb. And now for bear number 2.

Here’s a piece that was originally intended for a little person. I’m going to venture that this is a teething ring. From the wear on the surface of the plastic, it looks like this object has spent some time in the river. If this is not a teething ring…I have no idea what it was originally intended to be? Okay, here is bear number 3 and it is a lot larger that these first two examples.

This piece is spectacularly integrated into the surrounding gravel! About half of it is visible and the rest is hidden by gravel deposited here during the last Ice Age glacier. I posted this image on my Facebook account and it resonated with a lot of my friends. I could go on and on with the junk I’ve found out here, but I think I can also do that by showing you my latest artwork which is of course, composed of found junk. On this beautiful day, I decided to continue my explorations using colorful found plastic and made a new variation on this theme that I think turned out pretty well. I’ll start with a few in process shots.

This is some of the found plastic I came across on this day. I brought two collecting bags and filled them both up. I then scouted around and found a large blue plastic tub that I pressed into service before incorporating it into my finished arrangement. The yellow object on the left is a water cooler minus the lid. I had to do a bit of navigating around an obstacle course of downed trees and built up driftwood. I’m usually still stiff and tired the day after I do one of these because I guess I’m not used to getting that much exercise anymore! My two sons are quick to tell me that I’m not a young man anymore and yes I do get goaded by their trash talking into trying stuff that on occasion is more physical than I need to attempt.

After selecting a site to build my latest arrangement. I separate out all this gathered up plastic into their various color groups. On this day, orange and purple items were in short supply, but I worked around that. I set up this piece next to a log that looks to me like it was split in half. The side you can see that is rough and beautiful and takes the setting sun well. From the opposite side of this log…you wouldn’t be able to see any of the plastic. It is intended as a surprise for those who come across it on this side of the park.

I will begin with a view that incorporates more of the local scenery. This piece is located next to an old cottonwood tree that has a severe lean to it. I can imagine that at some time in the not too distant future that this tree will eventually fall over. Even from this far away, you can see the color introduced by these plastic containers and such. Let’s get closer.

Now you can get more of a sense for the degree in which this tree is leaning towards the river.

There are essentially two layers stacked up here. The big blue plastic tub has a found board that finds its partner consisting of the yellow water cooler sitting on a plastic yellow child’s chair. The span is pretty level. The rest is a matter of picking and choosing color hues that you think will work best together. These plastic elements are not fixed in some way. Everything is free-standing or leaning against what is next to it. I have by accident…set off chain reactions where the whole arrangement collapses down like dominoes. That is where a little patience comes into play by beginning again and hopefully learning from each individual situation.

I can see elements in these three details that I know I have used before in other projects and were later scattered across the park when the river floods. Perhaps you might recognize the green plastic Tug Boat or the “Hulk Hand” also found in the green section? They have appeared in other posts in my riverblog.

I hung out by this piece and the river for many hours. A few people came by, but nobody said anything. Perhaps this comes across as being an example of “unusual or eccentric behavior” to some people? Best to provide a wide berth around this one! Who knows…couldn’t be any stranger than the people who make all this plastic and set it free into the world. At the end of the day, I could not make up my mind which I thought provided the definitive view of this project? I think some of the more successful arrangements look good in their contexts, but also provide some information on what individual elements have been brought together to create this “whole” experience. After I felt I had enough pictures and the thought of a shower was sounding good. I picked up my stuff and headed home.

The trees are just budding out and this past week took a significant turn towards the green. I’m still on the lookout for migrating birds that come into our area. I often wonder about the Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf I had the distinct pleasure of observing and photographing out here a few weeks a go. I wonder where in the world it flew off to? I was just alerted by WordPress that this week is my seventh anniversary of blogging with them! For all the people who have dropped by and sampled something from the Falls of the Ohio State Park through this riverblog…I give my heartfelt thanks! I hope to continue out here for a bit longer still. This is the Artist at Exit 0 signing off for now.

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Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf

Posted in Absurd, animal art works, Art, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, birding, birds and birding, creativity, driftwood, environmental art, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, Louisville, Kentucky, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River, Ohio River flooding, photography, Plastic art, recycled art, repurposed materials, sense of place, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, birds, Chiel Kuijl, driftwood, ecostory, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Genius loci, Kentucky, Louisville, nature, photography, plastic, rare animals, sense of place, Spring bird migration, Styrofoam on March 24, 2016| 5 Comments »

Went out to the river, but to tell you the truth…I thought it would be too high. Just a couple of days earlier, the Ohio River was once again over its normal banks. Every year is different and this year the tail end of our winter was marked by warmth and high water. Although the riverbank was muddy, I was happy to be able to walk around. I’m having a show at a friend’s place in May and I was on the lookout for more washed up materials. As it played out, this first official day of Spring would be a more memorable one than I had first anticipated.

One of the reasons that this can be an interesting time of the year at the Falls of the Ohio is the annual Spring migration of neotropical birds. I have been known to set my collecting bag aside and just hit the woods on the look out for migrating birds. The first time you see a male Scarlet Tanager or a Rose-breasted Grosbeak will make a bird watcher out of a lot of people. This past weekend, which is still a bit early for the usual migrants…I came across something totally unexpected that I couldn’t identify at first. I didn’t get many pictures, but what I have is here. If you have never seen (or much less heard of) Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf, (Aviana indeterminus)…you wouldn’t be alone. Hammerkopf translated into English is hammerhead and that description seems to fit. Heisenberg’s bird is about the size of an American Robin. Among the features that stand out the most are its massive red bill and the petal-like feathers found at the base of its neck. The wings can be brown or white and it has been known to have a crest, but some individuals have been seen that don’t have this feature. There is no consensus as to its overall population, but a few individuals seem to make the news each year. This bird is an enigma and it seems to prefer things that way.

The individual I came across is a second year male. Looking at the info there is on this species did say that the unusual ruff of feathers around its neck could turn bright red as the bird matured and was ready for the breeding season. What little there is in the scientific literature suggests that this is a highly variable species that can be found anywhere at any time. With this bird, you really can’t pin down where it originates and it doesn’t seem to have a “normal range”. It seems to be a very uncommon bird with a world-wide distribution.

This individual kept surprising me. I almost felt that it “changed” the more I observed it. By that I mean at first I found it by the mud and then it changed habitat by going into the trees. I lost track of it for a short while, but rediscovered it at the water’s edge. From there, it moved back under the willow trees where I eventually lost it for good. I saw it use its large bill to delicately probe the mud and hammer through a driftwood log and in both cases wasn’t sure of what it was eating if indeed it found anything to begin with? I just saw enough of this bird to pique my interest, but I have had bird sightings that have lasted mere seconds that were satisfying enough to last a lifetime.

While I was out exploring the Falls environment, I did come across another individual who can vouch for me that this strange bird was indeed out here. I struck up a conversation with him and as it turns out he is also an artist. His name is Chiel Kuijl and he is from the Netherlands. He has a residency at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky where he is working on a unique outdoor rope environment. He was looking for select, interesting pieces of wood that he could incorporate into his art project and the Falls of the Ohio are a perfect place to do this. Talking with Chiel, one of the things he is enjoying most are the new and unfamiliar birds he is encountering in this country. I asked if he had ever seen a Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf before and he said that he hadn’t and it was really unlike what he was accustomed to back home. I am sure I will see Chiel again, but what of the hammerkopf?

I don’t often make an appeal to the larger blogging world, but if anyone should happen to see this bird or something similar to it…I hope that you will post pictures of it. It might make an interesting research project to see where in the world this species will turn up and what it might have to say about those particular places where it is found. For now, I will leave it here and hope you will follow along the next time I am hiking at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

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A Leap Day Pile of Balls

Posted in Absurd, Art and Nature, art and the environment, Artist at Exit 0, assemblage art, collections, creativity, deer skull, driftwood, Falls of the Ohio, found materials, Found objects, fresh water, lost and found, material culture, nature photography, Ohio River, repurposed materials, sense of place, unusual collection, watershed, tagged Art, artist at exit 0, deer skull, Falls of the Ohio State Park, flotsam and jetsam, Genius loci, material culture, nature, nature and culture, Ohio River, photography, plastic, plastic in the water, sense of place, site specific art, Toy Balls, unusual collection on March 6, 2016| 2 Comments »

It was Leap Day, February 29 when I went back out to the Falls of the Ohio State Park. For the third consecutive week the Ohio River has been high and all my usual spots are underwater. This post is being written a week later and the river is still covering most of my spots along the riverbank. For the past month, I have been active mainly in the western section of the park.

In the western area of the Falls, the riverbank rises to greet a sliver of woods. Standing on the top most level along the bank, this latest high water we are experiencing is about 8 to 12 feet below your feet, but in most places the river directly butts up to the bank and so there are few “beaches” to stand on and explore. It is during these moments that you can most directly see and feel how a high river can upset and erode the riverbank. I imagine that over time, the river will keep getting wider as the trees are undermined by the waters. As I was searching for new sites and materials to work with…I decided to walk a bit more in the woods than I usually do. Right now is a good time to do this before the vines and mosquitoes make it more difficult and unpleasant.

As I was walking along the muddy paths I couldn’t help noticing how heavy the deer traffic was in this area. Their tracks were everywhere and almost on cue, I came across five antler-less whitetail deer that were moving away from me near the tree line. I liked this little area mostly because I came across small stands of bamboo-like river cane. The old timers say that river cane used to be more plentiful and once helped to define the area more than it does now. Walking along, I saw something white laying on its side and it turned out to be a deer skull from a small doe. In the early days of my Artist at Exit 0 project, it was uncommon to come across deer tracks and years passed before I actually saw one out here. All that has changed now. This is the third deer skull I have found in the park in the last two years. Their presence throughout the Falls of the Ohio has visibly increased which is probably not a good thing for such a small park as this one.

I decided to leave the skull behind for someone else to discover. Finding a suitable tree along the path, I mounted the skull on the knobby remains of a branch to mark this area as being particularly deer favored. It was just a short hike from here to reach the river’s high edge again.

Eventually, I did find a hundred yard or so stretch of muddy bank that I could access and walk around. It was located in a sheltered area where this was a slight bend in the river. The prevailing currents and wind had pushed a large amount of debris against the bank and most of it consisted of wood and bark bits with the now expected plastic garbage mixed in for good measure. I immediately began to find “stuff” and here are a few pictures of my “prized” finds.

Here is something for my Fake Food Collection…a small, plastic drumstick. Over the years, I have found a few of this exact plastic poultry leg and so this is not exactly a unique find. Note the teeth marks probably from the family dog?

Although the spring peepers are starting to be heard in our area…this one will never make a sound.

I now have an impressive collection of found toy hammers and mallets and they are all made of plastic. I need to take a photo of that collection and post it which is another in a line of weirdly specific things I have found out here.

Here are two more “Smiley Faces” that are the latest ones I have found out here. The larger is a volleyball and I’m not sure what the smaller one was intended for? I haven’t looked at it again since I dropped it into the old collecting bag. As I was exploring, what I couldn’t help but notice along this particular stretch of riverbank was how common toy balls of all sizes and sports that I was finding. I decided to pick up all the ones I could access and make a collection of them all. Here is that image.

So, what is your sport? In this motley collection of forty plus river-found balls we have American footballs, soccer balls, basketballs (of course since this is major basketball country), golf balls, tennis balls, playground balls, Styrofoam balls, softballs, a plastic bowling ball, a volleyball, several ball pit balls, and couple of novelty balls, etc… Of course, balls are the perfect floating object since they are round and roll easily and since they are usually inflated with air they are buoyant as well. As the day was starting to get late and I had found all the balls in the area that I could reach…it was time to start for home. I’m looking forward to the river dropping down and the temperatures to begin to rise. Soon the spring bird migration will be passing through and I’m hopeful of seeing a few Rose-breasted grosbeaks and maybe a Scarlet Tanager or two. One more image of my made on the spot ball collection looking back on an interesting day at the Falls of the Ohio.

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Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Art and images from the Falls of the Ohio.

Posts Tagged ‘plastic’

Coal for Christmas…2018 Comes to an End

Flip-flops, Mystery Fluids, and Spent Cigarette Lighters

Update from a One-eyed, Blue-tongued River Rat

Rare Winter Birds

Fish Stories from the Falls of the Ohio

Plastic, Plastic, Everywhere

Rare Birds and the Month of July

Late March Petrochemical Color Composition

Heisenberg’s Hammerkopf

A Leap Day Pile of Balls

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