The Edge Series

On the Edge
30 x 18 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1350

 On the Edge above is my first painting about the starkness of life. To some degree they are inspired by the canyons of the Colorado Plateau which I paint frequently. But more they were hatched, if you will, from my experience in October 2011 visiting the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks.

Some inspiration takes longer to peculate through the subconscious than others. And this series came by way of a visit to the Clayton-Raton Volcanic Field.  That visit resulted in the Fat Grass series of paintings and a departure into green in my palate. But it had the same emptiness and loneliness of the Painted Deserts of the Southwest. And because of volcanic births the same energy.

I took the emptiness I found on the volcanic field of Clayton and Raton and carried it back to the haunting memories of my visit to the canyons of Arizona and came up with On the Edge. Painting number two of the series was Over the edge. And the newest is End of Days which I just finished. This series is my most abstract.

Water or the lack of water still figures as a subtext in these landscapes. The flock of crows is down to a solitary raven somewhere in the sky.

Having just finished The End of Days I find myself already sketching out in my mind the next in this series.

End of Days
16 x 30 Watercolor on Artists Canvas
$1200

Over the Edge
18 x 24 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$975

Purple Sage
19 x 36 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1600

Get Your Kicks

A Road Once Traveled by J. Binford-Bell

Get Your Kicks

On Route 66

The old song said

The highroad

Now replaced.

Last stop 

Before the desert

Rattlesnakes ahead

And water not.

Kodak photo opportunities

Gateway to natural wonders

Painted desert, Petrified forest

Exit here.

We were there.

Jacqui Binford-Bell

March 2012

Far Away

Surrounded by Time by J. Binford-Bell

Far Away

Sometimes

I believe

I am

Most

Me

When far away.

J. Binford-Bell
December 2011

Shared on The Gooseberry Garden

Bird of a feather

Raven Chatter by J. Binford-Bell

Bird of a feather

Raven

Of Edgar Allan

Standing so still

Not on a door or window sill

But a log of petrified wood.

Poe's bird of Nevermore

Speaking nonsense in the desert sun

Not a midnight dark and gloomy

Cocking head to stare

Fixing me with its stony gaze.

I stood and stared back

Waited for him to fly away

But still he stood as if wanting 

To speak to me

Relay some important message.

I crept close with camera

To listen to the whispers from his feathers

Or capture his spirit in pixels

And he opened his beak

And cackled. 

The breeze ruffled his feathers

I waited for him to fly

But still so stoically he stood

Not until I walked away

Did he fly.

Had he been waiting for me

Some message to pass on

Evermore

Not nevermore

Poe's raven had it wrong.

J. Binford-Bell

November 2011

Note: Posted to The Gooseberry Garden Poetry Picnic

Painted Silence

Painted Silence

Surrounded by hills of painted sand

Whispering of a past long gone

Listening for wild calls of a forest primeval

Drowned beneath the roasting sun.

Walking a trail winding down

Into the erased past beneath

The hills of vivid color so silent

Swallowing every breath of air.

Above on the canyon rim

A reality turned unreal

Descending step by step into silence

Listening for whispers not there.

Surrounded by sands of a time long gone

Transfigured matter which speaks

In whispers not audible

Entombed in colored sands.

J. Binford-Bell

October 2011

Off to the Back Country

Sandstone Bluffs New Mexico

Tomorrow I take off to my sister's house near the Sandstone Bluffs in New Mexico. This is part of the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, a huge uplift of once sea bed. We generally head north to Moab on the northern part of the plateau and vow to catch the sights south on the way home. We always linger too long and end up dead heading home. So this time we are beginning in the south part.

Debbie lives not far from Gallup and one of the trips will be west to the Grand Canyon above Flagstaff. Along the way there is the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. North of Gallup is Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. North of Kayenta is Monument Valley. Those are just a few of the sights we have on our plans to hit but if we get slowed down by great photo opportunities we might not make them all.

And right in the neighborhood is of course the Sandstone Cliffs with the Ventura Arch. So if we don't feel like driving too far there are closer areas to explore further.

Thank heavens in this digital age we don't have to budget for film. Just gas and time. Stay tuned to this blog and Binford's Back Country Photography for postings of our latest captures.

In addition to the camera I have my laptop and also my watercolor sketch book and Van Gogh WC pencils. Oh, and my journal should I wax poetic.