I have not posted any still life in a while. These images date from as long ago as June and as recent as last week (Buddha in Water). Essentially, they are works in progress…

I must admit I was thinking about the phrase “smile for the birdie” when I made this image (perhaps a one-liner). The Imperial Debonair… Now that’s a sexy camera. A long-gone relative made the lace. Willa Cat left us the bird.

This colorful caterpillar should turn into a tussock moth. I’m not sure how old the flash bulb is – I’d guess it dates from the 60’s or 50’s, but it could be older. The spiky caterpillar made me think of the flash bulb filaments. The background pattern is from a crystal bowl. A wedding present from long ago.

I think this is a shrew – not sure. Another gift from Willa Cat. In the spring she was very active. You had to look down when you stepped out the door in the morning to avoid the carcasses. The iris is from my garden. The abalone has been on the shelf collecting dust for… decades. I just could not leave the idea of a shrew on a shell alone. Hope it’s not a mole… that would ruin everything. A mole on a mollusk just doesn’t work for me…

I bought the primitive Buddha at Brimfield a few years back. The flower is from a big “Rose of Sharon” – a plant from either Syria or Korea. Rose of Sharon is also the name of a character in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. The Buddha and flowers are half-submerged (rotting & translucent) in a wheelbarrow of water.

The background is a rather unique Daguerreotype case inlaid with shell. I found the barnacle-encrusted bone on a beach in Nova Scotia. I dug the 1824 penny out of the ground when I was 13 or 14. I love patina.

I found this snake in the back yard. It was well past its prime. I think it had an unfortunate encounter with the lawnmower. I liked the way it looked and put it in a baggie and into the freezer for later use. The “treasure trove” came from a Maxwell House coffee can of jewelry fittings rescued by my brother from a land fill in NH. The gold reflection in the snake’s eye is real, but exaggerated. The thawed snake really stank when I made this image. This image was inspired by Tolkien’s dragon Smaug from the Hobbit.

The “album” in the background is the cover of a relative’s Victorian scrapbook. The alarm clock is Chinese and dates from the 1950’s. The day lily is from the garden. Other lilies were placed off camera to reflect in the clock. Day lilies last for a day, the scrapbook is full of memories and the clock – well, there’s not much mystery here.