Snow Globe

Day 128: An overnight snowfall of five inches kinda caught all of us a little off-balance, including the Odd Onion who here perches precariously on the tip of a steel fencepost. I like snow. I like snowshoeing. The problem is that having a good snowfall at house elevation keeps me from driving to the Park where the snow is deep enough for a good snowshoe walk. That said, if this keeps up, I may need to put them on to get out to the mailbox!

Stranger Things

Day 350: The Odd Onion has not made an appearance for quite some time, but I haven't forgotten this "100 Possibilities" photo project. I always select my onions with an eye toward their photographic merits, but as you can see, this one was a little long in the tooth by the time I got around to making its portrait. Many of its predecessors have gone straight into the soup/stew without achieving the slightest fame. This one spoke to me while I was packing up my kayak gear for a fall survey of Lake St. Clair. "Take me with you," it said. I could hardly object. It had been patiently sitting on top of the dryer for over a month without being called to duty. Now I suppose you'll think it rather odd that someone would take an onion kayaking, but I can assure you there are stranger things going on in today's world. The Onion hopes we have made your day a little brighter, if no less surreal.

Entitled To An Op-Onion

Day 115: Everyone is entitled to their own op-onion, and by gawd, here's mine. I've 'bout reached my limit on stress, and while I don't want to turn my back on what's going on in the political sphere for fear that it, like the proverbial alligator, will bite me on the behind, it's time for some Silly. Friends have often heard me voice one of my driving mottoes: "The world needs more silly." Like most mottoes, sometimes it's hard to maintain, but let's give it a try. There's nothing controversial about an onion, unless you want to debate Walla Walla Sweets over those watery things they grow in Georgia (bleccchhh!). Frankly, I prefer yellows for cooking and reds for salad. What's your op-onion?

Spectacled Onion

Day 37: I had decided several days ago that I would go to see the Sunday matinee of "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them," and indeed that was my plan when I went to bed last night. I even left a note on my desk so I'd be sure not to forget. However, when I woke up this morning, I realized I hadn't let my supervisor know to pick me up on his way to work tomorrow so I could attend the Park's Tuesday turkey-feed. Then I remembered that I had to go to the post office to mail a package as well, but couldn't do so on a Sunday. Wait...is it Sunday or Monday today? It has to be Sunday because I'm going to the movie. Yesterday was Saturday. Today is Sunday. No, wait...

After several minutes of deliberation, I gave up and flipped open my cell phone. For several more minutes, I experienced a sensation not unlike having just come through a substantial, rolling earthquake, i.e., disorientation, nausea, dizziness. Saturday? SATURDAY? And then a brief moment of denial: "The phone is wrong" and illogically, "Must not have changed over from Daylight Time."

Nothing makes sense any more. Abstraction: A Spectacled Onion. The logic of the absurd.

Optical Onion

Day 10: A few of my readers will remember my Odd Onion project: take 100 photographs featuring an onion in creative ways. Most notorious among the photos so far was "Whistler's Onion," for which I tore my bedroom apart and recreated the setting of the famous "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1" with myself as Mother, holding the Onion on my lap. While not a recreation in that sense, this image was strongly inspired by the works of Piet Mondrian, whose minimalist approach is very pleasing to my eye. Viewers will also notice that there is an optical illusion at play here. The lines are purely white, but as the eye moves across the canvas, it will appear that there are dark dots at the intersections, hence the name of the piece, "Optical Onion."

Venus Recumbent - A Nude

Day 231: Nude photography provides a unique set of challenges, not the least of which is the fine-line distinction between beauty and vulgarity, so easy to cross in posing a model. A hand in one position may be discreet; shifted an inch to the side, it may become distastefully suggestive. The graceful lines of the recumbent form can convey anything from sultry seductiveness to shy revelation. As one artist put it, what is not seen tantalizes the imagination. Uncovered, it is only exposition for exposition's sake.

Given my model's limitations, I have tried to create that which makes classic nudes something which can be admired even by those with the most Victorian morals. If you're looking for porn, just keep walking. Nothing here for you to see.