MAGICAL TIGER, LEOPARD, GIRAFFES, OSTRICH AND AMPHIBIAN PHOTOS

 

 

 

I've had these photos for a while and wouldn't touch them until I felt inspired to create something which would compliment the beauty of these creatures.    Yes ....... even the ostrich!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed adapting the backgrounds to place maximum emphasis on the beauty of these animals.  

 

These prints will be available on FineArt America or can be obtained at various Craft Markets throughout summer.   

 

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have loved putting them together.

 

JO COHN

 

 

 

 



I SAW THE ASTEROID

I  SAW  THE  2013 ASTEROID

 

 

WHERE is the camera when you need it???!!!!!!!?????   

 

 

Early morning has always been my favorite time of the day and very often even if it's cold, I'll go outside to have some quiet time and contemplate and plan my day.

 

Well I got a surprise this morning!

 

I don't really live in Houston - about thirty miles away actually.   The plus and upside to that is that we have big skies, dark nights and plenty stars.    At 5.45am this morning I noticed something odd.    Somewhere between the stars and higher than the  highest airplane flight path, I saw the asteroid.    It wasn't high enough to be a satellite and not low enough to be a plane.

 

It was about six times larger than the morning star and was moving S L O W L Y away from me.    Within 45 seconds it diminished from this extremely bright light to nothing.    Didn't think a whole lot about it until I checked out the morning news.    It's not the meteorite which gave Russians a fright but I'm pretty certain it wasn't the normal order things either.

 

I have to consider myself blessed.    This is really cool - but why didn't I have my camera handy?!?

 

JO COHN

There's an old proverb "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" which goes right back to the 12th century.   These words seem to have been graffitied somewhere deep down and keep me constantly busy and productive.  

Spring/summer and fall I'm committed to my photography.    Winter seems to be a time of preparation and planning.    

Last year I introduced a range of chili plants which pretty much sold out.    The results were encouraging and I therefore spent the whole of this winter adding a whole bunch of other plant varieties to my range.    The chili's are only now starting to grow but I have the following plants for sale:    Green and red striped canna, beautifully fragrant hyacinths, variegated liriope, sweet potato vines, social garlic which, although it makes a nice landscaping filler, can also be added to salads.   Wait, there's more.    Peppermint for those mojitos, rosemary for those veggie bakes and Coppertone Stonecrop.   This is a really nice yellow, green and red succulent.   Also dwarf dune aloes - a compact plant with blue-ish leaves and pink tips.   

I'll be at the Imperial Farmers Market, Sugarland this Saturday 16th Feb. - so why don't you swing by and see what I've got.    

The mild winter in Houston did allow me to get out down to the beach to do some more reflection photos with sea water.     I'm hoping to find the time to get some of this work processed and printed.   I've been talking about photographing reflections of large shells using sea water for some time.   So far they look really good.   If I can I will have this new matieral at the market this Saturday.

Hope you have all launched into 2013 firing on all cylinders!   Looking forward to seeing you!

JO COHN @ MyTerraTree

 

PYTHON HITCHING A RIDE IN KRUGER!

 

OK, this would be my biggest nightmare!     There's a saying that "Africa is not for sissies" and whilst the writer came out of this experience none the worse for wear, I would not have been in her shoes for anything.    Oi!

 

 

 

My husband Leon and I were on vacation in Hazyview and visited the Kruger National Park each day during our weeklong stay.

We are subscribed to the Facebook and WhatsApp groups: Kruger National Park Sightings. This group supplies visitors with real time information and sightings become a lot easier when you know which road to take.

On Sunday, 06 May 2012, we entered at Phabeni Gate and coincidently it was my late father’s birthday. I could not think of a better place to celebrate than in the Kruger Park that he loved so much.

We received a message of a lion sighting on the H3. We were not far from the area and decided to check it out. On our way there, we saw a couple of cars and safari vehicles and initially thought it must be lions.

While there, we were informed that there was a python in the grass and while we were searching, the python suddenly sailed out of the grass straight towards our car. I waved to the vehicle behind us to reverse, but he couldn’t understand what everyone was looking at. The next moment the python disappeared underneath our car.

Approximately two minutes later, the tourists in the vehicles around us started laughing – the snake had not come out from under our vehicle. One of the safari operators informed us that he saw the snake ‘going up!’

 

We drove approximately five kilometers to the nearest lookout point, Mathekenyane (Grano Hill) approximately 10 kilometers from Skukuza with a convoy of vehicles following us to enjoy a piece of the action.

When we parked on the hill, Leon opened the car bonnet and then asked me to bring the camera. Mr Snake was lying on the engine, eyeballing all the commotion around him. Leon patted the snake, took it by the tail and the snake exited the same way it came in.

The snake sailed away unharmed and luckily there was no damage to the car. Later that morning we received a message that someone spotted a very relaxed python on Mathekenyane!

 

 

 

 

The lions were forgotten for then and Leon had to drive me to Skukuza so that I could get some sugar water to calm my nerves. I was in shock and terrified while we drove to Mathekenyane with the snake somewhere in the car. Leon a real ‘Ace Ventura’ was extremely excited about the experience.

Later that evening we had a good chuckle about the reactions of the bystanders when the snake exited the vehicle. People were scattering in all directions and I am only disappointed that I was numb with fear and didn’t take more pictures.

The snake is estimated to be between four to five meters and we never once imagined the response we would get from this experience.

Leon and I are absolutely crazy about Kruger and visit as often as we can. Having a snake in our car bonnet was an experience that I will NEVER forget!

 

 

A MAN OF SUBSTANCE

Not often enough someone like Robert Redford comes into focus.    There is a consistency and a quiet sense of urgency about him that I like.    You don't really hear about him nowadays unless he has something important to impart.   

Whilst his life could have taken a vastly different track and he could have been living the high life of fame and money, he did not take that route.   Instead, he chose to give back to this world with grace and dignity (well ...... so it seems).   What I really like about  him is that he speaks such sense.   The clip above might make him seem like a tree-hugger until you realize that there is not ONE argument to be had against his rationale.   He's starting to get on in years but I really hope he sticks around for long enough to make an impression on the younger generations.    It is, after all, THEY who will inherit TODAY.

 

 

AT

 

 

 

 

 

At long last I can finally say that I have a website!    It's amazing how many people I interact with ask for my website.    It's ONLY taken a year but here it is www.josephine-cohn.artistwebsites.com.    FineArtAmerica is a website where people from anywhere in the world can look at all the wonderful things artists are doing and purchase prints/prints on canvas/acrylic/metal or simply framed.    VERY nice!  

 

It's my plan to showcase all my refraction, reflection and separation of light work on this website.   More will come later as I know that this is where my focus lies.   I've done a lot this year but I know instinctively that there's more to discover.    2013 will definitely be a year of digging in and discovering more cool things we don't always see. :-)

 

For the many people I have met in Houston/Sugar Land, there's a new market coming to town on the 7th, 8th and 9th of December.    It's called The Heart of Texas Art and Craft Show and I will be participating as one of the vendors.   This Show boasts a lot of vendors who do unique work.   The show organizers have run this show successfully in Dallas, TX for a number of years and are bringing it to Houston for the first time.   Visit www.heartoftexasshow.com to see what you can find for Christmas.

 

The year end is galloping towards us and before things speed up to a blur, I would like to thank each and every person I have met over this year.    Your observations and comments about my work keep me going.   So thank you, thank you, thank you.  

 

Here's to a good year next year.    I don't know if my book is still on schedule but I am still hoping for a March 2013 launch.    More about that later.

 

Many blessings to you and those nearest and dearest to you.  

 

 

 

JO COHN

 

 

 



SOME REALLY COOL REFRACTION PHOTOS

 

 

I'm sure many of my followers would have seen the media blitz on "SHOP SMALL" which has been all over TV in the past week.   This campaign is promoting shoppers to support small business and to visit local markets and buy from local vendors.   Personally, I think this is a FANTASTIC idea!    The timing of this campaign could not have been better and we'd love to see many people visiting the Imperial Farmers Market and to buy from the growing number of arts and craft vendors.  

 

I seem to be focusing more and more on photos which illustrate refraction and separation of light.   The pics above are a preview of what's to come and will be at MyTerraTree's booth tomorrow, Saturday 17th.   These images are zany and fun and improbable as it might look, the original photos come from refracted and separated light.  

 

Please swing by MyTerraTree's booth tomorrow.   I don't know if you feel the same way I do about shopping over the Thanksgiving holiday.   I'll forsake the crush and the rush for a more peaceful and relaxed way of shopping.   Hope you feel that way too!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!