The Fezziwig News by Stu Jenks

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at stujenks@gmail.com, and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

...The first draft of the novel is done!!!...

The first draft of the novel is done!!! It came in at 149,000 words, 552 pages in my document. Yeaaaa! I can't tell you how good it feels. The ending made me cry, as I hope it does you. (Last word in the novel, which won't change in revision: Sighs.) I want to jump right back to the beginning and start revisions, but Mary Ann suggests I take more than just a couple days off. OK. I'll take off three or four days. LOL. But then it's fixing this and revising that, then off to the editors. And I have ideas for the next novel in this series, too. I have some pretty great characters, I think, and I want to see what they will do next. But first things first. Get this novel to print.

One serious note: It took about a year to write this novel, but it almost didn't get done. With Mary and Pamela dying and all, I didn't work on it for about six weeks and it was so hard to get my momentum back. But I did. But it was difficult. If you are working on a novel or a large work, I recommend you plow through, even if the field is frozen. I've been told I'm very lucky to have gotten back on track.

Speaking of track, good luck to Danica Patrick tomorrow in the Daytona 500 and in the rest of Sprint Cup and Nationwide races this season. I might just have to go up to PHX next Saturday to watch her race.

By the way, did I mention I finished the freaking first draft of the novel?

Yeaaaaaaaaa!

...this and that, from Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado...

I'm just going to put these images up on the StuBlog and say very little. Some are good, some not-so-good, some in-between. Some from last week, some from last year. Enjoy.

All images copyrighted by Stu Jenks, 2012.

And may tender arms keep you warm this winter.

"Grand Canyon Hoop Dance"

"Grand Canyon Hoop Dance, Arizona" (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

There's a story to tell with this image, but I'll tell it another time. Let's just have the image speak for itself for a change.

Fun Facts: This photograph was taken around 4:30 this morning. That's about as fast of a production turnaround as you'll ever get out of me.

And I wasn't in much danger shooting this. A little, but not much. I tend to be careful and heights don't scare me.

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"Wayfaring Stranger at Pamela and Mary Jenks' Graves"

"Pamela Jenks' Grave, St. Mary's Whitechapel Episcopal Church, Lively, Virginia" & "The Empty Living Room, Amherst Lane, Raleigh, North Carolina (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

 

At Mary and Pamela's funeral in Virginia, I played Wayfaring Stranger. Obviously, no one recorded it at our family plot, but in the cavernous, post-estate-sale living room at the Amherst house, I did. The song is in G minor, open tuning on my mandolin, and I played it as a waltz, rather than in 4/4. Hope you enjoy my version of this old tune.

Wayfaring Stranger (Amherst Lane)

 P.S. I'm off to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, and also to pick up a new, better surfboard at Nor Cal Surf Shop. I'll be back in Tucson, middle of next week and I'll fill all book orders when I return. Thanks for your patience with the orders, and thanks for your prayers around Pamela and Mary.

"Earth Spiral at Owl's Head"

"Earth Spiral at Owl's Head, Arizona" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

"Three Man Hoop Dance"

"Three Man Hoop Dance: Bodie, California" (c) Shawn Peterson, Scott Martin & Stu Jenks 2011

I didn't know until a day later, I got bit quite so badly by mosquitos the other night. And except for a California State Park Ranger who was apparently very frightened that twenty plus nocturnal photographers would damaged her already ruined gold mining ghost town, I had just the best time with many sweet, smart and good people last Tuesday night.

I did my own little hoop dance early in the evening (see the post below) and got in trouble with the Park Ranger during the sunset Magic Hour, shooting Bodie from a hill outside of where I was supposed to be. (I need to let it go with this Park Ranger, but Christ, Lance paid a fortune for the permit. They really could have been a bit more mellow considering the cash we put in their pocket. OK. Enough about the Ranger.)

Shooting with new freinds and old:

Watching Lance shoot a circular wooden structure ("An homage to you, Stu," he said. I'm honored.)

Tom shooting a lit window with his four by five camera, smiling all the way.

Tim enjoying shooting through old windows at old lightbulbs and at other old things.

Russell's laughter echoing down the dirt streets.

And other folk just having the time of their life.

It was impossible for me not to be taking into the joy of the night.

And the Park Ranger's control issues did add a humourous tension to the shoot ("She's coming?" he loudly whispered to me, as I stood atop a decaying wall, spinning Christmas Lights. I turned them off and waited for her to pass.)

Shawn came up with the idea of the above image, of doing a big stack of digital images to get those star trails (Thanks Dr. Brown for your Stack-A-Matic) and having me just doing a little hoop dancing among the ruins. Scott was on board too, helping Shawn compose the shoot and light-painting the site. Nice job, boys.

Me? I had my Rollei behind all the action, shooting a tighter shot than the above image. But I wasn't so interested in the Rollei. My main job was to walk the high wall, throw down some good hoops and not break my neck. I did my job. (Perhaps the Park Ranger had reason for concern.) We wished we could have exposed this image for another hour or two, but 1 a.m. arrived and our time was up at Bodie, California, the Disneyland of decaying California mining ghost towns.

Shawn did all the post-production work on this image: the toning, the stacking, the cleaning, the cropping. OK, I did crop it a hair more, and darking that back wall a bit, but it's Shawn's thing, with a lot of Scott and a bit of Stu. A three S image. A Shawn/Scott/Stu image. A nocturnal collaboration among three artists. A delightful time for the three of us, except for these ten bug bites that still itch like the devil on my legs and arms.

A small price to pay for sharing good times with good friends. And a good image to show for it all, too.

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint: The Music Video

 

[First things first: click on the little square-four-arrow-cluster at the lower right hand corner of the video to make it full screen]

Cherokee Girl by Charles de Lint
Produced & directed by Brock Zeman

Original song by author Charles de Lint about the mix of cultures, myth and how all of us are connected to each other and this world in which we find ourselves. Features a brief cameo by Terri Windling, the Cherokee Girl for whom the song was written. Scenes from Tucson filmed by de Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris. Horseshoe Canyon footage by Stu Jenks. For more info: www.charlesdelint.com

[From Stu: I have great friends. Glad the video I shot at Horseshoe Canyon came to such good use. Wonderful place, Horseshoe Canyon; wonderful people, Charles, Terri and MaryAnn; wonderful song, Cherokee Girl.]

"Temple Mountain Spiral"

"Temple Mountain Spiral, Utah" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

    It was just an hour ago, when I had to drive through a sand dune on my way out of Horseshoe Canyon. Not fun, but the only way out is through, as the Jungians say. (Note: There is only one way I drive through deep sand in my four by four. Fast and with a purpose.) Yet the vision of these dunes from the highway had me slamming on the brakes, and pulling over to the shoulder of Utah 24 with hardly a glance in my rearview mirror. Temple Mountain, the old uranium-mined peak, beautiful from a distance yet sad when seeing her scars up close, cuts the sky to the West of me. I see the spiral in the dune before I carve it. It doesn’t take long, not does the photograph.
    Wind’s blowing like a son of a gun. Does that up here in the Wintertime. Other times too. I pop a couple shots of this and that, and then I return to the sand spiral. In just the last couple minutes, the winds have soften the spiral, filled it partially in, making it beautiful.
    I like being an artistic partner with the land and with the wind. But I prefer my sand dunes close to the pavement, not in the road.