Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

From the road, east and south...

"Oklahoma, Rt. 66" (c) 2107 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, The Arboretum, University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Eno River, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, The Haw River, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, 85-Year-Old Maple Tree, The Old Courtney Farm, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, Harley Jenks, The Vietnam War Memorial, Washington, D.C." (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair [with Guiseppe Panone's sculpture 'Stone and Elm'], North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, North Carolina Museum of Art, Art Park, Raleigh, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Pittsboro, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Tears For America" by Mark Hewill, Pittsboro, North Carolina. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Sea Dog by Andrew Wyeth", North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph by Stu Jenks

 

"Side Porch Pot by Mark Hewitt", Pittsboro, North Carolina" Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Playful Newborn Colt, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Little Rock Central High, Arkansas" (c) 2107 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Memphis, Tennessee" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Why Not, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Merry Point Ferry, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Charlotte Skyline from Grandfather Mountain by Hugh Morton" North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph of a photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Nakayama Canyon, Hida by Kawase Hasui", Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Night by John Stanhope", Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia" Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Trees by Milton Avery", The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Photography by Stu Jenks.

 

"The Wake of The Ferry by John Sloan", The Phillips Collections, Washington, D.C. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, at the feet of Rodin's Balzac, Hirchhorn Museum, Washington, D.C." (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, at the Brown vs Board of Education Monument, Virginia State Capitol Building, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, Cold Harbor Civil War Battlefield, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks. [Assisted by Alexa Smith]

 

 

Step Zero by Stu Jenks is launched...

(Author Photo by Jeff Smith at www.jeffsmithusa.com

 

Step Zero, the novel, has been launched.

So where can you buy it?

For those of you with tablets and digital devices, you can buy Step Zero as an iBook from the Apple store, for your iPad and iPhone, or you can obtain it as an ebook for your Amazon Kindle device, via this link. (The Nook version is pending.) You can also purchase the soft-cover first editions at the Barnes and Noble online store and at the Fezziwig Press online store. And locally, you can obtain the soft-cover book at Tucson Touch Therapies at Pima and Alvernon and at Betty Blue's Junk Shop on South Plumer. Lastly, on, Saturday, November 10th, 2012, from Noon to 5 p.m., I'll be at my studio at 549 N. 7th Avenue, for an imformal book signing, in conjunction with the Tucson Open Studio Tour.

And as a special free treat to those who buy Step Zero, I'll send you a pdf of The Lost Images of Step Zero, a hundred plus images that didn't make the final edit, but are a nice adjunct to the Step Zero experience, whatever that means. Just send me a Facebook message or an email at [email protected] and I'll send the PDF right to you.

So push those buttons and buy those books, boys and girls, for baby needs a new pair of shoes.

From The Lost Images Of Steps Zero PDF:

Top to bottom, "A Rose For Chessie, California", "Matt Antone's Ginger, Arizona", "The 41 Nights, Arizona", and "Michael and Chessie's Moon, California".

 

Cover design by Gail Cross of Desert Isle Designs. Cover photograph 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 [email protected], 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!

...some images from the Tohono O'Odham Nation...

...some images from the Tohono O'Odham Nation (c) 2012 Stu Jenks

...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.

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar (c) 2004 Susan Toplikar & Photos by Stu Jenks

A painting by North Carolina artist Susan Toplikar. I love her. I love her work. I love her husband Mike Cindric too.

I had the privilege to sleep under this painting, when I standed with Susan and Mike earlier this month in the beautiful Oakwood section of Raleigh.

Fun fact: There are six paintings in this series (I think) and they are huge, around 6 feet by 4 feet.

Quote by the artist: "These paintings really aren't about horses."

You got that right, as Victoria Hardy would say.

I sleep well with these colors above my head. (Actually, I was a bit restless those nights, but not due to the beauty created by men and women, but rather because of the ugliness of some people.) I hope to sleep beneath this horse again someday.

To see more images of 'Brahman', go to Susan's website at this link.

"Albert Fontaine Saum And His Horse"

"Albert Fontaine Saum And His Horse" (c) unknown photographer, turn-of-the-21st-century(?), Virginia & Stu Jenks 2011

Found this photograph in a box of my mother's things. Albert Fontaine Saum was my mother's grandfather. Born in the Valley of Virginia during the Civil War, died in 1943 at his farm outside of Alexandria, Virginia. Quite the character. This may or may not be him in the carriage, but I'm pretty sure that is his horse. Albert, known to everyone as Daddy Saum, walked to Texas when he was a young man, just because he wanted to. Took all summer to get to Texas. Bought a horse when he got tired of walking. Bought a second horse when the first went lame. Sold that horse in Texas and took the train home. Whole trip took around five months. Only luggage he carried was a pair of socks and a toothbursh.

He had a son, Earl and a daughter, Courtney. My grandfather Earl, who I never met, had a reputation of being a mean drunk. But Daddy Saum was much loved. Quite the horseman, they say. Made a good living working two farms in Virginia (but didn't make as much money as his son Earl. All of Earl's money was gone by the time I was born.) I don't know what happened to my great-grandmother other than she died pretty young and Albert remarried. Don't know either wife's name. Sadly, women, back in that day, were just property that had children. Things have changed and some things have not. More progress to come, but I digress.

Saw my uncle Courtney recently. Was told a couple more funny stories about Albert Fontaine Saum. He never learned to drive. Rode his horse everywhere, usually in a saddle. My grandmother Nannie (his daughter-in-law) hated that he rode his horse to their house, for I'm guessing his horse ate the flowers and shat on the lawn. Would ride his horse, fifteen miles, once a month to Washington, D.C. to go to the bank. Was eventually told, in 1930, by the bankers that he couldn't ride his horse to D.C. anymore. Guess a man on horseback was scaring the automobiles.

Really happy Courtney told me those stories the other day. It's just Uncle Courtney and seven cousins in my family now. No mother or father. No brothers or sisters nor nieces or nephews. But I'm thankful to my friends who love me in spite of myself. And thankful I found this photo in a box of things yesterday.

"Pacific & Divisadero"

"Pacific & Divisadero, San Francisco, California" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks

Download Weathertop at Willow Springs by Stu Jenks

Weathertop at Willow Spring by Stu Jenks from Soundtracks For Photographs, Vol. 3

 

 

 

Stu's One Sentence Review of "Seabiscuit"

    Yea, it's a great movie about a great horse, but this 2003 film is as much about the 'Little Guy' in the Great Depression searching for something to believe in, as he (or she) struggles to find dignity in poverty, and hope in hopeless times, as it is about a horse, a jockey, an owner and a trainer, receiving healing through love, faith, loyalty and perseverance; plus watching horses gallop always makes me cry, which is probably a past life thing for me.