Wassaic NY and Sunset Park NY
August and September 2014
The couch where I sat to eat breakfast and drink an end of work day beer during my month in Wassaic / Some flowers in the shade of tall trees on a summer's day in Brooklyn
Eating tacos in Sunset Park /
Sunset Park, NY
September 2014
Our taco club walked a route of Sunset Park to eat tacos this summer. It was Mexican independence day and Fifth ave was dense with people, corn grills and stalls.
Don Pepe Tortas & Jugos (This place gets top marks for ambience - it's crazy in there. Great al pastor tacos and candy selection, as well as an extensive and amazing juice menu).
Taqueria El Maguey (Pictured above. This place has seating for about 10 people and is really home style and great. Excellent al pastor tacos here).
Tacos El Bronco (This is a food truck at the moment because the restaurant caught fire a while back. I had the vege taco here - it was so so, but the condiments were good).
Tacos Matamoros (This is a sit down restaurant with a huge menu. Great chorizo taco here and the back room has awesome wall murals).
Ricos Tacos (The music here is loud loud loud, and the al pastor taco was probably my least favorite. My friends ordered the pork skin taco and it was seriously blubbery).
Plant life /
Wingdale, NY
August 2014
Wild flowers and grass growing along a quiet road in Wingdale on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Abandoned Harlem Valley /
Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, Wingdale, NY
August 2014
Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center operated from 1924 to 1994. The hospital has 80 buildings and at it's peak in the 1950s held 5,000 patients. The buildings have been abandoned for 20 years. I took these photographs through broken windows as trespassing within the property is not allowed and a security guard is on site at all times.
Wingdale /
Wingdale, NY
August 2014
A building that was part of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center. Now abandoned.
Kilns /
Kilns, Wassaic, NY
August 2014
Obscenely green nature at these amazing old kilns off an unpaved road in Wassaic. Adam and I stopped for a look around on the way for a swim in the creek. Another resident said there was a dead skunk surrounded by vultures up there when she went the day earlier, but we didn't see any sign of that crazy scene.
Wassaic /
Wassaic, NY
August 2014
Luther Barn, Old Forge Organics and Wassaic houses.
Fisherman's supplies /
Fishermans Supplies, Greenport, NY
August 2014
Sag Harbor /
Liquor store, Sag Harbor, NY
May 2014
I bought Girl Scout Cookies from the man working in this liquor store. Four boxes between Adam and I. I had never eaten or seen them before - they were just a concept from movies and TV up until that moment.
Well, I can confirm they are pretty great. Samoas were my favorite - coconut and chocolate.
High Rocks /
High Rocks, Wassaic, NY
August 2014
Emilie, Xinyi and Aidan (with Sheila the pup) at High Rocks.
Wildflowers /
Wildflowers, Wassaic NY
August 2014
Ryann gathering flowers for our kitchen table after we swam in the creek at High Rocks.
Between Armenia and Sharon /
Between Armenia, NY and Sharon, CT
August 2014
Out the car window on a trip for groceries during my residency at Wassaic.
Lunch /
Lunch, Hamptons, NY
Memorial Day weekend, May 2014
I don't like lobster but I like everything about this restaurant, from the list of famous diners on the paper placemat to the homemade pies for dessert.
The Compound /
Smoke Bellow
The Compound, Baltimore, MD
July 2014
I spent an afternoon reading on the couch at the Compound in Baltimore while Smoke Bellow rehearsed for their upcoming tour. I don't know if it's an official name or just what everyone calls it, but the Compound is a farm, a home, a venue, artists studios and rehearsal space. While I was reading and listening to the distant sounds of Smoke Bellow practicing, a beautiful girl was weaving fabric on a large loom upstairs, and a sculptor was working on a tree trunk with a chainsaw outside.
Swimming /
Outside Baltimore, MA
July 2014
When winter finally ended this year I made a resolution to swim as much as I could once the weather warmed. Coming from a city in Australia with a subtropical climate, where I had a backyard pool as a kid and escaped to the beach with my sister many weekends, winters in the northeastern USA have not been easy. I never appreciated how lucky we were that in winter we would sometimes need to slip on a light sweater or a thin scarf at night.
So this year, I managed a few trips to the Rockaways, and some creek swims in the Hudson Valley, and this very cold swim with some very good people outside Baltimore in late July.
Wassaic, 2014 /
Me in my studio in Luther Barn, Wassaic. Photo by Jeff Barnett-Winsby
I spent August in a small hamlet called Wassaic, two hours north of New York City, making artwork in a beautiful barn from 1875. I have begun sharing work in my portfolio here and here. Read about the Wassaic Artist Residency on their website.
Austin /
Signs
Austin, Texas
March 2014
If you know me at all, you know how much I love neon and signage. So yes Austin was heaven.
Houses /
Houses
Austin, Texas
March 2014
I fell in love with these single-story stone houses and their arid cacti gardens when I was in Austin a few months ago. The neighborhood where I stayed was quiet and it always felt like it had just rained.
The Big Duck /
The Big Duck
Long Island, NY
May 2014
I was chatting to a new friend recently and she happened to notice that the lock screen on my phone was a picture of the Big Duck. She got so excited. The Big Duck is on her list of places to go, she said. She told me some facts about the Big Duck that I did not know (which I already forgot).
It's when you meet someone new and they get excited about a Big Duck, that you realize you are really lucky you met this person and you need them in your life.
This post is dedicated to everyone who puts things like roadside ducks on their list of places to go. Stay golden you guys.
Hamptons /
Montauk
Long Island, New York
May 2014