Friday, November 15, 2013

Woodchuck Lodge

John Burroughs (1837-1921) was a writer and naturalist from 100 years ago whose essays and books helped to establish the environmental movement. He built a rustic house near Roxbury, New York where he spent the summers and entertained guests.

A historic photo taken in John Burroughs' day (top), compared to one taken last summer, shows that some of original wood on the porch has been replaced.


 Last August I did a painting on the porch because the rain kept coming and going. As I dove into the watercolor, I kept in mind one of the quotes of John Burroughs: "Leap and the net will appear."

John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge 
More quotes by John Burroughs
Previously on GurneyJourney: The Creative Habitats of John Burroughs
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6 comments:

  1. Jacob A StevensNovember 15, 2013 at 9:20 AM

    Looks like a beautiful place to make art and ponder nature!

    I have an off-topic question that I've been thinking about: Given a single light source, does the specular highlight on an object always appear in the same place where the diffuse lighting is brightest?

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  2. SteveNovember 15, 2013 at 9:52 AM

    Burroughs was many things and certainly a rich source of quotations. The leap/net one is an old favorite. Here are four others:

    "You can fail many times, but you're not a failure until you begin to blame somebody else.”

    “I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.”

    “The kingdom of heaven in not a place but a state of mind.”

    “The secret of happiness is something to do”

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  3. James GurneyNovember 15, 2013 at 10:12 AM

    Thanks for those quotes, Steve.

    Jacob, the lightest area of diffuse reflection is the center light, which is the point where the light hits the form perpendicularly.

    Unless the light source is directly behind you, the highlight is at a different spot, a spot closer to you. The highlight appears on the plane where the rays of light reflect back to your eye.

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  4. Jacob A StevensNovember 15, 2013 at 11:36 AM

    Ah! Ok. So I think that means that the more obtuse the angle of the light is from the camera, the further the specular highlight will be from the brightest diffuse area.

    Thanks!
    Jacob

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  5. Jacob A StevensNovember 15, 2013 at 11:49 AM

    Actually, I drew a picture and found a more precise solution: The specular highlight is at an angle exactly halfway between the brightest diffuse light and the plane perpendicular to the camera.

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  6. bryceviewlodgeDecember 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

    This picture reminds me so much of my old house in the province 10 years ago.

    Click Here

    ReplyDelete

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