The Winds of Fate

One ship drives east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow.

‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life:

‘Tis the set of the soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Artwork by Ira Barkoff.  Image source.

I’ve always loved this poem. I came across it at a time when I really needed to read it to myself. So I wrote it down somewhere and now I found it again. I thought I would share it here.

Read the rest of this entry »

I always thought Google Maps was pretty cool.  And now it’s even cooler when I heard about what artist Bill Guffey was able to do with them.

Some of Bill Guffey’s artwork is inspired by by screengrab of Google Maps street view.  He is a self-taught artist from Kentucky.  He has done some traveling, but have now found Google street view to be less expensive way to be inspired. And with only the click of a mouse he could be just about anywhere in the world.

Some of my favorite paintings by Bill are shown here.

This painting was done with a screen grab from Google Streetview Italy.  I’ve always loved looking at photos of Italian balconies, especially ones filled with blooming geraniums.

“Currently, Guffey’s portfolio includes 100 images inspired by Google Maps street view. In April, he finished painting images from each of the 50 states, subbing in Washington DC for Hawaii, which is not yet available on Google Maps. Last week, Guffey painted a few scenes from Eastport, Maine. This week, his blog displays paintings of Angwin Vineyards in Angwin, Calif., and the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo.” - CS Monitor.

Read the rest of this entry »