full time

last week ruth went to canada to visit some friends and i got to take some "time off" work to be full-time dad. it was a busy, exhausting and rich week. these precious little men don't stop. can i just say that i love these guys! arn't they beautiful?!
thanks for the pics bryan. thanks daniel for the help. and props to ruth for what she does every day!

new material: "the fruit of the spirit" series.

this week i completed a series of 9 images that were hurriedly framed and installed at mhgs. they are located on the second floor by the stairwell next to the large classroom. they look lovely on the red wall with track lighting. each image is titled as a "fruit of the spirit" and interacts with the concept by contrast. the "fruit" is not being manifest by the people as they engage or is desperately needed in the scene. the approach is visual theology, via-negativa. check it out if you get a chance.
regrettably i didn't get a chance to take pictures, so if you are down there and happen to have a high resolution camera, take a picture and send it to me. thanks!

Pandora's Box

i was into pandora radio [radio that only plays music you like and introduces you to new artists based on your tastes] when it came out a few years ago... but it was a bit rough around the edges and not very precise nor insightful in it's associations or recommendations [like once i had a wonderful flow of tunes going and then it played a mandy moore song... unforgivable]. but now, it looks like things have definitely improved. i like the genre stations and sharing capabilities as well. i have two goals this year [two things that i like the idea of but struggle to actually do and enjoy]: learn the discipline of reading poetry and the habit of listening to jazz. pandora is helping me with the jazz part.

La Casa Azul

Reasons to go to La Casa Azul:

• It's the best Mexican food in town.
  
• Authentic Oaxaca cuisine.
  
• They get the flavors spot on and the portions are generous (La Carta de Oaxaca is amazing but the prices are high and the portions are small).
  
• Real Mexican food has yet to be discovered by most folks this side of the border- (aka: no "Las Guaymas" or "Azteca" here)
• My belly is full and my heart longs for home...
  

current dablings

if you have not listened to seattle's very own fleet foxes, you ought to- they describe their sound accurately as "baroque harmonic pop jams." wonderful music.
yesterday, they were appropriately the background music for my very first reading of t.s. elliot's "four quartets". i walked in circles in the sun.






"I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away—"

summer [sweet] update

Come to the Edge

“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We’re afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), French Poet and Philosopher

[sketchbook] #3.

untitled # bird
07.04.08

phil nellis: all rights reserved

oaxaca via mackenzie rollins

our dear friend mackenzie is in our home town of oaxaca, mexico studying photojournalism under renown photographer mary ellen mark. mackenzie has an amazing eye and a heart for the human face- her work offers encounter. i'm so excited to see oaxaca through her lens in the next few weeks.
you can follow her work down there through her blog.
(photo by mackenzie rollins, all rights reserved)

[sketchbook] #2.

dogface
07.01.08

all rights reserved:
phil nellis

[sketchbook] #1.

teeth&talon
07.01.08

all rights reserved:
phil nellis