Author Archives: J R
Menu Item: Urban Sketching
I’ve added a new item to the menu for eating out — urban sketching. Restaurants have such different personalities, ambience and atmosphere created through their decor, their table setup, their wall colors and their food. When I sketch while waiting for an order to arrive, I’m thinking about all the mood-creating effects. Mood is created […]
Lessons from Shakuhachi flute
It’s always fun to experiment with making different flutes. Lately I have been experimenting with making Japanese shakuhachi flutes from PVC cold water pipe. It is not an easy flute to learn to play but it is a wonderful sound when you do get a note. Given how hard it is to achieve playing a […]
GFAA Artists’ Café, March 17
Join me at SweetBerries for an afternoon of art, live music and tasty snacks on Saturday, March 17. The GFAA Artists’ Café is from 3 to 6 p.m., with members of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association displaying and selling our work on the patio. I’ll be selling my wood abstracts, which are inspired by all […]
WrenSong flutes at Leesburg Festival
The Leesburg Arts Festival provided me the opportunity to do two activities I enjoy — play my flutes for listeners and sell my flutes to people who are drawn to the sound of the flute. My WrenSong Woods tent was just a few yards from the east stage of the festival. (You can see my […]
Leesburg Arts Festival, Saturday, March 10
I’m looking forward to being part of the Leesburg Art Festival on Saturday, March 10. I will be a vendor selling my WrenSong flutes and other wood art items. The art festival will be held along the streets of Historic Downtown Leesburg from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. I’ll be one of more […]
Visiting Leesburg Flute Gathering
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Leesburg Flute and Drum Gathering held in the Leesburg Center for the Arts. My friend Deb, who I’d met at Flute Haven a few years ago, has always been ready to pick up a flute and jam. With Deb’s Leesburg friends and my Gainesville friends […]
Improvising Strategies for Am Native American Style Flute
The Native American style flute lends itself to improvising. I remember meeting a man from Jacksonville, Florida who would climb out on his roof after work and decompress by “playing” the skyline. Depending on where he looked, the skyline was different. He said he’d never played the same thing twice using this way of improvising […]
