1976 Apples

In 1976 I hadn't published a book yet; I hadn't had a child; I was with Andy, just moved to Brooklyn. The center of a lot of my life was my work with Teachers & Writers Collaborative.  Visual arts was still an important means of expression for me.  I hadn't begun to use computers yet, and my mother was painting sentimental landscapes and interesting portraits.  One night, in Shinnston, I borrowed her pastels and made these apples:

 

Actually, I think I made a larger image that I trimmed down to what was best, and the best was really just the apple on the right, plus the stem area of the left apple.

Tonight, forty years later, I tried smudging away some of the not-great basket using Gimp (see below).  I think the original is more interesting, certainly as an artifact of a moment of intense observing and doing on August 12, 1976,