LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S "VISION OF THE MADONNA" MOSAIC IN RIVER GLASS

Laurie Zuckerman experienced a "vision" right before Christmas that she could create a Madonna from the shards of river glass her husband collected for her in Wyoming this fall. Using nearly every piece, I positioned these chunks of bottle and telephone transformer glass on my outdoor patio table to resemble the Madonna's head with her blue mantle, and without the add of a picture. It still needs plenty of fussing before I glue it down, if at all. Perhaps on an old, old wine bottle I found in Leadville, Colorado. I want her to be beautiful, but at the moment, she is harsh and stern like a witch. I was reading my new book on New Guinea's Bowerbirds when my vision struck me. Male Bowerbirds collect and carefully arrange colorful baubles to entice a female to mate. Fortunately our balmy winter weather cooperated so I could run outside on Christmas Eve and work until I was finished with this rough draft. What do you think?

I've made some changes, found some more cobalt beach glass, but the snow has covered my backyard Madonna experiment for now. 

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHS BOTTLE TREE IN SOUTH FORK, SOUTHERN COLORADO

It is not everyday that Laurie Zuckerman finds a Southern-style spirit bottle tree to photograph. Here is a shot from South Fork, Colorado, that I took over the Thanksgiving Break, in a place and a state I would never expect to see one. I was told a bear knocked down the tree and its original old bottles. These cobalt blue bottles are the replacements, but these days everyone is using these bottles liberally.