Archive for Art
More Fairy Fun
I am having a lot of fun with my fairy photos and my fairytale storybook classics.
Last year was rough for me, emotionally. It’s nice to be bringing some of the magic and wonder back into my world. It’s also nice to remember, and be reminded by those who love and appreciate me, that I have something to offer.
Here is another image of Kyle. I did her senior portraits. You need only look a few blog posts back to see a few of them. I also have used a couple of photos from that session to turn into fairy portraits.
I hope to have a very busy little studio this year. Call me.
Fairytale Fun
I would like to recreate some of the magic of classic fairytales with my photography. I had Ariel in my studio recently posing as Sleeping Beauty. I am waiting on another model this afternoon – who I have to take photos of to collage and layer into the Sleeping Beauty photos, but I wanted to just play with one of the images from Ariel’s session.
I am planning on making prints and posters with the character’s name in beautiful lettering. Postcards, stationary and other items as well. Maybe a book of all of them together. I have often thought of doing my own version of the classic tales and including photos for the illustrations of the story.
Anyway, I did very little to this image – the model is lovely and her dress was well suited to the character. She and her sister designed and made the dress, which is amazing in itself!
I hope to download a number of more elaborate fonts that have a bit more flourish. I don’t always like fancy fonts, but I think some fancy fonts for this is important. Something castle-ee. Something princess-ee.
I have several other characters in mind that I would like to shoot as soon as possible. I’d like to have some of this stuff ready for the fairy festival if I jury in.
Eviscerated by The Peach Jar’s Glass
I haven’t been dieting or journaling or weighing. There is just too much going on.
This picture is a long story. It’s images of me layered with images from some broken jars of applesauce and peaches, set to various colors.
This image will go on the cover of a sketchbook project. It’s probably going to have some acrylic paint “blood drops” added to it.
Under My Umbrella
When Jade got into the car this morning she realized she’d forgotten her umbrella. I said, “I wanted to remind you about it, but I felt I’d reached my reminder limit with you.” At 15 she doesn’t like to be reminded not to forget things. Then, she sometimes says, “Why didn’t you remind me?” This particular feature of my little angel is something that must be genetic, because her daddy is the same way. She said, “I hope Courtney didn’t spend too much time on her hair.” This perplexed me since Courtney was not in our vehicle and nor did she even ride the bus home with Jade. It turns out that Jade shares her umbrella before a certain class in which she has a trek from the school to the outside classroom. I say “outside classroom” but they are trailers. I know there probably isn’t a school in America these days that doesn’t have one. Anyway, I thought that was sweet. I imagined her holding the umbrella as she and Courtney walked together to class.
I’m slightly miserable today. Each time I cycle I think it can’t be worse the next time, but sometimes it’s worse. Heating pads and ibuprofen – the badges of a real woman. Oh, and don’t forget the chocolate. I’ve already be-headed a darling dark chocolate Dove bunny. Will also got me these adorable bug truffles. Aren’t they just the cutest?
The bugs actually had little molded faces, which was a kind of neat surprise. They also had little crispy bits inside and it made me wonder if Lindt did that on purpose for a nice light buggy crunch? HAHA!
I am playing Chocolat in the DVD player. It’s in the other room, but turned up so I can hear it. Sometimes it’s too quiet and I am not in the mood for music, but rather just voices. Chocolat has today’s bloggy themes of chocolate and gypsies, which makes it a perfect choice. When it is over, perhaps I will listen to the disks from my “Enchanted” collection I got for my birthday.
I am wishing for sunshine. It’s been raining so much here.
I often wonder about moving to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona or California. They seem like mostly sunny places with artsy towns here and there. I wonder.
I am wishing for a big tree in the back yard where Will could build his treehouse.
And I’d cherish a pond with a koi. Or, I’d settle for goldfish.
I suppose I should find more delights in what I already have. Indulge in the sumptuousness around me, yes? Well, sometimes with the dog holes gaping at me in the back yard and the pile that needs to go to the dump on the side of the house and the evidence of my woeful gardening abilities are so glaring, they are hard to ignore. So, yes, I find my dainty pleasures where I may, but there is still much to fix and do that sometimes can be a joy suck.
Day before yesterday I lay on the hammock, my head hanging off of the side and marveled at the brilliant clear blue of the shameless sky. It made the perfect backdrop for something I had not even noticed the day before – buds on the trees. The trees beyond the rusty chain-link fence. Oh, if I could only learn to love chain-link. But in my upside down position I could hardly see the chain-link and only the peachy-yellow buds asserting themselves on the branch tips against the backdrop of that crystalline sky. Here is a photo of what I saw. I wish you could have been here – it was lovely.
Other wishes: I am wishing for a lovely gypsy tent in the yard as soon as the weather is dry and balmy for two days in a row, and since I will not soon have my dreamy vardo.
Yes, I still have vardo dreams – in fact, they have spawned a new artsy idea. Though some of my research makes the concept seem overly daunting, I can’t help but be optimistic. With some help from Willo (that is the dreamy name I will call him when I speak of art and gypsies) I think it won’t be too technically overwhelming. All of those things will have to wait though, until the Body Politics installation is, well, installed at Artomatic.
Also, the Baltimore Playwright Festival is looming. Gotta clean up Delia and get her submitted. I might submit my short diner play too. We’ll see.
Look at this band of gypsies, they need a little spot to relax, wouldn’t you say?
Tiles Finished
I picked my finished tiles up from Prince Frederick yesterday. He looked smashing! Just kidding of course – gosh that was corny!
Jade and I headed out to Lusby and picked up the tiles I worked on in my Parran Collery class at Annmarie Garden. I wrote a nice email to the director of AMG and the person in charge of events/classes etc – but never heard back. Weird.
Whilst finishing up my tiles on Tuesday Jade made friends with Uma, who she then scritched some more on Thursday when we picked up the work.
I dare say that the work does look like practice tiles. I am very happy with them, but you can tell I have some time work to do before I master the technique. Especially when it comes to figuring out glaze. At least for working on the look I want from it. I think the purple works fine in the background of the dragonfly piece, but I would have had a more opaque color for the frame part if I had been able to visualize it better. I’m very excited about the progress I’ve made with clay so far and am looking forward to really working more and more with the medium. Can’t wait to finish the garage studio! That will make a big difference in how often I am able to work.
Below are the finished product. Some are in the yard. The dragonfly will stay in the house.
There are two Starry Night tiles because of a fluke really. I made one to cast. Usually the one you make a cast from is destroyed in the process. However, it came off of the cast in one piece so Parran fired it with the stamped one I made from the cast itself. I gave them different glaze colors. I like the blue better. But they both have their charm.
Jade helped me with the sun tile. She colored all the jade inbetween the stars for me – a bit time consuming – while I worked on painting glaze on the other pieces.
Great class. Great experience. I can’t wait to try out all of the stuff I learned!
Il Giardino Dei Tarocchi & Pearl’s Garden Too
If I have goals as an artist they are mostly to create beautiful and thought-provoking work. Of course, something thought-provoking might not always be beautiful, but I will take either, when I can get them.
There are many things that are life-affirming. Creating a beautiful thing. Making love. Getting married. Giving birth. Watching your children fall in love. Helping others. Finding simple joys in small things.
One thing that always strikes me is when a person has a driven mission. It helps if the person is free of money worries of course. If they can just do what they do best without incumberences. But sometimes, it’s seeing a person persue that which feels greater than them and seems against the odds of possibility, is what is truly extraordinary.
On Facebook one day the avatar of a person I didn’t know caught my eye. The icon looked like a statue of some sort, but it was hard to tell in the smallish format of the avatar. I asked the person about it and she told me it was from a wonderful place she visited in Italy called “The Tarot Garden.”
Here is the Wiki about the artist responsible for The Tarot Garden – Niki de Saint Phalle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_de_Saint_Phalle
Click the image below to go to the official website.
Related Links
http://www.nikidesaintphalle.org/
http://www.niki-museum.jp/english/index.htm
Here is a nice blog entry about Niki and her work.
*****
The evening before last I got another dose of life-affirming by watching a documentary – “A Man Named Pearl.”
Pearl Fryar is a very cool, very energetic dude who created a beautiful garden in his yard from discarded plants tossed out by a local nursery.
I recommend sitting down with some hot tea and being prepared to feel as though you are a very lazy slug when you’re all done watching it. He’s just one of those beautiful amazing spirits out there in the world who keeps shining no matter what. He’s an inspiration and an artist.
You can see the trailer: http://www.amannamedpearl.com/
More Fairy Photo Play
I was tinkering with Photoshop again this week. I am finding that some of the work comes out very much like I managed to catch a photo of a fairy from a dream. Other images come across more like portraits that have been msytical-fairy-ized. I don’t dislike the portrait ones – in fact I rather like them as something that would make a great keepsake. However, my ultimate goal is to have photos that look like I was on safari in a magickal land, thick with a veil of the faerie realm and I happened upon creatures and caught their photos. Or that they even were curious, angry or posed. I will keep working the medium until I get what I want. The image of Jackie reaching up towards the camera is very much along the lines of what I am looking for. I like some of the color combination in my experiments as well. I think the subject will have to direct what I end up with in regards to color.
Here are the two images I worked on this week – click to enlarge.
This is another of Jackie. I think it looks sort of “Stevie Nicks.” I like the muted tones and the mystical quality. It very much has a portrait look, unlike the other image of her reaching up, where she looks very much like a fairy I found.
Again, tinkering with color. Christiana’s hair is really a lovely light brownish/blond color. I layered images of koi and water plants. It still looks a bit like a portrait, but if I do say so, a good one. I think that perhaps more staging with a specific composition in mind might help. I still have many photos of Jackie and Christiana to play with, so I will keep trying out my techniques and hopefully hone the skills I need to get exactly what I am looking for.
Tile-Making Workshop by Parran Collery
I took a tile-making workshop this past weekend with artist and instructor Parran Collery at Annmarie Garden. That’s a bit of a jaunt for me, but it was worth it. My friend Jackie had forwarded the Annmarie Garden e-newsletter to me noting the many classes they offer. In scrolling down through the newsletter I saw a tile I recognized as a Parran Collery tile. Though it didn’t have her name anywhere in the newsletter. On their website however, it did list her name and I signed up right away. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to take two classes in my birthday month! WOO HOO! Happy birthday to me!
I think it was two years ago when I took my first tile class with Tammy Vitale. Since then I have tinkered in clay making tile art and also some clay yoni art. From that one class and by renting kiln space, I have managed to make a good number of fun, spiritual and whimsical tiles. I also have been distracted by many other mediums trying to figure out what I like best. I’ve pretty much decided that clay is very likely to be one of my main art mediums and decided to learn as much as I could about it this year. I promised myself to take notes, buy books, read and take as many workshops as I could in order to determine how much I loved the medium and how plausible it would be to be more full-time with the clay. If I managed to learn enough this year and feel confident in my abilities to perform, I would perhaps treat myself to my own kiln next year. Just in the three classes I have taken – two by Tammy and one from Parran, I have learned so much. Addi tonally, it was totally cool to take classes from two artists whose work and spirit I truly admire.
There are aspects of both teachers that appeal to my own artistic style. In the classes that I took, I would consider Tammy as having immediate inspiration, going on raw energy and impulsive composition – which appeals greatly to the part of me that desires immediate results and works from unadulterated vision. Parran’s technique involves specific planning of some or all of the composition ahead of time, depending on your preference. I can see easily how a melding of these two techniques will very much shape the clay artist I will become. I think that for me, these are the two best teachers I could have had. I hope to take at least one more class from each of them this year.
In this photo Ms. Collery is demonstrating the sgraffito technique.
My sgrafitto piece is in the foreground. The hand isn’t shaped correctly and on the the dragonfly piece, I would have made the borders thinner if I did it over again, but I am pretty happy with the results having only just done them for the first time. The dragonfly tile took the longest. I would get quicker if I did that style more often, I’m sure. I also made a plaster cast of a tile I made with stamps – which I also made (except the lettering).
I have also found that I love both clay types that Tammy and Parran use. They both use a cone 04 clay – which made me happy to know, since it keeps things simple. I love the smoothness and background of the white clay for lots of reasons and especially with the cold finishing. However, I like the earthiness and grit of the red/brown clay that Parran uses. I have decided I will use both of these clays. I also like the idea of pit firing with both of them as well, to see the different results I can maybe get with them. Though pit firing might be off into the fall sometime. But I’m anxious to try it.
For now I’ve decided to just use commercial glazes, colored slip and under-glazing. However, I have a feeling that some day in the distance, when I grow tired of the same colors, I might like to try and mix some of my own signature colors. We’ll see! For now, just learning the clay keeps me busy enough!
When the pieces are all done – fired, glazed, etc. I will be sure to post images of the final work.
And then saving the best for last, is Uma, Parran’s pet and the clay class mascot. As sweet a doggy as you’d ever want to meet and by the end of the second day, she was pushing her head against my hand for a little bit of sugar, which I LOVE! Uma, like several of my pets, is a rescued animal. Please consider adopting shelter animals.
More Clay Play for Me – YAY!!!
My pal Jackie sent me the Annmarie Garden’s E-newsletter and as I rolled through it I recognized a particular tile art style:
I figured that HAD to be a Parran Collery piece, but the newletter didn’t say who was teaching the tile class. I went to the website and sho’nuf – Ms. Collery is teaching the class next weekend, which is good birthday timing for me, so I signed up! I got to take a Tammy class this month and now a Parran class! WOO HOO!
I’ll be sure to take a dust mask with me with all my recent lung drama. I’d rather wear a mask than miss out!
Fairy Fantasy Photo Fiddling
I have been playing around with Photoshop to see the different sorts of effects I can make on a photo. I have enjoyed playing with the lighting, the color, the layering. The backgrounds are of landscape, sky and plant photos taken by Robert, Will and me. My daughter Jade has taken some pretty teriffic flower photos, I may use some of those too. It’s been fun finally getting to use the images I’ve been amassing for so long!
I am also doing all of this in preperation for for my Snow White photo project I’m planning on. Can’t wait!
This is the original photo that I took in the summer of 2002 when I was just starting out with my little 2 or 3mp camera. Rob and Jackie did a great job as models. I have some great friends who like to play with photography as much as I do! Good times.
“Wake Up Little Fairy”
Below are the various incarnations of me toying with the image. You can click on them to see them larger.
This one has a very "romance novel" look to it. Some people think the purple wings are a bit over-the-top. Maybe I do too a little, but I still think like it! What's wrong with over-the-top sometimes?
This one is duskier in color. I how everything looks like it has a veil over it. It's a bit dreamy.
This one is sort of sepia-toned with a "hand colored" look to parts of it.
I did a hue saturation on this and I LOVE what it did to Jackie's hair. This crazy unreal coloring makes me feel like this really could be in some kind of fairy realm.
An admirer from Belgium