Close cropping is nothing new to photographers but I think as artists we sometimes forget that in every composition it is possible to find small, interesting bits that can stand on their own. Particularly when it comes to what the human mind finds intriguing, such as faces of humans and animals, body parts of same, etc. Also in our images it is possible to find small arrangements of odd numbered items or marks that make a substantial impact on their own if cropped. I find that cropping “busy” subjects, such as the graffiti I’ve featured on this blog frequently, lets the mind appreciate what is there in smaller mind-sized “bites”. While a wide angle shot (or full shot) documents a piece, a close crop provides more of a study.
Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Cropping your art
Posted: April 24, 2012 in photographyTags: found images, graffiti, journaling, mixed media, painted canvas
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Best friends art journal page, altered
Posted: April 20, 2012 in art journal, photographyTags: art journaling, mixed media, new art work, photography
A page from yesterday in my new journal, using Christy Tomlinson’s tissue paper printed with vintage dresses. The faces are blown up from a school photo and collaged under the tissue paper. The arms, legs and shoes were drawn on with watercolor tempera sticks, as were the balloons. The background is watercolor. I did something different with this entry. Before posting it, I ran it through the Topaz plug in for Elements and altered the page digitally using the “Lomo II” filter. This filter gives the page the look of shooting with a Lomo camera. Treating a page like an image gives versatility to the page, at least for digital uses like this. There is no end to how you can alter your own journal pages using filters and combinations of filters. Just because you created it once and liked it, doesn’t mean you can’t play around with it and like it again, and again, and again.
Heart shaped world shop window
Posted: April 5, 2012 in photographyTags: ARTpool Gallery, mannaquins, new art work, photography, shop window, terry lee getz
Same mannaquin from yesterdays collage piece, only this time Marina Williams of ARTpool Gallery gave her oversized heart shaped glasses and a polka dot hoodie to wear. I gave her some “simplification” and “solarization” filters in Elements and Topaz and her persona is a tad stronger, as is the visual. “Solarization” is not by any means one of my favorite filters but in this case it highlighted her eyes which are very pretty for a mannaquin.
Stitched mixed media collage
Posted: April 4, 2012 in photographyTags: mixed media, new art work, photography, shop window, stitching
Mixed media stitched collage featuring an original photograph, vintage dish towel, handmade collage stitched heart, embroidered fabric and some kind of weird vintage trim that is pleated vinyl. Along the left side is some commercial fabric and wool embroidery yarn. AFter stitching the whole thing was dunked into leftover morning coffee. I call this mannaquin “little girl lost” because that is what I always think when I see her and I’ve used her several times already in various pieces. I found her at the fabulous ARTpool Gallery, where Moi is having a show in September 2012 as the featured artist. Just found out that news on Friday.
A digitally altered photograph of my set of pastels. I used a few Elements settings and then put it into the Topaz filter program and chose Lomo II. I love to shoot tools and materials when they are out on the worktable for use later in playing around with digital filters and techniques. It is also fun to alter a picture way beyond being a recognizable object. If you have some of these cool digital programs, why not set up some tools, materials and found object still life arrangements and instead of just using the program to change resolution, have a play day and learn the features. Could come in very handy to know a particular filter one day when you want a special effect.
Bird cage shadowlet
Posted: March 28, 2012 in photographyTags: found images, photography, shadows, terry lee getz
I have an ornamental bird cage that catches the light once a day if the sun is strong enough and on this day I couldn’t resist shooting it. I like the way it came out, with a little distortion and the fine brass bars highlighted. The heavy lines are also the cage, circumference support and the door frame, a little off kilter. If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time you know no ray of sunshine or object around the house is safe from shadowlet production and my attention. If you have a camera this puts it to fun use.
Art journal cover
Posted: March 20, 2012 in photographyTags: altered book, art journaling, new art work, photography
I don’t believe I ever posted the cover of my altered map book journal. The cover is a heavy laminated cardstock. I attached this photo of a doorway in an alley in St. Pete, collaged with a different photo most likely inverted in Photoshop. I believe I used the polarize setting on the door photo to give it the shimmery blue/green color. I love to take and look at photos of doorways, doors and windows. It’s interesting to imagine what is on the other side.
Graffiti St. Pete
Posted: March 15, 2012 in photographyTags: graffiti, photography, public art, street art
Part of an multi-artist installation in St. Pete about 1-2 years ago. I love the juxtaposition of the checkboard with the free flowing lines in the figure. That figure is fierce…certainly a modern day warrior of some sort, with a touch of dia de los muertos thrown in for good measure. Not sure if the checkboard part belonged to the same artist as the figure part, they could have coexisted. I enjoy seeing this type of work and shoot it whenever possible because it often does not last very long, even if sanctioned by a store or local government. Sometimes they spray over just to change the installation before I have a chance to get there and document it. But the transitory nature of the media just enriches it.
Angel with dove art journal page
Posted: March 9, 2012 in art journal, photographyTags: art journaling, cemetery images, journaling, new art work, painting, photography
I took this picture of an angel holding a dove at a cemetery in Brooksville, FL. The statue was unique in my collection. I’ve been shooting graveyard images for 15+ years, all over the southeast US. The image was Photoshopped and the height of the statue gives it a kind of wonky orientation on the page (the statue was about 3 1/2-4′ tall). I printed the photo on regular copy paper and placed it on an otherwise prepared page. It looks like I used either pan watercolors or pan gouache to color the image. This page is in my altered map journal but has no journaling on it besides the “The bird leaves no trail” saying. I doubt that anything more will be done to this page in the future, I like it the way it is right now.
Glyph found shadowlet
Posted: March 8, 2012 in photographyTags: found, found images, photography, shadows
One of the shadowlets I created in the afternoon on my kitchen countertop, by using a strong ray of sunlight and a stencil. Because only parts of the stencil were illuminated, the shadowlet is abstract. This one looks to me like an ancient glyph, perhaps for the word “tree”. I like the way the shadow also has a shadow around the bottom edge of each patch of light. If you have been following my blog for a while you know that I love capturing found shadowlets (or creating them if the opportunity arises). I find them so evocative and fun. Just another thing to keep that camera in use!
Crickyn 