I really love this small portion of graffiti I shot more than a year ago on the side of a building where artists were allowed to paint. It was a montage of several artists but I enjoy the composition of this picture and took tight shots of pieces rather than the whole wall. There is such an elegance in the line and the grey, white, black and red color scheme, and I like the stenciled dollar signs in contrast to the sweeping sprayed lines of paint. Unfortunately, the wall is now blank and I was glad I documented the art while I had the chance. This blurred line art reminds me of the capability that the Stabilo All pencil has for making a watercolor-like line with graphite. In other words, this look could be replicated in our journals with a bit of practice. Cool to think about.
Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Found graffiti
Posted: March 7, 2012 in photographyTags: art journaling, found images, graffiti, photography, stencils
Art life
Posted: March 2, 2012 in photographyTags: art journaling, everyday object still life, new art work, photography
I haven’t spoken too much on this blog about setting up simple shots with everyday items that you have literally laying around during the day as you make art. On this day I’d been using my alphabet rubber stamp set and decided to make a phrase and shoot it from eye level. I made sure the stuff in the background was art related (although you can’t tell now what it was, it was a rubber stamp pad and a paper plate palette) and set the other stamps behind the words. I like the depth in this shot and a tad of Posterize that I applied in Elements “arts” it up a notch. Get yourself some decent natural light in an area with some flat surface available (i try to use my kitchen counter) and set some objects up. Don’t have to be fancy about it. I saw a great shot of a fork yesterday on a fellow photographer’s blog. Try your flatware, dishes, art supplies (paint brushes are awesome), parts of a flower bouquet, flat marbles with writing underneath, your journaling supplies for the day. You’ll be surprised how poetic these shots look when changed to black and white, cropped and maybe filtered just a bit. Print ’em up and put them in your next collages. If you get really inspired by one of your set ups, draw it into your journal before breaking it down. A great way to practice your drawing, too.
Ruffles
Posted: March 1, 2012 in photographyTags: ARTpool Gallery, new art work, photography, shop window
I love love love this shot of a multi-tiered ruffled skirt that appeared on a mannaquin at ARTpool Gallery last month. The color of the skirt is a full blown red which did not interest me near as much as this image with the color removed. Often, black and white images are so much more intriguing than the original colored item. Sometimes the color of an object elicits such an initially strong emotional reaction that the beauty of the item is lost. Using a photo with these qualities makes a terrific study for drawing…just one ruffle would make a gorgeous rendering in your journal. Don’t overlook pictures with “nothing going for them” but texture because when these photos are turned to black and white in your photo editor they reveal their “true colors”. Have fun and don’t forget to practice your tonal drawings.
red boa pink umbrella
Posted: February 13, 2012 in photographyTags: ARTpool Gallery, mannaquins, photography, shop window, terry lee getz
To get you into the mood for Valentine’s Day tomorrow we have a very red shop window photo from the window display by the talented Marina Williams of ARTpool Gallery. Bob and I had a quiet weekend because he is sick with the Creeping Crud and now I have it, so I guess it’ll be a quiet week as well. He mustered enough strength to attend the MUSE party at ARTpool on Saturday night and that was amazing. About 20 models had their bodies fully painted in all types of characters, including the good angel, the fallen angel and a parrot, a couple of skeletons and an awesome Maori inspired (to my eye) warrior. Quite a few of the models remained in character and it was great fun. We even got to see a burlesque act! ARTpool rules.
Shadowlet swirlies
Posted: February 10, 2012 in photographyTags: found, found images, photography, shadows, stencils, terry lee getz
Perhaps these should be called Shadow Lites rather than shadowlets. Caused by sun randomly striking my kitchen countertop in the afternoon while some mehndi stencils were out for use. After the first one I set some up, some stencils worked better than others. I like how there is actually a shadow of the shadow working in this one in some spots. I’ve spoken about shadow play before and I urge you again to watch for opportunities to capture random patterns that occur anytime the sun is in the correct position and angle. Just the other day I captured Count Dracula on the paper supply in my printer. The sun came through and shadowed the paper holder in such a way as it looked like a vampire with a cape. I’ll show you that one if it came out, at a later date.
the future’s so bright…
Posted: February 8, 2012 in photographyTags: ARTpool Gallery, mannaquins, new art work, photography, shop window, terry lee getz
This mannaquin is set up in front of ARTpool Gallery in honor of approaching St. Valentine’s Day and the MUSE show on Saturday. I call this manny “little girl lost” because she is quite waifish and vulnerable looking. I love the mix of the black and white polka dot hoodie and the pink sunglasses. Normally I turn my manny photos to black and white but sometimes the colors drive the image. I placed four mustachio’d lady portraits in the MUSE show that will run for the next three weeks, plus my wall space and cubby hole are chuck full of cool work, some of which sold last week.
Vintage Vignettes make good journaling prompts
Posted: January 26, 2012 in photographyTags: art journaling, ARTpool Gallery, found images, journaling, photography, shop window
From the amazing January shop window at ARTpool Gallery comes this fun vignette of a vintage poodle sitting pretty on an etagere with a pair of gloves casually laid on the top shelf. I love the look on this poodles face and also his body posture. The only thing missing is the chain many of these knick knacks from the 50’s had around their necks. A photo like this can bring memories rushing back of our grandmothers or great aunts living rooms or vanity vignettes from back in the day. If that poodle could only talk? Why not look at old items in the thrift store, antique or retro shop and make a note of how many you remember, what houses you remember them from and who owned them. Were they favorites or despised gifts that had to be placed on show? Did they get passed around or passed down sacredly? My grandmother had a keychain bob that I called the purple horse, even though there was very little purple left on the figure and I can’t be sure if it was a horse or a seahorse at this date. But I remember it and several cool brass keys it held! Have a good time relating to these kitschy items and don’t forget your journal entries.
found shadowlet photo
Posted: January 24, 2012 in photographyTags: found, found images, photography, shadows, stencils
This shadowlet appeared on my working counter in the late afternoon one day. The patch of sun was quite small, just big enough to show through the stencils I was using at the time. I got probably half a dozen shots of different images as the sun moved before the opportunity was gone, likely no longer than 15 minutes or so.
There are times in my home during different seasons that shadows appear from the windows onto far walls. Sometimes the shadows are too faint to be picked up well in the photo. You need a pretty strong light source and the other problem capturing these images, as I said before regarding the found birdy, is that the sun moves so quickly that the prime image lasts only a little minute in some cases. Keep your camera handy and watch the walls for interesting shadows, act quickly and you can capture these illusive, fun shadowlets.
Guys don’t make passes at mannaquins wearing glasses
Posted: January 18, 2012 in photographyTags: ARTpool Gallery, mannaquins, photography, shop window, terry lee getz
or do they? She’ll never tell.
BTW, new content on the Pisces-Rising page. Under the photo gallery we now have Cigar Box Purse pix and there is a little DIY on making brown paper tape stickers under Fun Stuff. Enjoy!
Angel in the morning
Posted: January 12, 2012 in photographyTags: mannaquins, photography, shop window, umbrella
Another fantastic photo shoot image from the gifted Marina William’s surreal and beautiful January shop window at ARTpool Gallery in St. Pete. When I took this picture there was serious glare but I was able to reduce it in Elements 10 by adjusting levels and contrast. This is a gorgeous mannaquin to begin with, but the wings and the umbrella push her over the edge. I love the white tissue pom pom with the spotlight half hidden…creates the look of night turning to morning. One of my favorites from last Saturday’s shoot at ARTpool Gallery, which is having a show Saturday night feature moi and the DH, Bob with his nature photography.
Crickyn 