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.
Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Art journal cover
Posted: March 20, 2012 in photographyTags: altered book, art journaling, new art work, photography
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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.
Long tall shadow art journal page
Posted: March 13, 2012 in art journalTags: altered book, art journaling, journaling, mixed media, new art work, painting, photography, shadows
Remember those vintage pipe cleaner, felt and styrofoam head figures peeps used to make? I found one at an estate sale and had to have it. It had big ole’ shoes, gloves and a pointed hat in felt, some sort of nose and a little tunic looking shirt over it’s upper body. Pretty hinky but full of old craft magazine memories. One day I was outside early and noticed that a ray of super bright sunshine was beaming down on our white shed and got the idea to shoot some shadows. There was Mr. Hinky Elf, in all his splendor. I think he made quite a silhouette, all long and lanky. So I shot him for awhile and a few other things and printed them out. When I sat down to make this page I was interested in texture and layered on many cancelled postage stamps and some small labels, etc. I also put a hand drawn womans face and my Shadow Man on there and then painted over it all several times with a credit card. Lots of texture, plus an odd focus image. My kind of page. This one is finished, I won’t put writing on it because I like it the way it is.
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!
Found graffiti
Posted: March 7, 2012 in photographyTags: art journaling, found images, graffiti, photography, stencils
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.
Three chicks art journal page
Posted: March 5, 2012 in art journalTags: art journaling, journaling, new art work, photography
I’m dedicating this post to my friends Elli and Soren. To Elli because she has a case of spring fever right now of epic proportions. And Soren loves googly eyes on everything and these chix have pretty close to googly eyes going, without actually googly-ing. The journal part is above, written in white gel pen. I found these chicks at the drug store after Easter last year and have them sitting on my kitchen windowsill. They are bright and cheerful and we have extremely interesting conversations while I do the dishes. Nothing I can share here, you understand. Spring has Sprung!
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.
Crickyn 