Sweet Repose!

Repose:

1. The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

2. Freedom from worry; peace of mind.

3. Calmness; tranquility.

 

 

Stare!

Caught Asha absorbing some sun on the stairs and she gave me this look.

My Happy Accident

Yesterday, I posted an image on my Facebook Fan Page that was created using a lomographic Holga 120 camera with a Polaroid instant back.  I have taken responsibility for creating it but it really was a happy accident - to some degree.  I had taken 4 shots of some candles in our bathroom using the Holga and scanned them into Photoshop.  I took the images and extracted useful portions that showed the flames and parts of the candles and merged them into the best of the photographs.  As I was doing this I was getting the "this is going to be a piece of crap" feeling.  Any creatives reading this post should understand what I mean, but just in case, let me explain.  The feeling I am referring to is one that, to me, means that I am doing something edgy that no one would appreciate - not even me (eventually), because this lack of appreciation would feed my insecurity as an artist!  My hand hovered the cursor over the "x" to close the file with no intention of saving.  However, as I started to process the image, adding layers, changing saturation, contrast and brightness, I started to see something interesting evolving but it still had an element missing.  What was missing was at first a mystery but soon I noticed that the image had no message or feeling to convey and again thoughts of trashing it started to surface.  I decided that all I could do is try to turn the image into a painting hoping the texture would save the piece.  It looked horrible!  DELETE! was my immediate response and it almost went bye, bye but I happened to notice the plastic wrap effect two selections over from paint daubs, one of my favorite artistic effects.  I had never used it before so I had nothing to lose here.  At the very least I would find out a bit about what it did.  I applied the default setting for plastic wrap and boy was I surprised.  Suddenly this image had a message; it became interesting.  It had texture - texture that was relevant to the image.  It looked like wax!

Bubbly

Today Vernell went shopping and came home with a large bubble maker and solution.  She tested it out and I chased bubbles with my camera.  Here are a few shots:

Explosion of Blossoms!

We have had a long and grueling winter but alas spring is finally here and with it the blossoms, flowers, insects and colors!  I was in my yard a few days ago and noticed my plum trees were starting to come alive and produce some buds.  This evening I went back into the yard and boom the blossoms were everywhere.  What a difference a few days make.  Spring Fever baby and hopefully I will have a bountiful harvest of plums like last year!

Fire Hydrants

I went out for some fresh air with Vernell this afternoon and decided to bring along my camera.  As we rode round the neighborhood I stopped to take photos of the wide and varied types of fire hydrants in the local radius around our home.  I never thought there would be such variety.  I managed to shoot 8 distinct types and we only went around the block a few miles.

Trying something new!

Ever so often I discover an new way to expand the creative use of raw photographs as ingredients in a complicated recipe.  A recipe for a piece of art.  All I know when I start the creative process is that the chosen photograph will feature prominently in the final  piece.

My recent discovery is textures.  I was exploring the possibility of purchasing a Holga camera or lensbaby kit to create images that looked like they were from a bygone era or shot with an old school camera.  Fortunately for me during my search I discovered textures and how they could be used to create wide and varied effects on photographs and the fun began.

I went even further by converting some of these textured images into digital paintings.  (NB): I have been down with the flu and feverish for the past few days - hence the prevalence of darkness in these pieces!  You have to look into these photos - if you just look at them you will miss everything!