Oh my sweetums, I’ve been spinning my wheelsuber busy in ArtyLand, so busy I neglected to post last week. Imagine that!
If you’re impatient or have a short attention span, you may scroll down now and watch the video. But if you’re here for a good story, stick around. You’ll get to the movie eventually.
It’s not that I forgot you, au contrair, you (my most best, BEST beloveds), have been on my mind CONSTANTLY. I’ve thought of you even more than I’ve thought of CHOCOLATE!!! Which is a lie, by the way, because nothing comes between me and my chocolate. But it sounds good, like overtime devotion in bloggy land.
Have you ever gone from point A to point B via points M,Q and X? Well, that’s what I’ve been doing. And getting nowhere fast in the process.
It all started when I got this idea for a blog post. I was scrolling through my iPhoto library, grumbling about the BAZILLIONS of photos I’ve taken and have yet to organize… yada yada… and I must be NUTS to think I can ever find a specific photo. Getting a wee bit frustrated because I’m not exaggerating the number of photos (well, yes I am because I don’t believe bazillions is an actual quantifiable number) when it dawned on me–ping–like a light bulb in the brain–that a lot of my arty photos resemble a LOT of my paintings. I don’t consciously take photos of rocks and paint them. And I don’t consciously paint pictures and then go photograph things that remind me of them–
But you’d never know that from looking at all those photos.
Never. As in NEVER. EVER.
So I thought it would be cool to post photos I’ve taken that inspired my paintings. Or at least resemble paintings enough to see where I drew some inspiration. I began picking and choosing photos to illustrate that point, saving them all in an album. Then I thought what the heck, let’s see how this works as a slide show. And then, since I liked the way it was working, I needed to find music. Music that was legally MINE to use and wouldn’t get all this work kicked off FaceBook or YouTube. That meant half a day pouring through license free music sites. Which is a mega time suck, believe me. I finally found something I liked, tweaked the timing so it would work, converted the whole shee-bang to a movie file, did the YouTube upload and went to bed.
Where I lay there thinking of how I could make it better.
The next morning I got up and did it ALL OVER AGAIN. New music. More bounce. Tossed out some photos, added others. Rearranged EVERYTHING. And then I added text because WHY NOT?
And when I finally got the video I was REALLY happy with, I thought the heck with a blog post, this is going to be my HOME PAGE on my website, the one that showcases my ART. The site I basically ignore.
Ah, but if I’m inviting people to see my stuff I’d better clean things up. Like get the galleries updated, the store open. Things I’ve been ignoring because they’re H.A.R.D. Technical. Not.Fun.
So now you know where I’ve been. I’ve been herding ducks. That’s right, getting all my little duckies in a row. You ever try and do that? It’s like herding cats on quack. (I’m high fivin’ myself for that one, yes I am!) What began as a simple blog post, turned into a video, a revamped website and a functioning store. Holy crap, I’m even impressing myself.
All because of this:
Do me a favor, if you liked this post PLEASE tell your friends. Share it on FaceBook. Give it a tweet. And, as always, stop in and say hi in the comments. I love it when you do.
What’s a girl do when it’s cold and rainy and she doesn’t want to go down to the studio and work? But she still wants to make some cool art. WHAT DOES SHE DO???
I don’t know what SHE does but as for moi, the answer was to pull out the iPhone and visit the app store. It’s like the dollar store only better because some stuff is free. Quite a lot of it, actually. And the rest of it’s pretty cheap.
And it’s a gold mine for all sorts of art and photo apps. Like Grungetastic by Jixi Pix Software. Grungetastic isn’t for when you want a pretty photo. It’s for when you want an interesting one. It’s for when you want scratches and textures and layers and you want them NOW, not after hours in Photoshop.
The basic app comes with three styles of grunge: Classic, Bleached and Pop. Each one can be manipulated to your heart’s content. Additional styles can be purchased through the app: Worn Pop, Worn Grunge, Gritty Grunge and Distressed. You can see samples of the last four on their website.
And it costs a whopping 99 cents. Gasp! Gonna break the bank…
As a mixed media artist I’m ALWAYS on the lookout for altered photos. Now I can make my own easily. Here are some samples I did tonight using the three that come with the app. I’m using the same photo in each so you can compare the different effects. I didn’t label which style is which. Sorry. And as for manipulation, I simply hit the ‘random’ button and let the app do the work.
I could’ve manipulated sliders but I was being lazy.
There’s not much distortion on this one, some, but not a lot. I figured you should have some idea of what the basic image was.
Little more in this one.
This was using the Pop style. Pop always has a posterized effect.
Classic Grunge?
You can manipulate borders too.
This is just a small sample of some of the effects you can get. A small sample. Oh man, I’m going to have a lot of fun with this… think IMAGE TRANSFERS!!!
Been limping along with some computer problems lately. Even have a fix it ticket from Apple. The shipping box is sitting on the dining room table waiting for me to take some action. But parting with Mac for a week or more is (mentally) akin to parting with a limb. No, no–make that an organ. A vital organ. Like my brain.
It’s worse than when the kids left home. Then again, it was them or me by that point.
I’ve been able to cajole Mac along despite the infirmities but tonight she would not read the SD card. WOULD NOT. No matter how many times I jiggled that sucker. It could be I just need a new SD card. I’ll pick one up tomorrow and give that a try.
But there’s no photos tonight. You will just have to use your imagination. They were lovely. The best I ever took. Really. Award winning food shots if I do say so myself. You’ll have to take my word on this since, well, I can’t show them to show you.
The first was a heaping pan of beauteous chopped greens. Collard. Mustard. Turnip. Raw and glistening. Beautiful emerald green greens.
They were my dinner, or part of it. I really wanted potato chips. Just potato chips, nothing else. I deserved them after working out. And I was eating alone tonight so I could have whatever I wanted. But the greens were there and needed to be eaten.
The second was rather artsy. Greens peaking out through steam as it wafted above the pan. Like summer fields in the mist. Oh my. That was a rather poetic description. Maybe I don’t need photos.
The third was quite colorful. A deep orange yam surrounded by wilted greens on a gold colored plate. A few slivers of pale yellow butter. Flecks of garlic. Quite nice. A fork arranged artfully to the side.
And the fourth photo? The potato chips I had for dessert.
When my kids were little they were not allowed to use the ‘B’ word. I’m assuming you’re all grown ups and will not be terribly offended if I say it in print. If you have fair sensibilities consider this a warning–cover your eyes or skip down to the pictures.
The word in question…the gasp! cover your mouth WHAT DID YOU SAY!!!! word…was (and still is) B.O.R.E.D. As in, I’m bored. As in I’m SO bored. As in…well, you get the picture.
I would tell these brilliant little humans there was SO much in this world to do, see, think about. Adventures to make up. Things to build. Really, who had time to be bored? And they would go off and write stories. Or draw pictures. Or pound nails into a couple pieces of wood and call it a shelf.
They didn’t start with the eye rolls and the exasperated sighs until the hormones kicked in. But that’s another story.
And this is where you, dear readers, enter the picture. Let’s say you’re one of my students. Let’s say you’re desperate for inspiration. Your muse is misbehaving, filling your head with all sorts of nonsense, making you feel badly about all things art. You’re uninspired. Stuck. Quite frankly, you’re bored. You come to my class and tell me you can’t paint. And you’ll never ever be an artist because you don’t know what to paint.
And I will tell you that you are a brilliant human being. I will give you a hug. Maybe two. Then I will point to the sign that says No Whining, hand you a camera and send you outside.
With one rule. The big picture is overwhelming. Really. Your creative mind is spinning like a kid with a couple of Cokes under his belt in Toys R Us. Overstimulated. So my answer to that is tune out the distractions, tune out the BIG picture and F.O.C.U.S. Don’t go far. Don’t get distracted by the meadow. Or the horses. Stay on the walkway and focus on an area no larger than a foot square. Look for patterns in the concrete or the rocks.
Like this. See, that was easy now, wasn’t it? Oh, wait…are you saying that’s just a couple of rocks? Well yes, it is. Three, actually. And some moss. And not even a great composition. That’s because you’re looking at the BIG picture.
Look what a little cropping can do. Squint. Nice colors, eh? Compositions isn’t bad either. Imagine this with layers and layers of glazes. Imagine working the surface, scraping and painting and bringing forth all sorts of yummy texture.
Some rotation for a different look. The point is any one of these could stand on it’s on as a painting. They could also be used as background for other images. Put some blue on the upper half and call it a landscape.
Cropping another area of the original photo. Squint. See the arrow? Half an arrow. This could be a total graphic kind of painting. There are any number of possibilities. Hey, I did a post about this not long ago using the hair on my dog’s head. Really, there’s NO excuse.
So next time you’re stuck, take a deep breath and tell yourself what a BRILLIANT human being you are. In fact, do that a couple of times. Say it loudly until you believe it. Jump up and down a few times while you’re at it. Then open your eyes, look around and get painting.
By the way, you’re welcome to use any of these photos if they inspire you. And if they do, send me a picture. I’d love to share them on the blog.
I spent the day in Studio Grande. Show hangs a week from Monday and I’m in the final lap of the gettin’ ready race. It’s not as frantic as it sounds, just a lot of loose ends to tie up, paintings to finish, STUFF TO DO. That’s all. And when sister Margie Ellen arrives from Norway on Thursday, Studio Grande is going to feel not so grand. Gonna feel a wee bit crowded in fact. Two artists doing last minute prep while Studio Quat winds around our feet.
Mrrrrrurow…. Purring. Shedding. Being a cat.
I forgot to bring my camera today so no shots of current works-in-progress. Instead I’m going to share some artsy-fartsy photos from last night. I took lots of pics at the event but I also took some just for potential painting possibilities. Potential Painting Possibilities–I like that. Could call it 3P. Or P3.
Note: 3P/P3 photos are not concerned with focus or other technical details. They are for inspiration only. Because I’m NOT a photographer, just an artist with a camera.
I snagged a parking spot behind the foundry last night and had to hike around to the front. There was still some daylight and I had my camera. This is the winery next to the foundry. The back end of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this same sight but last night I swear the winery called out and said, “Take my picture!”
So I did. I mean, really–look at all those luscious nooks and crannies. That yummy texture. The rust. I could spend a day there with my camera and still not get it all. Especially if I go inside and taste some wine first. Umm-hmm…indeed.
Then a quick zoom.
Aye-aye-aye!!! Is that a 3P/P3 or what? In fact as I’m writing this and looking at this I’m thinking I may have just solved a problem I was having with a diptych today. Well, what’d’ya know….
Then there’s the foundry. OH. MY. This is an old gold mining town and the foundry is where they forged the mining equipment. In fact the first Pelton Wheels were manufactured in this very building.
Maybe even in here, The Stone Hall. Love this room. Stone walls. Big fireplace. Old beams. And an iron door like something from an old castle.
