May 20th, 2009 talkingfox
I find that one of the hardest thing for me socially is how to gauge when to stop or start looking at a thing. Somehow there seems to be some sort of unwritten rule somewhere as to just how long that it’s acceptable to actually stare at anything…or more importantly anyone.
I find that I usually either don’t look at people at all or inversely I stare like I’m boring holes in them. The latter usually happens if I find them OR what the light is doing to them interesting. Just how do I explain that I’m bugging out on the series of planes that their face has become?
One thing that I’ll say for photography work is that the camera acts as a social buffer against my unabashed tendency to fall into whatever it is that I’m looking at.
Artism strikes again, much to the detriment of my social calender….
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January 19th, 2009 talkingfox
I’ve gotten into manual tinting of photographs lately. Why Is this listed as “hand” tinting? Because I’m using the computer rather than an analog approach.
There is a big difference as to how I’m approaching this however, in contrast to the tutorials I’ve seen on the subject. I do NOT use bucket fills. I’m using Corel Painter in watercolor mode, thin ‘wash’ over thin ‘wash’, just as I would in analog. As a result the , well, results are looser and more complex in color.
Time consumptive but great fun none the less.
Recycling Rhapsody
Flotsom and Jetsam 5
Omega
As always I welcome your input and prints are available at my
Imagekind site.
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October 6th, 2008 talkingfox
I got a new camera for my birthday! It’s a Canon 40D and I seriously love it. It has a whole lot of features but not so many that it overwhelms me.
While I’m adjusting to the new lenses and stuff I’ve been digging through the piles of raw shots that I had stockpiled and cropping and whatnot as needed. I’ve even managed to find a few keepers in the bunch!
I started 2 series in Alaska, which are very much about life in the North. The first I call “Hidden Support” and looks to the nature of animals in support of people in Alaska, notably the paleolithic. Without fauna, mega and modern, people would never have been able to survive in the Far North. In addition, the modern Northern societies are still supported by animals that lived eons ago in the form of Oil. Agriculture in Alaska is still pretty minimal. So past present and future , Alaska is supported by the bones of animals.
Here’s a few examples from the series:
Ghost Bear 2008
Fossil Spine 2008
Sea Lion Skull 2008
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In addition to the ‘Hidden Support” series I’ve been editing another series all wound around light refracting within and shining through Ice. I think it plays off the bone pieces well not only visually but conceptually as well. The Ice represents the pressures of the environment in living in the Far North. Everything one does is wound around a seasonal deadline that will not be pushed to suit a person. So what we end up with with the 2 series together is Hidden Support and Obvious Pressure.
Ice 3 2008
Ice 4 2008
Even though I’m still getting used to the new camera, sometimes I can still get a good one….this was taken in my best friend’s house. The eyes were not manipulated. All I did was to desaturate the other colors. In addition, the wonderfully creepy dolls eyes in this terracotta sculpture were set looking forward. They do tend to follow one about the room…which I think came through.
Watcher by the Door 2008
As always prints are available on My Imagekind Gallery
And as always I welcome your opinions, comments and critiques!
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September 22nd, 2008 talkingfox
As of late I’ve been finding myself more and more interested in what I can do with my camera.
Since my paintings have taken on a somewhat photographic quality over the last few years anyway , why not just skip a step in the process. My photos tend to have a painterly quality to them as well. I’ve actually had a few people ask me if they were pen and inks, paintings or photographs. I guess you can take the girl out of the studio , but… well you know the rest.
Another plus is that photography tends to crack me out of my Aspie studio isolation more. I can’t help but think that this is a good thing.
The next step is going to be figuring out how to combine the 2 mediums and try to create something that is not wholly painting and not wholly photography but is, instead, something that retains the qualities of both and yet is neither completely. It’s going to take some thought.
In the meantime , while I figure this all out here are a few of my most recently finished shots.
Again, as always, I welcome your feedback and opinions of the work and prints are available at my Imagekind Gallery
Portrait of a Eurasian Eagle Owl 2008
Pine 2008
Flotsom & Jetsam 4 2008
Flotsam & Jetsam 3
Frost 4 2008
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September 5th, 2008 talkingfox
Since I’ve moved my art production seems to have slowed a bit. Gee, it couldn’t have a thing to do with the 100 lbs each of fruit and veg that I’ve put up this season could it? 😉
I’m afraid that living in the state of Agritopia after 6 years in the sub arctic zone has brought out my hoarding instinct. I must confess, however, that the many jars of vividly colored produce appeals to my aesthetic instinct as well. All that and it just flat tastes better than the commercially canned stuff.
I’m working on the GFCF cookbook as well…and I gotta tell ya my DH loves research and development days.
Be that as it may, I have still managed to get a few pieces done and I’ve quite a few more on the drawing boards.
I’ve started digging into the reference shots that I took while living in the Alaska interior and the ones taken on my recent trip through the Yukon and Northern BC.
This is the most recent painting.
Birch Catkins Mixed Media 2008
I’m finding that very loose brushwork used to create a lot of detail is getting to be my most used technique and tends to make said detail a little less stiff to the eye. It also gives my aspie penchant for twiddling with stuff a place to go that is productive. I’ve also been noticing that over the last few years that my work has been moving from and expression of how I feel and more into an example of how I see.
I like the way that this piece moves. It invokes spring breezes even with the main focus being on the botanical aspects. It’s peaceful without being static. It’s also a study in complementary color relationships without getting in your face. Overall I think it works.
Birch Catkins detail
Click on the image for a closer look
I’ve also been getting some of the photos that stand on their own finished.
Spring Anemones 2008
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I do tend to see the world in macro…these flowers were only 2 inches or so in diameter. They were the first wildflowers that I saw of the season and were bravely blooming next to a motel parking lot in Tok, Ak
As always I welcome your opinions of the work, positive and negative alike. And again as always prints of these pieces are available at my Imagekind gallery
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