Category: Art

Day 23 – Home

Home

I noticed coming home from the grocery store this morning that one of my neighbors had added some prayer flags to her back gate. The Home sign was already there. Of course, I should have photographed it then and there as the morning light was much better than the afternoon when I finally got around to it. But it still almost meets my vision. I added a grunge texture and a border to give it a little more of an arty look.

Today’s quote is from Nancy Rotenberg my favorite photography guru:

“…all you need to do is create a mind capable of receiving and the images will come.”

Day 20 – Still Life with wine

Wine

I have to say I really wasn’t feeling it today. I finally decided to do something impressionistic with a wine bottle and a glass of wine. I shot it with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 wide open so it had a soft look to start with. Then took it into Topaz Impression for a Van Gough effect and finally added a texture with an artsy look to finish it off. The bokah from the afternoon light was just a little added bonus.

Today’s quote is from Ansel Adams:

Art is both love and friendship and understanding; the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things, it is more than kindness which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of awareness of the spirit. It is the recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the inner relations of these.

Day 15 – Grape Hyacinth, Painterly

Grape-Hyacinth

My neighbor’s grape hyacinths have been calling to me so I finally took the macro lens over this morning. Unfortunately, I did not quite nail the focus on this one so I decided to give it a painterly look. I also photoshopped out some flowers in the foreground. 

I’ve decided that instead of jumping around from book to book looking for creativity quotes I should just stick to one book for a week and then switch so that I can get more of a feel for the book and not just be looking for quotes.

So, I decided to start with Roderick McIver’s book, Art as a Way of Life.

Today, from Page10, a great one from Albert Camus:

A person’s life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened.

Day 14 – Garden Gnome

Gnome

I came across this little guy when I was out looking for flowers the other day. I took his picture thinking, “Well, now I have something in my back pocket if I need it.” Didn’t take long. I got my income taxes done today, I finished up an oral history transcription for the North American Nature Photography Association, I got two chapters read for that book group tomorrow, and just as I was settling in for a well deserved glass of wine I realized I hadn’t posted an image. So here he is in all his soulful glory.

On the Creativity front, I turned again to Matthew Fox:

Creativity is not a noun or even a verb – it is a place, as space, a gathering, a union a where – wherein the Divine powers of creativity and the human power of imagination join forces.

Day 13 – Sparrow

Sparrow

I keep thinking of places I should go and photograph but somehow it has gotten very hard to get in the car and leave home. I noticed the birds in the blossoming trees in the neighborhood this morning and decided to see if I could capture them. I had this one in my sights in amongst the blossoms but it decided to retreat to the top of the tree. If forced to put a specific name to it I would say it is a Sage Sparrow but I didn’t get a good look at it’s back or tail so I’m not positive. I had some goldfinches in my sights as well but then the neighborhood kids came out to play and it was all over for me and the birds this day.

It is almost straight out of camera. I did open the shadows to make its eye more visible and then brought down the blue luminance to darken the sky a little.

I turned today to Rod McIver’s book, Art as a Way of Life. Chapter one is titled Your Inner World: The Repository of Creativity and he begins with a whole page of quotes, one of which I have already used but today this one spoke to me:

Construction on a purely spiritual basis is a slow business. The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul…    Wassily Kandinsky

 

Day 8 – Mandarin Oranges

Oranges

Well, this one was a longer time coming than I had planned. I had a bowl of mandarin oranges out on the patio and they caught my eye so I grabbed the M100 which still had the macro lens on it from yesterday and clicked off four shots. Many textures and a few trips through Topaz later, I finally came up with something I at least didn’t hate. I did crowd the top edge of the frame a little too much but I wanted to capture the citrus in the table cloth too so there you go.

Today’s quote is from Roderick McIver’s book: Art as a Way of Life. The quote is from Andrew Wyeth:

What I was after is what you get sugaring off maple from the maple tree. You keep boiling it down until you have the essence of purity.

 

Day 3 – Birdhouse

BirdHousew

It’s been a busy day. I had in mind to take the big lens out and see who was at the neighbors’ bird feeders when I got a call telling me that there was extra vaccine at the Asante clinic if I wanted to be vaccinated. So, I dropped everything and hurried over so I could be back in time for my 11:00 zoom call. Then I barely had time to walk the dog and eat lunch before my 1:30 zoom call. So, it was a good thing I had something from yesterday to work with. This plastic birdhouse hangs from a neighbor’s tree. My goal was to try and disguise its plasticness. It took two trips through Topaz and two textures to get there but I like the result. Shot with the M3 and Sweet 50 combo again.

Today’s quote is from a little book called Art as a Way of Life edited by Roderick MacIver.  The quote is from Anne Lamott:

…if you’ve got that creative voice inside of you, that has something to communicate, that just longs to tell its version of things or to entertain or to inspire or to try to be part of the solution or just to be heard – you know, to stop being a person who is silenced – then I think you have to honor that or you are just doomed.

Day 2 – Quality Used Books

Qualityw

I’m embarrassed to admit that I have lived 3 blocks from Quality Used Books for 6 1/2 years and have never been inside. It’s that darned Highway you have to cross to get there adding another two blocks to the trip to get to a traffic light. I know, very lame. But now that it is an official survivor of the Alameda Fire I plan to become a regular, assuming it survives the pandemic as well.

So, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that Quality Used Books would make a great subject. This is how I want to wake up in the middle of the night, not thinking about all the stuff I have to do or worrying about when I’m going to get vaccinated. So, I took the M3 out with the Lensbaby Sweet 50 (sans dog, I felt so free) and got a great photo with blurry edges to start with. Then I took it into Topaz Texture Effects for a slightly painterly look and finally added a texture. The fact that it snowed overnight in the mountains just added as certain je ne sais quoi.

Today’s quote I found in a book called Photography and the Creative Life by one of my all time favorite photographers, Nancy Rotenberg. We lost Nancy to breast cancer, all too soon, about 10 years ago. I cherish her book and try to read it again at least once a year.

The quote, however is from Anna Freud:

Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.

 

 

Bayeaux Cathedral

BayeauxCathedralw

I’ve been neglecting the Image of the Week lately mainly because I haven’t been doing much photography. What I have been doing is creating a series of digital art pieces from my trip to France last year. So, even if it is not a photograph it is still an image. If you have been following me for awhile you may remember seeing the original of this one about a year ago.