Wintery Scenes - Fine Art Photography

The images shown here were taken near my home in upstate New York.  The snowflakes on wood image is a close up of the arm rest on the porch swing.

In addition to Fine Art America, on the sister site Pixels, my artwork can be placed on an iPhone or Samsung cellphone case.

Been a while...

As a one person show, I find myself to be scattered all over the map. I've been putting forth concerted effort learning new skills to enrich my development. Over the last year, I took a digital photography workshop. Well, I have to blame my husband. He insisted I purchase a better camera. With this newly acquired equipment, it was time that I got over my clumsiness of working with digital photography applications. I was fortunate to take a workshop under a very skilled and knowledgeable photographer. Plug goes out to you, Lori! If you need a good photographer, want to learn or brush up on skills, Lori offers arts in education workshops in the Putnam and Dutchess County areas of New York State.

One of the assignments I had to do for the photography class was capturing random images of strangers in the street. Have you heard of Human's of New York? Using HONY as a framework, I was required to go out and about town taking pictures of people. This project certainly forced me to get out of my comfort zone. I have to say, it was awkward. I'm truly not a extroverted person. For me, it's a work in progress to walk up to people I don't know and say, "Hi!" "I would like to take your picture for a class assignment." I don't know, maybe I could've approached it differently. I have to admit, I tried to take pics of people unaware - that was so much easier. I didn't bring the zoom lens. And, I didn't want to hide behind a bush or tree. I was attempting to be discreet but that's a challenge when I'm practically on top of people trying to take their picture! For instance, I didn't want to disturb the man in the pic below.  He was enjoying a warm summer day reading his book on the bench.  I was sitting on the bench at the other side of the planter.  Using the plant in my attempt at being discreet, I took this snap: 

 

 

Leisure Man

 

 

Keep in mind, I was just getting warmed up to the idea of doing this assignment.  In the next image, the woman in the picture made it so easy for me.  She was very happy to allow me to photograph her without any question whatsoever.  Thank you woman with the cold drink! 

Woman With Drink

What's important to remember here, the whole point of this exercise was for said student to learn to get comfortable with the camera and working with the various functions on it.  With that being said, I wasn't focusing on composition as much as I was getting a feel for the equipment and pushing myself to engage total strangers.

Although it was a hot enough summer day when I took these images, the majority of the people I met, were happy to assist me.  In this next image, the young woman had just come out of the coffee shop.  As it turned out, she decided to sit next to me.  I asked to take her picture and she thought at first she wouldn't make a good subject.  I disagreed ever so poltiiely.  She wanted me to direct her.  I simply said, "just relax":

Young Woman

As it turns out, she was on her break in town and was so gracious to give me a few minutes of her time.  I think she provided a lovely picture.

In the next image, I had to work a little bit to gain permission from protective mom.  When I told her I was a student (I'm, ahem not as young as 'young woman' above), she queried me a bit, somewhat hesitant and eyed me with a little skepticism.  Mom wanted to know where exactly I was studying.  I managed to place her at ease when I was able to identify the Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Whew!  I just loved the look of this family so I was gratefully relieved when she allowed me to snap the image:

Family

Reluctant Student

I couldn't do this assignment without including myself.  I was a willing but a tad shy participant by capturing my reflection in this storefront glass door.  After all, doing all of this was for my own good!

The above images were taken in Millerton, NY.  Thanks to all those who helped me take the leap out of my comfort zone just by saying "yes".

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“When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly.”   ~ Patrick Overton, The leaning tree

Tangling for ArtOMat

“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
― Maya Angelou

Zentangles on blocks in a row

Recently, I discovered a new way to open up channels to my creative process by learning how to Zentangle.  Do you know about Zentangle?  It is a doodling type process where a structured pattern is created using pencils and pens.  If the spirit moves you,  you can throw other mediums into the mix.  It's an intuitive activity where the general rule of thumb is little to no erasing in the course of creating the work.   Basically, it's a go with the flow, at least that is how I approach it.

Adrift - Digital Zentangle

Tangle in Blue - pencil, pen, watercolor

Zentangles are usually no larger then 3.5 x 2.5 the same size as an artist trading card.  The size makes it ideal for art on small wood blocks; give or take an inch.

The idea to create Zentangles for ArtOMat didn't come to me right away.  As I was exploring the technique, my daughter said to me, "Mom, those designs would look great on the art blocks!"  Walla, the inspiration was born.

The Tangle in Blue is one that is on the next batch of art blocks I'm currently preparing for shipment.  I used pencils, pens and watercolor to create it.

What I love about Zentangles is the liberating feeling I get by just sitting down and letting the lines, shapes, and circles "tell me" what it wants to be.  It's a funny way of putting it but I think its a thing many artists experience when they begin a work.   So essentially, you can say, I'm hooked  because the lack of conformity is a language I understand very well.  No boundaries - just go for it  The one exception is that repeat patterns work very well in Zentangles but that is an exception I can live with and welcome, in fact.

I just about have all the new work completed for ArtOMat.  Half the artwork has been mounted on the blocks.  Some of the recent work is shown in the image at the top of this blog post.  It's always an exciting time when new work is shipped out.  I never know where the blocks will vend.  I learned recently, that the previous batch was vending at The Cosmopolitan in Vegas - super exciting!  It's thrilling to share my work.  It feels down right good because we artists that contribute don't do it for the money.  It's more like random acts of kindness.  We do it to share our work and hopefully in the process add a ray of sunlight in a person's day.

Pebble Garden Zentangle, pencil, pen, watercolor