Well, as most of you who know me can attest- when I am in work mode, I generally don't have much energy left for myself in the evening. But, since I'm only in Santa Fe a couple of weeks this time around, I have decided to fight the fatigue & at least get out a bit, if only to walk around the plaza & enjoy the Christmas lights. I am however, too lazy to set up the tripod in quest for the perfect shot. Therefore, my images are not the best to start with... but with a little editing, I am finding I can get some interesting images anyhow. My goal was to try to get that old film feeling... where the resulting pictures were always a bit distorted & had funky colors. Mission accomplished.
Random pics from the road. Pokey & Gumby were in my stocking & I felt it appropriate that they be placed on my dash for the journey to New Mexico. They seemed happy to be out of the plastic wrap & on the open road. This time my road trip took me through Hatch, NM, which is actually "the chile capital of the world...." an interesting tidbit of info that may come in handy should you ever go on Jeopardy. The next pic is of what I assume to be an old water tower (silo?), somewhere along highway 26. The contrast, size & texture of the structure made it stand out among the emptiness that is highway 26... I actually drove past, but had to turn around & photograph it because it just looked so striking to me. The last photo kinda caught me off guard, as the logo on this ambulance bears a very striking resemblance to the computer drawing I had done in class... I swear I had never seen it before. Trippy. Well, that's it for now... safe & sound in Santa Fe. It's always a good feeling to get to where you were going safely. Back to work tomorrow, so it is possible these posts may thin out a bit...
Just trying to make you all hungry out there. I had written in a much earlier post about my mom, the artist... so I just wanted to share this work of art... a meal prepared by mom. She put together an "early christmas" for me during my short time in San Diego, complete with a lovingly prepared meal & the company of my awesome family. Thanks, mom!
I've decided to keep this blog going, even though my DMF class has come to an end. It's fun for me... kinda like journaling with pictures. Sooooo, hoping for a few sunny warm days in San Diego during my journey once again from Ashland to Santa Fe. No such luck. This is what it looked like most of the time, although we did get at least one beautiful, sunny day w/ temps in the mid sixties- heat wave!
I love a good quote almost as much as I love the beauty of nature. John Muir has some great quotes & wanted to pair them with some of my images for the book project. I think it turned out pretty well.
With help from Dennis, notes from Miles' You Tube tutorials & the nice guy that sits next to me in DMF lab, I was able to at least figure out the itsiest bit of Indesign. Steep learning curve for the computer illiterate (that's me!) This seems much easier to do in Photoshop, but I can see how Indesign would be extremely useful... once I figured out how to use it. For me, I think that I'd need a full quarter specifically for that program. For now though, since I did the book over Thanksgiving break in Photoshop, I'll post it in that format. Oh, and the background looked black in Indesign, but it came out dark green in the blog???
My final entry for DMF's "other images" is artist Andy Goldsworthy. A friend brought me his film; River & Tides, which was absolutely beautiful & I highly recommend watching it. I'm not going to say much about his work, as I think the beauty speaks for itself... but I highly recommend this film.
Tomorrow's Dec. 1st, and this image looks like Christmas to me, so I figured what the heck, post it. I actually took this image in December a few years back in... you guessed it- Eastern Oregon. Beautiful country. This was the first time I ever lived where it gets so cold, your boogers freeze. I'm not kidding! I've determined they freeze around 5 degrees Fahrenheit... that's my best guess anyhow, though I would be open to scientific evidence that proves otherwise.
Desert Donuts
There will be absolutely no laughing at my papercraft!!! It sucks, I know... but I got 'er done... now I just have to cut the damn thing out... but it's not gonna happen tonight. Manana, si. I'm feeling the crunch of the end of the term in all my classes. It didn't feel this way last quarter... and I'm wondering if the budget crunch is resulting in the same amount of work but less time to accomplish said work?? Or is it my own issue of feeling like I've got to put twice as much time & effort into projects because I want them done well... and want my grade to reflect the time & energy expended? Maybe it's the voice of the inner critic that demands nothing less than an A in every class... as some sort of reward or exchange for the effort & monetary expenditure involved, (and who is that inner critic anyhow?) Or perhaps it the pressure of an unnamed instructor that expects "Fine Art" from a level one class (and who defines Fine Art anyhow?) Maybe it's a little of each of these things. I don't know. I think too much... and write too much! My last excuse for the very lame cubee craft is feeling a bit behind due to technical difficulties in DMF lab. I know... excuses, excuses! But!! To show that I am in fact hard at work, not only in DMF, but all my classes, I've included a pic of what my dining room table looks like on a given night... so many projects... so little time. Finishing my ceramics decals tonight... printmaking tomorrow & saturday, then trying to get all my DMF stuff together for the book next week. All this, in the midst of packing all my stuff, putting it in storage & moving out of my ridiculously loud & non-peaceful apartment to get ready for the drive to New Mexico after finals. Trying to make a little money so I can return next quarter...
I can't remember when my aunt Beverly first started painting, but I imagine she started fairly young, perhaps not long after my mom did her first painting as a child. I do remember her taking a painting class some time back in the 90's. I asked her to email some pictures of her work, and she sent me this one... a painting of Zabriskie Point In Death Valley. I think it is beautiful! I love her work, and she has been long considered the artist in the family. She has this unique style of painting that makes you feel as if you are right there in the scene. I've always been drawn to more realistic art forms... I am just not much of an abstractionist. While I can appreciate Mondrian's flat colors & shapes or Pollock's action painting... that style just doesn't appeal to me. I can look at those types of paintings and think... "hmmm... interesting," but that's about it. I don't feel much about it. In contrast, when I look at my aunt's paintings, I feel drawn in... to the detail, the shadows & highlights, the depth, and the story behind the painting. Thanks Bev, for sending your painting... your work is amazing, and I am honored to feature it in this here blog o' mine.
Artists can get pretty strange. I admit, I don't always understand other's art... and that's o.k... maybe that's the point. Maybe it's an expression of something inside that they just have to get out. I did this Assemblage project for Sculpture 1. Basically, you take found objects which are then assembled to tell a story... or not. I had an idea in mind, then lo & behold, found all the objects I needed in one morning at garage sales for under 3 bucks. The title of this project is called Isolation. I feel that at some point (or at many points) during a person's life, an event or events can occur which will lead us into a tailspin of isolation. People don't like to talk about it, but I am pretty certain it is an unavoidable part of the human experience. We reach a point where we feel misunderstood, or worse, like no one understands us at all... or where we feel trapped in a situation in which we see no way out... utterly alone. I think this piece conveys that concept well. We have the center figure, curled up in the fetal position, with the locks nearby, suggesting the feeling of being trapped. The glass is tinted, suggesting that he can't really see clearly, nor can he see the way out behind him, or the bird of freedom above him. The symbols of freedom (open fence & bird) suggest that we do have the key... we always have the key, and that many of our "prisons," (though we may not be able to see it at the time) are often self imposed.
