Cricketts Inky Art Blot

Today I have a little photo called "Frostbite". It is a photo taken just outside of my studio last week. Just to be playful, I lightened one of the frosted leaves to draw attention to a certain area. The title hopefully has the viewer find the small bite taken out of the leaf above the whiter foliage. Frostbite

I figured that while I am distracted with slightly dark moths and butterflies, I might as well enjoy the moment and make another. I used a heavy black to eliminate unnecessary detail and to add atmosphere. Webbing and scuffs add to a worn feel.

Image of the day: Lionfish!      

Mary Crawley, a good friend of mine, took a look at an image of mine and suggested the title as being "Sightless and Unfeeling". It was in reference to the false "eyes" on the wings of the butterfly and the clock hands. I loved the title so much that I altered the image to fit the name. The orginal starting point was much lighter. I wanted the image to be more forboding and set off the tone suggested in the title, so I cropped the image closer and darkened the composition. I also added texture and shadows  while adjusting the colour balance. I am pleased with the above image results and loved the fun of having the title come before the image!

The Jelly fish are still evolving and those inspirational ceiling lamps are helping push the direction! I'm not sure if the water reflection is looking more like green smoke. Hmm... That could be Absinthe fumes! I will have to play around a little more and decide how I feel about that.  

Today I had some art displayed at the "Women, Art and Courage" event in Reno. Some of the facts of women's struggles in America today completely blew me away. It seems no matter how far women advance to become equal, there will always be a force fighting to chip away at our rights. One of the organizers of the event bought one of my works and surprised me by having hung it almost as soon as she got home. I know I would sit and ponder on such a thing myself probably for weeks. Here is the image she sent me:

    I am still thinking about those Chihuly colours and shapes and sea kelp trees swaying with the motion of the tide.   Jellyfish have tremendous beauty and grace, that entices the viewer ever closer. Like mythical mermaids, these mesmerizing beauties have their dark side and can burn, sting and can even bring death.  

I'm just having a little mess around to practice the pop art technique. Then I inverted the image:      

I am no expert when it comes to Photoshop, so I make the most of Youtube for any tips. I can make Pop Art style prints without too much difficulty with screenprinting, but I was not sure I could so easily make it on Photoshop! Here is a handy tutorial from a guy with a cute Welsh accent from www.tastytuts.com . I tried out the tutorial and you can find my results below. These pictures are of a diving mask and are split to make the Pop Art style. This is from a crappy cell phone shot of myself that I took just now to try out. You may of course, have mistaken me for Elizabeth Taylor (cough, cough)...   I think I could have posterized the photos first to make the image flatter, but I wanted to see what the tones would do.

Transformations of the digital photo kind! Before digital make-over: After digital make-over: I actually really liked the golden glow on the original, but it's fun to have an alternate look. I use Photoshop for creating or editing my digital work. It has levels that can take an image histogram and move or stretch its brightness, hues, tonal range and contrast etc. I figure it out as I go along rather than have a set formula that I use each time, after all, each image has different qualities and focus (although I am mostly trying to take it out of focus!!). I guess I am just making it up as I go along, I know that I am no Photoshop expert, I am just using the tool to get me the image I need while trying to have a little fun along the way :)

I have been picking up form shapes in my surroundings that seem related to my current theme. I am not even sure what my theme is, but I know when something looks "right" or can be tweaked into the direction in which I am moving. I am constantly taking photos or sketching, then trying to make something of satisfaction. Here I have taken a photo of a ceiling decoration that appealed to me and manipulated the image to take on the look that I had wanted. Before: After:

Yesterday I was working on developing a fish that could tie into these underwater images. Of course it decided to take its own course (and it was not even a salmon), so some other things added themselves before I knew it! The style changed somewhat, but still typical to me. I finished it off this morning with the colour tinting.

    Just a quicky as I had a busy day! Close-up of some lighting that I found quite inspiring for it's texture and shape.

I love having Roman numerals and random numbers embedded into my compositions, a left over passion of mine for Dada. I am always trying to weave a meaning into my work, although I don't wish to control the image so far as to lose the aesthetic to the tale. Unlike the randomness of some of my numerals, here the use of an actual clock face has been more deliberate. Our time on earth is finite and our lives are bound by timeframes of all sizes and of schedules of complete controlling conciousness. I am toying with the idea of water being the world of dreams and the subconsious, flowing, reflective and yet infinite. So basically speaking, I am thinking about the transition between the concious to the subconcious in this image and using realism and abstraction to emphasize this in visual terms.     Perhaps I can leave you to come up with your own theory on the sea horse...    

Today's image is of a ceiling sculpture that took my eye. I felt they had an underwater quality that I found attractive, so took a quick snap!

  All these thoughts back to Gran Cayman has made me delve back into the old holiday snaps to find reference materials. I found some close ups of turtles from when we visited the Turtle Farm and a few silly shots of us picking up turtles before we headed out to the beach.    

I am experimenting with a simple sketch and double exposing it with a watercolor.

Leaving Reno's cold, snow covered mountains and stepping ashore Gran Cayman's warm, humid tropical landscape felt really rather breathtaking. All the adventurous myths and legends of plundering pirates were in the fore as we donned snorkel gear and hoped for treasure. My three little girls, quickly figured out how not to gulp in large quantities of sea water instead of air and off we launched ourselves looking for marine life. We did not stray very deep and were always close to shore, the darting fish blazed our trails. We, saw their shadows moving in the water. The waters were dotted by small and medium turtles somewhere out in the distance. Only a couple were really close enough to clearly make out their shell pattern, but it proved to be completely thrilling for us all!

I honestly never saw this many turtles in the waters of Gran Cayman (at least outside the turtle farm), but I think that the color energies are now interpreting the vision I have.

I have taken one half of a painting to work with as I found it interesting in isolation. Digital manipulation is an interesting tool for an artist. I find that I can try 4 or 5 different colour combinations and compositions, in the time it would take to make one traditional study with pencil or paint. Technology is amazing!

I'm still manipulating the images to get the final look that I want. I have been thinking that it would be cool to combine these images with a collograph overlay for more texture. I may have to find some press time soon! I am pleased with how the water ripples came out. It is something that has really captured me lately and I have made many images in the last 6 months which carry something of this nature. Some are more realistic than others 😉 I first started attempting the ripples after seeing reflections from glass on the walls in the Dale Chihuly Museum in Seattle last summer. I loved the feel of colourful underwater immersion when walking through his wonderful glass displays.

I hope the turtles are not getting too old, but I having too much fun to stop! Here is a manipulation of the first image:

My heating has konked out and it's flipping cold today! I'm wishing I was back in warmer climes, ah well, I would not appreciate the heating if it did not give out from time to time :-) I'm back to working and reworking turtles: I am not sure that I am so keen on this comparedwith the other that I posted a few days ago, but I wanted to experiment with having less darkness in the image.

I'm playing around with the jellyfish images and while abstracting, I found a little nouveau. My Steampunk character is rather partial to a snifter of Absinthe now and again. I felt that she must have been having a little drop when I made this: Absinthe Tentacles

Travels are over so no more napkin art on airplanes today. I am also SO over that "Day whatever" thing. There is a date stamp on the post, so that will do for me, as I am no calendar-following-deadline-loving-blah-blah-watsit lady... I know that I can't produce a new image EVERY day, some of my paintings take weeks. Sometimes I may work all day and want to scrap the work; certainly not putting it out there for others to see! The best that I can do is offer something when I can and not get stuck in some "make-an-image-a-day-or-be-a-failure" crap. So now that pressure is over here is a little something from the studio: The lighting in Chihuly's Seattle exhibition was pretty fantastic. There were also some interesting videos on Chihuly's life and working practices. He seems quite a character.

Day: something or other, Post between time zones: Best that I could come up with; "Sealife", ballpoint on napkin.

Day 5: I'm moving more to reality and less abstract today. I love the way turtles move through water and will never forget swimming with them in Gran Cayman (or Tortuga as us pirates call it). I am really pleased with the results of this and I might try a Moku Hanga print of it later this year:    

Day 4: I'm still working with tentacles!! Eewwww?

Day 3, Is this turning into a picture a day blog? Could be, as I just finished another picture... Woohoo!

Day 2 (do I even have to write the day? I am so going to get muddled in double numbers!) Well here we go, I made something sea like in an abstract manner (watercolour and digital- Tradigital painting) and I'm proud of following up for a second day running: My paintings are currently underwater themed inspired not from a snorkeling trip, but from visiting the Dale Chihuly Museum in Seattle last summer! This is not the first time that I have made work with an underwater theme, but it is the first for at least 15 years. In the past I had an Atlantis collection which spanned printmaking, painting and ceramic sculpture. Seeing the Chihuly exhibition combined with a trip to Alaska that was filled with whale watching and Northern Lights, I started formulating mental images and colors for new experiments. The images are based less on nature's own subtle ocean colors and more on the colors found in glass such as Chihuly's and the incredible Aurora Boreal...

Day 1? So here we are, 2013. I'm not sure that I'm going to make a promise for daily posts, that's a BiG commitment and oh so over done ;-) I am going to try and throw more photos out here and stop the excuses of "I'm painting so therefore I am too busy to post", or the other "I'm not painting so I have nothing to post about". I will just send this snap out of my current location and make a New Year Wish!