New Work ... Nice Day

I feel like going into a rendition of Robert Frost's Poem The Road Not Taken .... "and being one traveler, long I stood And I looked Down One as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Just in case you've never had the pleasure of reading this poem, I've included it for you.  

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Weighing In on Photography .. Taking Pictures is a Privilege Not a Right.

Everything photography lately has left me a little agitated at the thought of such little concern about the practice of taking pictures of everything in site.

I had to think what was it about the plethora of photographers that was leaving me so disturbed.

Taking photographs is a privilege not a right.

I have been blessed perhaps to be in a number of places that to me were so sacred and the moment so profound that to stop and take a picture of it was just plain sacrilegious.

Perhaps there is the focal point, the grading of the light, the density, saturation and all that important stuff ... but what about the moment and the majesty.

I have walked through worlds that don't require photographs and the pictures I took are simply the ones in my own minds eye.  They are the greatest treasures.  

One Direction

So I finally finished this piece which was more difficult than I thought it was going to be.  I was thinking that the piece would end up going in one direction and then it simply took a completely different one.

I was a little unhappy about it and then I realized that like life, art work moves in somewhat of a Heavenly Way.  

The essence of a art work is the most important attribute to me.  It indicates my own  awareness with the symbolic world and an attunement to it.  

I have always left the final analysis up to the purchaser unless otherwise requested because it is not just artwork for me but also for the observer.  

In The Works ….. How it’s done

More Circles ....

Circles ....

I created a series of work, probably 30 pieces, that resembled one another.  This had been the first time I attempted to create work with the same theme over and over again.  

I was pretty wrung out from the repetitiveness of the the underlining theme.  Still the familiarity allowed me to get at some other qualities that I had never worked with before.  

These are just 4 of the 35 pieces I managed to finish in about 4 or 5 months.  

Sometimes just keeping the background color consistent throughout was difficult.  It meant I had to wash the  paper the same exact way each and every time, down to and including the shadows in the work from blending the browns and pinks.

I enjoy looking at them when they are grouped together, sometimes I feel it's a bit overwhelming and then I look at it and think it's pretty fun and dramatic.  It's very much unlike anything I had ever done and I guess upon completion of my goal, I felt it was successful.

New Work .... Nice Day

This work is done on 140lb hot press archival paper and I've included a couple of perspectives for you.  


It seems difficult to show the scope of the piece with a single picture so I've  change the exposure of the photograph to show you different aspects of it's voice.  


My Art work is created to  move and change with the light and the observer.   

Playing with HDR photography

Mind you, in terms of increments ... I am just an amateur with HDR photography.

Honestly, I didn't know what HDR was until I starting seeing some beautiful work done by people on Google Plus.    

 I spent some valuable time listening to a "Hangout" with Trey Ratcliff and learned so much so fast that I thought it would be great to see what this photo filtering would do for my work. 

                                                  With HDR

Without HDR ..

For me the usefulness comes in the ability of HDR to show the painting from the perspective of  full light.  It's very difficult to capture this when I am photographing the work in my studio because it requires the elimination of shadows.  i.e.  less shadows = less light.  

The richness of the piece is better expressed in HDR when the observer has not actually seen the work him or herself.   HDR exposes the brightest essence of the work without the uses of natural sunlight.  

My art is made to work with the days light and the days night.  Different aspects come out and are intended to come out at different times of the complete day. 

So the HDR works as a platform for presentation with my work.  This would be a plus for a Jury Slide or a blog, or social networking.   What it can't show is also important.  Conveying the nuances of artwork on the Web is difficult.  It is a medium which is meant to be scene with the naked eye.  It is never as vivid in a picture as it will be in person.  

What do you think?