Feeling Zen

After a long 3-day weekend show and knowing I have shows the next 3 weekends, I am feeling the need to relax and mellow out. It is at such times that I am drawn to simple visuals, especially in cool, calming, colors. So when doing some image editing today, I stopped on this frame which is an image I made earlier this year at a nearby lake.

The water is reflecting a late afternoon sky which had some dramatic cloud structure. Isolating just these two blades of grass reflected in the lake waters gave me the visual simplicity I desired. Placing them near a power-point adds just enough tension to keep the image interesting. For me the point at which the blades meet the waterline, causing a slight alteration of the flat lake, is pivotal to the image. This is where the reflection is altered and becomes bright, it indicates the point at which two worlds meet. The more I look at this image, the calmer I feel.

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First Fall Images

With a 3-day show this weekend in Delaware and a very busy schedule through Thanksgiving, I felt the need to get out yesterday. It also happened to be the first full day of fall, my favorite image-making season. I’m hoping to get out once a week even with a full fall show schedule, but reality may dictate otherwise.

So where did I go for this first day of fall outing, well I stayed right here in Bucks County of course – Peace Valley Park in Doylestown. Just as I approached the bridge, I saw this Great Egret off to my left. These birds usually spook easily, so I walked past it then slowly returned. I had more glass with me than I needed (Canon 500mm w/ TC1.4x), so as the bird worked its way away from the shore, I was better able to compose. During a brief preening bout, the egret lifted a wing and lowered its head under to get at a tricky spot. Of course if I’m near water I think reflection and symmetry so this composition was my first thought.

In such an image, I still prefer to have some part of the eye visible and in this case it is just (more so in the reflection). There is an elegance to the picture that I like, these birds being so angelic.

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Sugarloaf Craft Festival – Wilmington, DE Sept. 25-27, 2009

I’ll be setting up on Thursday for the Sugarloaf Craft Fair which starts this Friday at the Chase Center in Wilmington DE. I’ll be in the large room to the left as you come in the main entrance. This is a great venue for a show and no sales tax to collect!

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Phoebe it is.

After receiving comment and checking my own field guides, the little bird in this image does appear to be an Eastern Phoebe. Thanks for the help. I have finalized the print with some selective dodging and curves adjustments and feel good about the image. I’ve printed it on both Epson Enhanced Matt and Exhibition Fiber papers and like it on both. The matted print is now available at $79 in a finished size of 16×20. I think this is the best size for this piece and am uncertain whether I will do other sizes.

 

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It’s a Dirty Job, but ….

The Chadds Ford Days show was cancelled on Saturday but went on as planned on Sunday. Oh but the grounds were less than ideal. The heavy rains on Friday and Saturday left the field wet and any movement on them created mud. I was up at 5am on Sunday morning to load and drive to the show, set up the canopy and display, hang my work and grab a last cup of coffee before the patrons arrived. The parking lot was passable, but just, I sloshed through some mud with my AWD van, but did not get stuck. A few artists made bad bets at the end of the show and did get stuck, a couple food vendors got stuck badly. The good folk who run this fine show were on hand and helped them when I thought there was no hope.

Other than that, the show had wonderful weather on Sunday and I had a good response from those who came out to support us. I am a bit of a neat freak though and even with outdoor carpeting under my canopy, things weren’t really pretty and certainly not very clean. My matted and framed work is always well protected, but my shoes, pants, and some show supplies were well covered in mud.

The carpet was a loss, everything else will need some cleaning. I really strive to create a gallery-like environment in my booth and mud doesn’t add to the ambience. Working as a full-time artist means doing outdoor events, but sometimes it is a dirty job.

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Chadd’s Ford Days – Sept. 12-13, 2009

I am looking forward to my second annual showing at the Chadd’s Ford Days event this coming weekend in Chadds Ford, PA. A great selection of fine art, traditional craft, music and food are available. The venue is very pleasant and makes for a great day. I will have Three’s Company available in two sizes finished to 16×20 and 22×28 and a full selection of my other works from the East Coast.

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Stained Glass Summer Window

One of the aspects of my work that I love, is getting out early mornings and being in nature. To do this means mostly staying local here in Bucks County, PA. This morning was brightly lit so I worked areas of back-lighting where I could create silhouettes of trees with late-summer color in the background. This is where I really enjoy working with a zoom lens. Being able to change composition without physically moving is often essential for this kind of image. Often there are trees or heavy brush behind me or moving forward has me stepping in something I’d rather avoid.

Exposure is determined based on the backlit elements (grass, flowers, foliage) and I allow the trees to become strong black shapes. The sellection of trees for this image was based on what I found most appealing. The key is to limit overlap between the trees so that each remains a singular form. For this image I used an Olympus E3 camera with an Olympus 50-200mm lens with polarizer attached.

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Summer’s End

Well certainly not as far as the calendar is concerned, but school has started and the weather is cooling. I can also see it in the kinds of wildflowers that grow around here in Bucks County, PA. One of my favorites are the Marsh Mallows, a form of Hibiscus. They grow along a lake I frequent and are a great foreground element, accent element, or primary subject. In a recent outing I spent time watching 3 Kingbirds flitting around. At one point they were working their way through some pink Marsh Mallows (they also appear in red and white).

I visualized an image of one of these monochromatic birds among the flowers and began tracking one that had landed on the dried remains of last summer’s plants. I wanted the bird to stand against a clean, texture-free background and be framed by the colorful Hibiscus flowers. Morning light, diffused by clouds, was perfect. And a long lens (Canon EF 500mm f4.0 with a TC 1.4 made for an effective 700mm perspective), gave me the limited depth of field I required.

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