Sometimes rain isn’t so bad…..

If you were to ask me about it, I’ll usually tell you I can do without the rain. That probably means I have a art/craft show coming up. But yesterday the rain (and fog) was just what I wanted. Visually, I like what rain and fog do to the landscape and the moodiness it instills in my images. I like working in the rain if the wind isn’t blowing it too hard. I like the subtle pastel tones it creates in distant landscapes and the rich wet colors it gives to foliage.

(c) 2011 Paul Grecian

Rainy days are usually spent indoors so they become especially interesting and evocative times to be outdoors creating images if I can. I use a weather-proof camera and lens combination – the Olympus E5 and an Olympus 50-200mm lens. It’s just plain fun to work in the rain with electronics and not worry about it! And it’s fun to be out there with a camera when just about no one else would be.

These two images were made yesterday.

(c) 2011 Paul Grecian - Photography

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Time to Create

I have mentioned to others that the amount of time I spend creating new images is probably 10% of the time I spend printing, matting, framing or generally working on the business end of being a full time artist. A woodworker I mentioned this to didn’t know how I survived emotionally not being creative more often.

After reading the blog entry of Daniel Sroka, an artist whose work I admire, I started trying the at least one-hour-of-art-a-day plan. If this works out to being true even 4 days a week, I’ll be way ahead of where I was.

The trick to it I think is to create without purpose. Allowing myself to simply explore visually as I please and not worry about what to do with any particular image I make. This will free me to be creative just for me. Who knows what will come of it, but I do sense already that when I am in the field in a position to create, I will be more well-tuned and in creative shape to do my best work.

Here’s a piece I made in our front garden after a morning dew (on chives). I find water drops endlessly fascinating and have used this garden fairy statue before as a muse. Something about her face is appealing to me. I desaturated the image and added a sepia tone. The image was made with one of my favorite lenses, the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro, handheld while sprawled out on the ground. Being that I was working in the front yard, yea, neighbors were watching.

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