rural inception

Last night was date night.  Our idea of a good time consists of hamburgers in Saratoga, an hour or so of coffee and reading foreign magazines at Barnes and Noble, then off to a movie, and a moonlight ride home with the top down. Oh, and an ice cream cone.

The film we saw was Christopher Nolan's Inception , and from what I'd read on imdb and heard from reviews, I knew it would be challenging. But I was "along for the ride", so to speak, and I was not disappointed.  The visuals and special effects were stunning, Leo's performance brilliant, and a lot of it was filmed in Paris!

The whole concept of being the architect of a dream fascinates me.  As one who has dwelt in elaborately constructed daydreams since I was a toddler, I can relate, on some level.  I often tried to turn my daydreams into night dreams, but that could not be done.  I have, however, watched as my daydreams became reality as I grew older. Or, as I grew closer to the Lord, and He drew closer to me.  Spiritually speaking, I believe He places within me the desires of my heart.  This was my devotional verse for today:

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. ~ Psalm 37:4,5 Artistically, I have been trying to "build" a photo painting from components found in my own photographs. Sort of the architect of my own dream landscape. This is my "rural inception," constructed from elements from 10 of my photos. rural inception The figure is from a photo of Pierro della Francesca's Madonna at the Clark Museum.

cooling down the "painterly" way

march farm

The heat has been pretty intense this past week, so in my search for something "cool" to "paint", I happened across this image.  Of course, by paint, I mean digital painting, and the new textures I used are just perfect for this.  They are called summer painterly textures from flypapers, and I'm really enjoying using them.  I also added a gesso texture to give it that heavy paint feeling, almost like impasto.


And here is a cool evening from last spring on Neil Adam's "Up and Over Farm".  I'll be posting more of his farm, as it's some of the most beautiful land in the county.

Joyeux "La Fête Nationale" or Happy Bastille Day

I'm sorry, but I forgot to wish you a. well, what it says up there...If you're French you say "La Fête Nationale", but here in America we call it Bastille Day.  July 14 is the day the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille, like our Independence Day, but they don't really wish each other a "Happy July 14" like we do.  So in honor of that day I'll post a photo I took in France last summer at Marie Antoinette's Hameau.  

Possibly the most enchanting place I've ever visted.  Someday I'll post  several photos from there [at Versailles] on the Paris page.  But for tonight...a magical French fantasy...

summer in washington county

It seems to happen every year.  We forget that church goes on a summer schedule and meets an hour earlier, so we arrive an hour late, see the full parking lot, and turn around and head for home.  Oh, we could go in.  People are used to our, shall we say, flakiness!  But this Sunday we decided to  get ice cream, listen to Charles Stanley and drive around our beautiful county, soaking up the rural beauty.  All of the fields have had their first haying, and these lovely hay sculptures populate many of the fields. I took a lot of colorful shots, but I tried to make this photo look as old fashioned as I feel when we drive through our unspoiled farmland.

working with a model

I used to work with my husband as a wedding photographer, and I always liked doing the bridal portraits the best. But when my daughter took over our business, I was allowed to "retire" and devote my time to fine art photography.  I still love to photograph women, however, and I recently had the opportunity to shoot one of the loveliest of my former students, Britt.  Having photographed her Senior portrait a few years ago, and some candids of her on a trip to Paris, I knew she was a marvelous model.  Britt is an art student in college now, but I hope this portfolio can help to get her some modeling jobs.

We spent about 2 hours out in the garden and up in the barn, and I didn't go for any conceptual shots, but  just let the shoot flow.  I knew I wanted to accentuate those amazing eyes and lips, so I shot a series of head-on , evenly lit head shots.  The one above is textured with another shot of rose petals, and suggests her sweetness and femininity.  I love the pink tones, but I like it black and white, as well.

I found this headdress in the barn, and had used it in the early '90s and then forgotten it.  It was perfect for creating this Egyptian composition.  I call it "Queen Neferbritti". :~)))

I added the tear on her cheek in Photoshop.

In my vintage '50s hat

Tess of the d'Urbevilles

And this one ended becoming this one...

Lady Brittany

I have a feeling that I'll be editing this shoot for a long time to come!  Isn't she a beauty?  So many ways to present her.  And I hope it brings me some adventurous girls for Senior Portraits!

La peinture en plein air

Recently I took a plein air painting workshop with  Harry Orlyk, the best landscape painter in our county.  I am certainly no painter, but I love the discipline of workshops that force me to get out there, set up an easel in God's gallery, and really spend time admiring creation and trying to put my impression of it on canvas. Harry has a great love of the land, and his distinct style captures the wonderful feeling of our rural area. I spent 3 days in some beautiful locations, in sublime weather and even though my paintings aren't finished yet, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Harry's palette.  I was surprised to see how much paint he puts out!

                                                                          
Here Harry begins to paint a scene at the river's edge.  Look at how large his brush is, yet he wields it like a pencil, sketching in his scene.

The painting is taking shape, but the light is changing.  He'll come back tomorrow to finish it.

Other students did great work!

Cindy lives close by, so I expect to see many more of these by summer's end!

This students filled her whole trunk with paintings...

Happy Independence Day!

We had a wonderful 4th of July, with company for the long weekend...lots of warm weather...tubing on the river...cookouts...s'mores...fireworks...small town parades...talking and rocking on the front porch...naping and reading on the back porch...and a Sunday morning promise to pray for our nation...
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

Vintage Hats

Lynne, a photographer friend from San Diego, recently came to stay with us.  We had such a good time photographing together around these familiar haunts of mine, and it was refreshing to see our area anew through her eyes.  These hats are from a local store where I shop, but I had never asked before if I could photograph them.  I'm glad Lynne did!  I can't wait to see her take on them.  Here're mine...

The model here was added later.  She is Candace, one of my former students.

The Impossible Project

Recently my daughter and I went to NYC to meet an artist friend visiting from Brazil.  After a wonderful time walking around in Chinatown, we wound up at 425 Broadway at the gallery of the new Polaroid film company, The Impossible Project.  An amazing space, and an even more amazing product.  I have long been a fan of the SX-70 camera, and the possibilities for creativity that it affords.  Dean and I taught SX-70 manipulation classes in the '90s, as well as the making of Polaroid transfers, and we still own 17 Polaroid SX-70 cameras!  So how glad are we that we can now buy the film again!  It's not cheap, this analog world, but I scraped my pennies together and got 4 boxes of various films.  They're very fussy as to storage, too, temperature, and such, so we'll see how it works.  I have a shoot planned for Monday with a beautiful model, and I'll fire off a few shots with some of the Silver Shade.

Here's my friend Rogerio from Brazil, taken in the Impossible Project gallery space.

Please be patient with me!!!!

I've been playing around with my blog, and I fear I have done some real damage!  I've put a new template up and saved the wrong one, so, my old  blog is gone!  Or at least all of my widgets are missing [ I tell ya, if I ever thought I'd live to see the day when I was lamenting the loss of my "widgets" {rolls eyes, shakes head}...]  The saddest thing is, I've lost that lovely Paris page...

So, now it remains for me to spend tomorrow learning how to navigate this new template, which has no navigation bar on top!!!!  And no way to get to the dashboard from here that I can see.  I've been at this for 3 hours and I feel some garment rending coming on, so, since the garden is calling, I'm outa here.
Oh, and this is not Everafter Farm, but a sweet cottage nearby.
UPDATE!  I did it!!  I got Paris back!!  It's amazing what a measly 8 hours on the computer can accomplish.

Somerset at last!

I kind of always thought that I'd see my work in Somerset Studio, the Mixed Media publication.  But month after month, I never could get up the nerve to submit my work . Then the publisher of all the Somerset publications. Kellene Gillhof, [bless her heart!] discovered my photography online, and invited me to be in Somerset Digital Studio!  I was so nervous, but I managed to get the article written last November and the magazine came out on March 1st.  I loved doing it and working with the Editor Jana Holstein was so much fun.  I thought they did a bang-up job on the article, giving me 8 pages, with 15 photos! I know some of you who are now following the blog came here through the article, so you know what an fabulous publication Somerset Digital is.  My friend Mario von Middendorf is also a featured artist in this issue, and he is incredible.  The next issue will come out Sept.1, 2010.  You can buy it at better newstands or order it ">here

Slated for Salem

Nature Girls

On Friday night we held a fundraiser for our old town courthouse.  55 Artists were invited to make art on pieces of slate from a nearby slate quarry.  The event, called "Slated for Salem" for a big success, with yummy hors d'oeuvres, wine, and a rousing auction of all of our artwork.  Above is my mixed media piece, called "Nature Girls",and below is Crickett's photo and mixed media "Moonlight Solitude".  And, yes, she stole my moon!!!

Resurrection day in Paris

Only 10 minutes before Easter is over, and I just wanted to say I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed day.  We certainly did!  The weather was so fine: mid 70s with a lovely breeze, sunshine, and spring flowers in bloom.  We went down to Albany after church to visit several friends, and share a family dinner with Gregg and his family.  It was wonderful.  I ate so much sushi...before the ham!
The image I'm posting here is a new process I'm trying.  Still painterly, but lighter, fresher, more like watercolour than the old darker oil paint look.  Which I still love, of course.  But it's fun to try something new.  I'll be puting more of our Paris Pix on the Paris page, which is now on the link bar at the top of this page.

A Virtual Visit from an Old Friend

I had the nicest surprise yesterday. An old friend from my online art days, Lloydene Cook, found my article in Somerset Digital and contacted me via Facebook. It was so great to hear from this lovely lady who was the creator and moderater of my favorite virtual Salon, BELLE PAPIER. I did many mixed media swaps with the members of that group, and have that artwork, which I received in trade, to this day.  I also fondly remember the "zines" that Lloydene and her friend would hand assemble, with photocopied pages of our artwork, and very special "inclusions" ranging from snippets of pretty ribbons and fibers to stickers and sprinkles and tiny charms.

I went looking in my my old files and found a couple of pieces of artwork that I did during that time 10 years ago.  The Via was a cover for our  Belle Papier Address book and the collage was sold in 2000.  The Travel card was made as a thank you to the Bigelow Foundation, who awarded me an all-expense paid month in Paris. Those were some good, creative days!

Just back from Paris

My darling and I took a short trip to Paris this past week, and despite a harrowing trip down to JFK in a sleet storm, a three hour wait at the airport for a plane, and a 3 hour "rest" on the tarmac before takeoff, we actually arrived in our hotel room 23 hours after we left the farm. It was a grand time, though, and the weather was perfect, despite the reports back home that we were in a tornado. It did rain, but only at night, or when we were in a museum or restaurant. I never even got to use my gorgeous new umbrella from Kate Abbot! We were half hoping to find the perfect apartment for sale, but to be honest our pocketbook is not big enough to buy us that pied a terre that we see in our heads. I don't have my pix edited yet, but I thought I'd put up some shots from 2007, and the apartment on Montparnasse Blvd.where Angie and I stayed [Thanks to the kindness of strangers] for 2 weeks. This is the apartment in my head!

Another Look at our Paris apartment

There's my friend Angie on the couch!

Some of the Lovely Homes Near Us

I love driving around our beautiful county, and drinking in the bucolic sights. Or, as they say, I [heart] NY! [As much as the kids try to teach me how to make that heart symbol, it always comes out >3 for me!!] As much as I love France, I have to say that our little neck of the woods is just about as scenic as anything I've ever seen abroad. [ Ok. So France is pretty much equal.] Or at least it suits our aesthetic. I especially love the cozy little farms, with smoke curling from the chimneys, and animals hanging out in the barnyard or in the pasture. I've started photographing these country places and making prints to give to the inhabitants. It's a wonderful way to meet the neighbors!

November's Golden Glow