"G" is for Garrett.

A product of my Saturday night.

After seeing some of my illustration/drawing work, a friend encouraged me to create a book of illustrations. He suggested a comic book, but I think I'd rather make a book of simple illustrations with a dark message. I always refer to artist/writer Edward Gorey when creating a collection of drawings. The simple drawings and morose phrases of The Gashlycrumb Tinies always make me laugh.

 

In other news, the traveling art collection daydream is one step closer to reality. A friend of mine owns an assortment of hand crafted crates for shipping art and she is willing to sell a few to me.

beauty in decay

I thought I'd share a few images that caught my eye today. While listening to an interview with Sally Mann, I spent a few minutes researching her series "Proud Flesh". I really love the mystery and vulnerability of these images taken of her husband, who is suffering from muscle dystrophy. 

 

"Trust your eyes and instinct" - Herb and Dorothy

Yesterday, I watched Herb and Dorothy, a cute documentary about an ordinary, middle class couple who built one of the most extraordinary contemporary art collections.

Throughout the film, Herb and Dorothy really stress the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships with the artists from whom they buy. I really admire their humble approach and decided it might be time to start my own art collection of friend's work. Start small, but dream big, right? 

Coincidentally, I recently discussed starting a traveling art show of friend's work with a fellow artist. Aside from the obvious annoyances of packaging and mailing artwork, it has potential! As a way to keep the collection growing, each artist would be asked to contribute a new piece before sending it to the next person. Just another idea to add to the "must do" list.. as if I have room to add more.

grandmother's wrinkles

Topographic maps, like wrinkles, map surface contours. In my investigation of topographic maps, I found that early topographers used stereoscopic images of the land's surface to guide their drawings.  

Below are a few examples of the stereoscopic pairs I have been working on...

Stay tuned for more to come, including the very beginnings of my handmade stereoscope!

Is the process just as or more important than the final product?

On Friday, I stopped by Foxglove Gallery, a new independent Milwaukee gallery where a few local artists, Beata Chrzanowska and Mathew Gasparek, were showing recent bodies of work. After perusing for awhile, a friend and I got to talking with Beata about her work and how to stay productive. She had a lot to say about dedicating time each day to creating and how process is a huge part of being an artist. At one point we were discussing the pros and cons of blogging. I told her I love blogging as a way to stay on top of my art interests and local happenings, but I have a hard time posting my own work because I don't want to show it until it's complete. To that, Beata politely disagreed. She went back to her discussion about process and how people, both artists and non artists, really enjoy seeing the manual labor that goes into each piece of work. Valid point, right? Personally, I love going into an artist's studio and looking at their work when they are right in the middle of a piece. Plus, you sometimes get to see aspects of the piece that don't make to the final edition. So thus, I have decided to post some in progress work, despite still feeling a little uneasy about it.

Test image - April Heding

This is just a preliminary test of the two camera system of stereoscopic photography. Subject matter is not what the final subject matter will be, I just needed to get some quick test shots. I am still messing with how to make it completely 3D. Without the stereo viewer, one may cross their eyes and look at the two images. An image in the middle should appear and it should be 3D. Again, I am not sure if this one works, but I have figured out what to do differently for round two!

the simplicity of winter

During the process of creating and experimenting, I always find myself venturing down new paths. The path I currently find myself on is full of scientific exploration and a lot of trial and error. Amidst these lengthy processes, I have regained the joy of simplicity.

 

 

  

Kodak T-Max 400

Minolta X-700