Simple art

We were walking down the street in Comer, GA....just past Colbert, GA and this door caught our eye.  I don't know who uses it or why, but I love what they've done with it.  I've printed it on a metallic paper and it looks amazing.  So, thanks to whomever.

what is art?

A couple of months ago I was in a gallery in North GA and in a back room that was not being used sat a nice, folk arty chair.  Not on display.  Just sitting there.  I liked how it looked against the wall and the rug, so I took a photo.  I really like how it turned out and the slight optical illusion effect, but mostly just the composition and the color.  Somebody asked me if it was ok to use another piece of art in my art....What's the answer?  I think the answer in this case is that I am not using the chair or even it's artistic qualities as my art, but the room, the light and the color and the presence of the chair.  I welcome feedback on this.

January mix

We've been having the first "real" (read "icky") winter since I arrived in Greenville 5 years ago.  Not a lot of tolerable sunshine or warmish cloudiness for taking pictures, so it's been a good time to learn some new techniques. I've been working on water and found a nice, quiet place to shoot when we've had some (too much?) rain.

Interestingly, there  is a stand of bamboo near the little falls and suddenly Greenville can look tropical even on a chilly, soft day.

Something there is that loves a wall...

I guess it's me.  I find myself wanting to photograph interesting walls, and here's the latest.  I think the paint was applied to cover up graffeti, but it sure made an otherwise ordinary wall much more interesting.  This is along a lovely walking path in downtown Greenville. 

Agua

I've been reading a lot about photo technique and trying to learn to slow down water to get that wonderful motion look. I've tried several times but was not happy with the results.  I never took the written instructions with me, so after a lot of trial and error, and error, I finally learned my lesson on Sunday.  We had MORE rain over the weekend and the rivers were raging, so we headed to a favorite spot (as yet mostly undiscovered) to try more shots of water.  I was a little dismayed when we arrived to see just how raging the river was, but we gave it a shot.  I still wasn't having any luck - tripod and all - when I looked at Wayne's picture and saw it was exactly what we were looking for.  After taking a look at his camera settings, I changed mine and instantly had more luck.  We spent the next several hours taking waterfall shots around the Greenville area.

I've got more to learn, but I'm so happy with the 1st days results.

painting a wall

We were in Clayton, GA for a few days and came out of the biting cold to have a delicious pizza at Zeppalins.  This is a wall that caught my eye.  The first shot is as I took it - hand held, no flash.

I've played around with it a lot but probably don't yet have the perfect finished product.  Most people prefer a very colorful version.  It's quite fun to work with something so basic and see what it becomes.

Transition

We have been getting requests to help people "fix" and/or "paint" their pictures.  You tell one person you can touch up something and word seems to spread.  Actually, and it's a secret, we enjoy doing it because we really have to tap into our creativity and learn new ways to apply tools....But don't tell.

Wayne is getting really good at adding sky to pictures - and it's amazing how many nice shots lack good sky - and I'm good at covering up all kinds of things, and this week managed to remove a hand from around a beautiful dog's neck - very detailed and painstaking work.
So, I thought I'd share a sample of our work.   This is a rather ordinary photo of a peach orchard early in the season.  The day was grey and the light not good.  
These pictures progress through just a few of the steps:  original photo, enhanced color and light with a more interesting sky added, and the final painted version.
The total time involved in this is probably 3 or 4 hours on and off.  Love the finished product.

Going back

We finally got to go back to Hurricane Shoals county park in GA where they have the lovely Heritage Village that we couldn't photograph well in the rain.  Yesterday was a beautiful fall day and we were on our way to Clayton, GA so we stopped for a visit.  Much nicer in the sunshine.   This is a shot in one of the cabins they have moved to the site.  I'm not sure why the bed frame is there, but it makes for a nice photo.

I didn't have to change lighting and just saturated the bed frame color a little.

Open Studios bathroom

Bathroom as art?  We toured quite a few galleries and studios over the weekend during the Metropolitan Arts Council's Open Studios.  There is a lot of amazing and beautiful and challenging art in the area. Some we loved, some we thought about, and some we clearly didn't get on any level - and puzzle why the less we get it, the higher the price!!

Art Bomb is a shared space studio in a beautiful old building way out on Pendleton St.  We unfortunately didn't get most of the art, but the building and gardens are great.  The first is the wall and door to the outside shower...clearly the work of an artist, and the second is one of the panels inside the shower - rust can be so beautiful! 

Out for a walk

We have had A LOT of rain lately, and a lot just yesterday.  As I was walking the dog this a.m., I saw this hibiscus bush that clearly loved the rain more than I did.  The flowers were just beautiful, so dispite less than ideal light, I came back with my camera.  This is the reason we need to remember to always stop and smell the roses...

I have played with this a little to bring out the light as much as I could and this version has been "painted" with palette knife.

and, sometimes you go back

During our first trip up to Tryon and Saluda we began to lose the light....it was already fairly late in the day and the sun was slipping behind the "mountains."  We decided the views were worth getting up before the sun on Sunday and doing it all over again.  The day dawned with a spectacular sunrise that we were not in place to capture, then the early clouds began to burn off.  As we got higher into the mountains, the temps dropped into the 30's with a very brisk wind....We weren't all dressed for the weather, but did take some lovely pictures.

This view is just outside Saluda heading west.  There is a lovely view of about 180 and a farm driveway perfect for viewing.  As you can see, the color was perfect.

When it goes right

Last Saturday we took part in our first real "ART" fair. The others have turned out to be crafty, other than just art and attracted people not much interested in buying photographs, so this was going to be our first real test.

The day broke totally fogged in, a little damp and a little chilly. We actually couldn't find the park in the fog though at one point we could see it down below us. Using our human GPS and as much common sense as we could, we finally arrived to set up. Right from the start we were impressed with the quality and creativity we could see in the booths going up around us, so despite the damp, our spirits were lifted.

By the time we got set up the fog was lifting, and by the time the fair officially opened, it had become a bright, gorgeous early fall day and stayed that way right to the end. The occasional stiff breeze kept the temperature comfortable and our well anchored canopy didn't budge.

So, attendance was reasonable, sales were pretty good and people were happy and having a good time. Many who didn't buy still stopped to chat, so we met a lot of interesting people/characters and left feeling very positive about the day.

These are photos of us in the booth. This is our "good weather" set up. Less favorable weather results in different configurations, but we have a very flexible and adaptable booth. We are hoping we get to use this set up in Wake Forest this coming weekend!

Juried shows

Part of finding one's way into a new field is just trying things. I think if we had done more research and some reading, we might have scared ourselves off entering juried shows, but we were naive and gave it a shot. We've entered two local juried shows so far and had one photograph selected for each. This turns out to feel really good!

The first is a photo taken of a vase in the window of a downtown restaurant on a nice sunny morning. I played with the levels and then inverted the original and adjusted the hue and saturation. I love all the little things that show up in the reflections.

The second is the photo that inspired me to try doing this professionally. It was the result of taking a professionally led field trip to beautiful DuPont Forest in NC. A lone flower on the shore of a little lake on a pretty fall day.

We are excited and encouraged to try more things and play more with our art. Photography is a great medium for exploration.

Finding our way

We took part in an "Art in the Park" event in a place called Hurricane Shoals County Park in north GA on Saturday. We had had rain on and off all week and the forecast for the weekend was pretty damp, but after much debate and checking the forecast, we decided to give it a try.

We managed to set up before the downpour, but that's about the only break we got. Finally we had to take down most of the framed art and cover the rest. Obviously almost nobody came to the event and at about 2:30 we decided it wasn't going to get better and packed up and headed home. We did not return on Sunday.

The event was billed as "art in the park" but there weren't more than 5 or 6 artists there. The rest were crafts, special interest groups, churches and food vendors. Therefore, the few people who did attend were not there to buy art.

The positive outcomes were that we learned to ask more questions before signing up for events in the future, and the chance to see a very nice and pretty heritage village in the park. It's worth a visit if you are in the Commerce, GA area.

This is a view from inside the little white church in the park looking out at the damp day. It is as yet untouched except to adjust the lighting a little. On a nice, sunny morning, this will be a beautiful place.

Public Art

One of our missions is to find the art that's all around us every day. I've been passing this sign for years and always meant to stop and take a few pictures. The other day I had my camera, blue skies and puffy clouds. Instead of a beautiful sign standing in an abandoned diner parking lot (the diner was torn down about 2 years after it was built) along a busy road, it's now a hangable work of art.

I adjusted the light a little and then posterized to get the mix of colors in the sky. Not sure of the title yet....Hop in Heaven?

News and views

One of my photographs was accepted into the juried art show at Upstate Visual Arts. Making the cut turned out to be nerve racking, but now I'm in. Results of the judging are tonite. It will be interesting to see what kind of art wins. I feel very honored to have been selected, and no, I'm not just saying that.

We are going to be in three upcoming events - and maybe more. Sept 19 & 20 at the Riverside show outside of Commerce - details when I get them.

Oct 3 we will be in the Trillium art fair in Travelers Rest, SC

Oct 10 at the Downtown Wake Forest Autumn Arts Fair in Wake Forest, NC.

We will probably also enter at least 2 more juried shows this fall.

We have come so far in less than a year and find we are looking at things very differently than we did and using our photoshop and painting techniques more selectively.

Here is one of Wayne's most recent works. We were on an errand and came around a curve to see this beautiful tree standing alone in a farm yard. Light and sky were about perfect.

...to the ridiculous

Disc Crow

This guy and his 2 friends are standing in a little, old corn field in Mauldin, SC. Someone put a lot of work into them, and now time, weather and morning glories have gotten the best of them. Still a little work to do on this, but it make me realize that I'd rather see this than another gas station or McD.

And sometimes....

And sometimes it's just nice to take a nice photograph of someone you love! In addition to the hundreds of the teams this year, some are just special. Great game, Tyler!