Roller Derby Car Load

Roller Derby Car Load

Derby Girls, gotta love em. They are a different breed. Wild, fun, playful, sexy, rugged, athletic, competitive. Pulled this image from the files today. I don’t even remember it from the first time around looking at the images. Probably because I was more focused on the portraits. We did a series of portraits of each girl along with a vintage car parked under a freeway. The driver let us use his very cool convertible. Seemed to me it would be great to get something with him and a few of the girls too. It’s funny when you go back through stuff. I can see from looking at the take that this was the only frame I shot like it. This one included the framing of the car window and reflections, which the other ones didn’t. I pulled a few others from the shoots too, may post a few more later and talk about portrait shooting… 🙂

Geisha

Geisha

“There is currently no western equivalent for a geisha—they are truly the most impeccable form of Japanese art.”—Kenneth Champeon, The Floating World

And the quote actually sums up the picture for me. Today I took the original a few steps further– it’s a bit subtle perhaps, which make me think a bit philosophically too about the (my own) creation process.  

This may sound strange to people who really know me but I find myself rather restrained and long to break out artistically. Truth is no matter what level you are at, the creative must always strive for more– bigger, greater, more profound, always trying to up our skills a notch, figure out how to do that new cool thing. It never stops.

I’ve learned a lot about courage from looking at others work and desire greatly to put more courage in my approach and execution of what I do too.

No matter what I’m photographing, I’m always looking to please both the client and myself so I often capture juicy imagery that I might eventually make art out of even if it does take me years to get back to them.

The original image that I created this art piece from was photographed during a job, an event assignment, where many people were in costume.  This woman just caught my eye, possibly because the she so embodied her character it was entrancing. Today I happened upon the original in my archives and decided to put a spin on it artistically and now you see the result!

From Wikipedia: Geisha (芸者?), geiko (芸子) or geigi (芸妓) are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance and games.

Love is In the Air…

Love is In the Air...

Love Love Love, it’s what many of us think about A LOT! If we have it, if we don’t, if we want it, if it’s on the horizon… Passion, romance, sweet sticky wonderful love. I’m in love. I’m completely in love with my amazing husband and next month we celebrate our one year anniversary. AND next month is Valentines Day, YAY!

So it may be a bit early for this love holiday card but today I had to create something new and play just for the joy of it. I found this beautiful vintage angel with such a charming cherub face it was easy to envision something cool. I found it at http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com.  She has the most wonderful vintage imagery on her blog site.  Check it out!

I worked on this piece on and off all day long between jobs, errands, calls– a few minutes here, a few minutes there– letting ideas unfold, visions pop, flashes of insight appear.

Tonight we went to see a movie– Silver Linings Playbook. What a great movie– all about love– and gambling. 🙂 I kinds got chills from it too and by the time I got home I was rarin’ to get back on this.

Bottom line– I took this very vintage image and using very contemporary techniques, as well as my colorful style and hippie chick sensibilities voila! A brand new art piece I just love. What a great way to keep learning and keep the juices flowing creatively! So Happy Valentines Day a month early! xoxoxoxox

Nudist at Heart

Nudist at Heart

Doodling, I don’t now where a specific doodle comes from. Do you? I sit down and with an implement in my hand I touch the drawing surface and the line appears, my hand moves. It’s instinctual, intuitive, a mind of it’s own. A line that chooses to be this way or that way, to take form and soon completed. I usually don’t remember the middle and what happens along the way. Do you? Do you doodle? Are you like me on the phone, or sitting thinking at a table and find yourself drawing something? I’ve noticed that we all have a very distinctive line. Even a straight line, drawn by two separate people can have a distinctive difference.
This particular drawing, the woman figure, was one of those instinctive travels my hand took. The rest of the image was completed in Adobe Photoshop using line art, photoshop brushes I’ve created, layers, layer blending modes and selective color. Admittedly it’s a bit of an oddball and a bit on the racy side, even for me. But the best part is it’s 2013 and the art is flowing!

New Drawings, 2013

New Drawings, 2013

The Things I’ve Seen.
I have been drawing eyes since I was a child, ever fascinated by their singular expressiveness and the detail within. How the iris is like a fingerprint, how the lashes curl, the pupils and their changing diameter, the richness and color. I saw Donna Summer in a TV interview one late night many years ago saying the eyes were the windows to the soul. Though it’s a common phrase now it was the first time I had heard it and it made a difference. Drawing an eye is one of those default things I have, we all have. When I pick up a pen or pencil most of the time it’s the first thing I draw. I’ve drawn so many of them I don’t even bother to save them though some have been pretty cool. I think I’m going to be drawing a bit more too. Still doing it digitally though and possibly adding versions of the same image. At least that’s what this one inspired me to do. It’s my favorite hobby– making digital art.

Drawsome the App

Are you as amazed as I am by the number of wonderful apps out there?  I found one recently that has really got my attention in a big way.  DrawSomething.  On my iPhone or iPad, one finger and a bunch of color choices to  get another person to guess the word you picked based on what you drew.  I’m constantly delighted to see how the simplest line gesture can suggest so much. It’s a treat. I’m not advertising for the app.  It’s just that so many artists, including myself, work very hard to get things just right, trying to make something perfect in their art.  This is a delight because of the freedom to NOT get it right.  Just have fun and get the idea across.  So here’s a video of a few of my drawings I managed to save along the way.  Better to keep those creative juices flowing by whatever means, this is one I’ve found that really works for me…

Napoleon Bonaparte and his brilliant quote

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”  Napoleon Bonaparte

This is one of those quotes that people use everyday and we all simply believe it– because it’s true and so perfectly stated!

Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, told the artist Jacques-Louis David who painted this famous likeness, “You have understood me, my dear David.”

What more perfect response can we hope to capture from our subjects.  As long as I have been a photographer I have strived to capture the intangible essence of my friends, loved ones and subjects.  The greatest thing we can do for another as an artist is to see people, to capture them, to express their inner and outer most beauty.  I deal with vanity everyday– both my own and that of the people I photograph.  The one thing I have learned through my experiences and practicing compassion, courage and commitment to my art is that we are all beautiful, and in this moment more beautiful than we have ever been. We are the sum of our parts, the wisdom of our experience, the depth of our life on the earth and all that we know, all we have evolved into.  It’s the human spirit that is the amazing and common thread that is in us all.   We are perfection now and in each subsequent moment we continue our journey.

We may never say that directly to someone with words, but we certainly can say it with our truest artistic expression of that perfect person who has trusted us enough to have us create their image in whatever medium we use.


But what of the 1000 words when this particular image has spawned 1000 questions about the enigmatic placement of his hand in his coat in the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David, titled The Emperor Napoleon in his Study at the Tuileries.  There are countless theories but no absolutes.  Among them are that Naploeon had gout and was unable to hold his hand at his side comfortably.  Another that the artist didn’t like painting hands so he didn’t.  Napoleon did not sit for this portrait either, it was painted by the artist from memory.  It’s also been theorized that the hidden hand was a feature of some statues of the ancient Greeks and Romans and ancient orators as well who tucked their hands into their togas.  Here are even more.  That he had a stomach ulcer, he was winding his watch, he had an itchy skin disease, a deformed hand, that in his day it was impolite to put your hands in your pockets,  he had a perfumed sachet in his vest that he’d sniff surreptitiously.  It has also been suggested that most of the people using this sign are members of the Freemasons.  The “hidden hand” can be found in the rituals of the Royal Arch Degree of Freemasonry and the world leaders that use this sign are subtly saying to other initiates of the order: “This is what I’m part of, this is what I believe in and this is what I’m working for”.

Napoleon gave us one of the greatest quotes ever– “A picture is worth a thousand words.”–  and also left us with one of the greatest mysteries as well.  What is not a mystery, however, is the importance of seeing and capturing the beauty in everything, no matter how fleeting, no matter how small, no matter how hidden, no matter how shy.  Beauty lives in us all and it is our job as artists to seek it and express it in our own unique ways.