Road Trip

Click and hold . . . That's what happened many times on the bus ride home from the Road 2 CA Quilt Show. Once the sunset started, I pulled my camera out and the fun began. This is when my quilt show experience became very different from all the rest of the passengers on the bus.

Each photo was considerably different than the one taken before. Some exposures were long and some were short. It just depended on how many lights were present in the background.

If you look closely at this photo, you'll see vertical lines caused by the bus hitting pot holes during the exposure.

This light dance happened while passing a car lot.

The only lights available here were from the passing vehicles. If you look carefully, you can see the outline of several cars.

Strip malls always have great lights. As Lora said, "In-N-Out Burger never looked so good."

I took photos of the quilt show too, but those are for my own enjoyment. I've never been comfortable posting other people's quilts on my blog without their permission. I emailed photos to a couple of people that don't live nearby and they appreciated receiving them. We had a nice time, saw some great quilts and I took some great night shots too. 

Abstract Painting

I've been adding more layers of oil paint and Dorland Wax to these pressboard pieces. You can see my last post here. Unfortunately, I haven't been good about taking photos of all the layers, but there have been 3-4 sessions on most of these.

What can I say . . .  this is a lot of fun. If you like to paint, you should give this a go. You can just keep mixing paint, adding layers and scraping lines away. You never know what's going to be revealed from the layers below and I think not knowing is half the fun.

If you go to the link above, the 3rd photo, which is pink and green, is the base for the piece above. Hard to believe, isn't it? It's undergone some changes.

 I think this one may be my favorite.

This reminds me of the sunset photo that I took of Campus Point a few posts ago. I wasn't planning to make a landscape, it just happened.

 If you go to the link above, this is the 2nd photo shown. I think it could use some more work.

These three pieces were made using a base of fabric paper. I used a mixture of oil paint and Dorland Wax on top of the fabric paper.

 I tried scraping into the layers but it just wasn't working so well. I ripped areas of the fabric paper away and added more paint. This time I laid it on thick with a palette knife.

This worked better and I was able to scrape through the layers a little, but it was still difficult. These pieces have a lot more texture, but less line. I guess it just depends on what you like.

A couple of them could use another layer, but I would say I'm finished with most of them. It'll take about 3 weeks for the wax to fully cure, then I'll frame the ones I like. All of them were painted on 5 x 7" pieces of pressboard. The pressboard worked great because it is really sturdy and can withstand all the poking and scraping. Stretched canvas won't survive.

Digital Collage

Digital collage is the perfect way to combine mediums. You can create your image entirely on the computer OR you can dye or paint the background then put it through the printer to add the final digital image OR you can print the digital image on the fabric and then add to it afterwards with screen-printing or stamps. There is no right or wrong way and it's fun to try them all to see what you like best.

I love photography and I take a lot of photos. See me in the shadow?

One of the best things about digital photography is the trash can. You can take a zillion photos and if they don't work out the way you planned, delete them. I think a lot can be learned by trial and error and I never shy away from an experiment; sometimes the experiment yields the best result.

I've always been intrigued by the branching structure of trees. Once the trees lose their leaves I grab my camera and start taking photos. I really love the lines and shapes created by the branches but I thought it had potential for something even better.

This is how the photo looked straight out of the camera. Yes, the sky really is that blue. We are having record breaking warm winter in southern California and could use a lot of rain.

This is what the branches looked like once I converted the image to black & white and removed the background. There are several ways to remove the background, but I like to use the magic wand and the background eraser.

Here are the branches inserted onto two different backgrounds. Both are lightened photos of my hand dyed fabric. Doesn't the branch look much better on beautiful background?

I've been playing around with several ideas of how I could incorporate line into my work and this type of exercise is helping me sort though my thoughts.

Final Question: Is this a photo of something that exists in the natural world OR is it a photo of fabric that has been painted, dyed and/or manipulated in some way?