Absolutely beautiful…that’s all I have to say…I don’t know what else to say. I guess I’m speechless!

From arplus.com:

“The Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture Awards, sponsored by Ramboll and Austin-Smith:Lord, celebrates the best pieces of design by young architects from across the world.  The door alone to this diamond merchant’s residence in Surat, India, was judged enough to make it one of the four prize winners this year

At 5.2m high and 1.7m wide, the door is comprised of 40 sections of 254mm-thick Burma teak. Each section is carved so that the door integrates 160 pulleys, 80 ball bearings, a wire-rope and a counter weight hidden within the single pivot.

Stacked one above the other in the closed position, each plank can then rotate by a simple push causing the door to reconfigure into a sinusoidal curve.”

See more photos and full article here >>>

Sketchbook Project Centerfold
Originally uploaded by hellfiregraffix

Art House Gallery is currently collecting sketchbooks to become a permanent part of a visual artists reference library. Details will be announced as we approach the date of the exhibition’s opening night. Philadelphia Arab-American Artist Nabeel Muaddi recently completed his submission for the sketchbook project and has posted every page of his sketchbook on his Flickr page. Click the image to see more photos.

Right Wing Pundits and Conservatives are up in arms over a controversial new piece by L.A. Street Artist, SABER. He recently released a video in which he is shown painting a mural of an American Flag that is slowly covered with messages about why the United States really needs Health Care Reform. The video is one of 20 that have made to the final round of the DNC’s “Health Reform Video Challenge” and will be judged by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane, Actress Rosario Dawson, Will I. Am of the Black Eyed Peas, Democratic Representative Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania and the DNC’s chief Tim Kaine.

EXPO en 2010 en Suisse

February – March     Bruno Mercier

April – May                 Josef Hoflehner

June – July                 Louis Stettner

Sept – October            Gilber Garcin

Nov – December         Münir Göle

Black Friday is gone and Cyber Monday is here. Retailers, myself included, are hoping and praying for better days ahead. While the economy is picking up slowly, the rock of our materialism in America and around the world was shock hard. Some have gone as far as t say God caused the economic hard times to cause people to consider how strong their foundational beliefs are. Stated another way, maybe God allowed this economic hard time to help us to relax, reflect, and rejuvenate.

Getting across the water in troubled times can be hard. But, God provides a way over the turbulant waters!

Psalm 135 starts out with a focus that is contrary to public opinion.

“Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the LORD: Praise Him, O you servants of the LORD! You who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God, Praise the LORD for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His Special treasure.”

“Praise the Lord? Why? After all, it is hard right now to be in the Christmas mood when I cannot afford gifts for family. I have lost my job and been out of work for months. That stress has affected my family and we have just about gotten to the braking point several times.” While that is not my story, I have heard it lately. It is hard to Praise the LORD when things are that tough. Yet, that is what the Psalmist starts out with.

Sunrises are special paintings of God's brush! I just get to capture them.

Before the recession, people might have praised their portfolio—for their money was their savior. People maybe turned to their possessions but then started to lose their possessions. Possibly, people turned to other people and were let down! Yet, we are to praise the name of the LORD?

In some countries around the world, people today still turn to a physical statue to save them much like ancient civilizations. Often those statues had eyes though they could not see, ears but they could not hear, mouths but could not speak, and or arms that did not reach out to help a person in the time of need. Psalm 135:18 says, “Those who make them are like them: so is everyone who trusts in them.” That is a harsh warning at this time.

In American society we often don not have physical idols. We have idols but they are more the materialism, commercialism, prosperity, popularity, and more. However, those things do not speak, they do not reach out to help in a time of need and so forth. We need to take heed to the warning of Psalm 135:18! “Those who make them are like them: So is everyone who trusts in them!”

Yes, things are tough right now for many. However, I do know this very fact—the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.

“And our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth. In the seas and in all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes the lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out His treasuries. “

Just maybe, our response to hard times will be like Job’s after he was brought face to face with God after all that he was through. Job 42:2-6

I know that you can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ”Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?” Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things to wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak: You said, “I will question you and you shall answer Me!” I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear. But now my eyes see You. Therefore I will abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

This Christmas season my hope is that my images of God’s great wilderness, events, people, and more speak to this story. It is my hopes that the images help each one of us relax, reflect, and rejuvenate during this advent season. That is my story here at Solid Rock Photography. What is yours?

Sunsets are also very calming especially after a run!

The Bauhaus was established in Weimar, germany in 1919 by Walter Gropius with the idea of combining creativity and craftmanship in a new form of art school. Students would complete preliminary courses in colour theory, life drawing, study of materials before choosing a workshop to specialise in. Workshops were provided in metalwork, weaving, pottery, furniture, typography and wall painting (interior decorating). Workshops in the Bauhaus were overseen by an artist and a master craftsman so students would gain practical experience and creative advice in the same room.

Another aim of the Bauhaus was to embrace mass production and the use of modern materials in the workshops. They wanted to create a unity between creativity and technology. This did not mean turning their backs on beauty as many critics of Modernism would say but instead finding a new beauty and a new creativity in design that embraced Modern ideas.

The Bauhaus was forced to closure by the Nazi regime in 1933 but the legacy of the first and only truly Modern art school remains. The work produced within the Bauhaus in areas such as product design, architecture and typography pre-date the design we take for granted today by decades.

The ultimate aim of all creative activity is a building! The decoration of buildings was once the noblest function of fine arts, and fine arts were indispensable to great architecture. Today they exist in complacent isolation, and can only be rescued by the conscious co-operation and collaboration of all craftsmen. Architects, painters, and sculptors must once again come to know and comprehend the composite character of a building, both as an entity and in terms of its various parts. Then their work will be filled with that true architectonic spirit which, as “salon art”, it has lost.

The old art schools were unable to produce this unity; and how, indeed, should they have done so, since art cannot be taught? Schools must return to the workshop. The world of the pattern-designer and applied artist, consisting only of drawing and painting must become once again a world in which things are built. If the young person who rejoices in creative activity now begins his career as in the older days by learning a craft, then the unproductive “artist” will no longer be condemned to inadequate artistry, for his skills will be preserved for the crafts in which he can achieve great things.

Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! For there is no such thing as “professional art”. There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. By the grace of Heaven and in rare moments of inspiration which transcend the will, art may unconsciously blossom from the labour of his hand, but a base in handicrafts is essential to every artist. It is there that the original source of creativity lies.

Let us therefore create a new guild of craftsmen without the class-distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artists! Let us desire, conceive, and create the new building of the future together. It will combine architecture, sculpture, and painting in a single form, and will one day rise towards the heavens from the hands of a million workers as the crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith.

WALTER GROPIUS

Wedding Vancouver BC Canada

I have to say the last time I made a demo reel was for my 2004 Vancouver Film School Demo Reel back in 2004 and it took three months with less sleep.  Today I would say my Fantasy Wedding Photography Demo Reel is taken me more than three months of the making;  I would proud to say my art work has taken another step forward.  As music goes I have chosen “Send me an Angel” by Real Life in the 84;  this is a song that I will never bore.  As you notice I do like angle in my photography (I’m a lucky guy;  I do have an angel at home that look after me) and that is why the song is selected.

I hope the slide show will inspire you folks out there as a lover, photographer, artist or just passer by.  If you do enjoy my work please leave me a comment how I can improve.

Thank you and enjoy

Wayne Lam

Traditional Artist meets Digital

http://www.fantasyweddingphotography.com/

Austin, MN –– The Austin County Club, located at 1202 28th Street NE  in Austin, Minnesota, is hosting the First Annual Holiday Bazaar on December 7^th, 2009 from 5:30-pm-8:30pm. Come to enjoy and purchase some of southeastern Minnesota’s finest art pieces! From stained glass, hand crafted Christmas ornaments, Fine Art Oil Pastels, Fine Art Watercolor collages, custom made jewelry, and fine art photography, this show has a great selection of artwork!

The event will show case the talents of Jeanne Thatcher, Bonnie Lee, James Wagner, Dustin DeBoer of Solid Rock Photography, Lisa Debost, Mary Gorman, Jon Kittleson, and others. The venue of the Country Club will be all decorated in its Christmas décor and free appetizers will be served by the Country Club. Beverages will be available for purchase.

For more information about the event, please contact show organizer and fine art stained glass artist, Jeanne Thatcher, via email at jeanneleethatcher@yahoo.com.

Solid Rock Photography at 507-219-8371, dustin@solidrockphotography.org, www.solidrockphotography.org

White Water River Meanders is a Picture Rag Giclee Print original 16x24 that is mated and framed with Signature Line Framing from Solid Rock Photography. It is protected from UV rays with Tru Vue® AR Glass. Shipping prices will vary depending on destination and shipping method. Please inquire of me at dustin@solidrockphotography.org to obtain correct shipping rate quote.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota—December 1-30. Come relax, reflect, and rejuvenate and purchase the images that you are sitting in! Take some time to envision yourself in the various images hung at the City of Eden Prairie Government Center (8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, 55343) during the month of December! With upwards of 100 images from the 2300+ images that Solid Rock Photography has, there is sure to be something you will find yourself enveloped in.

From the Sunrise on Sugarloaf–a limited edition print on Aluminum to Fine Art Giclees like The Reflective Arches of the St. Croix to images of many other places from Washington to Yellowstone to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario to the Grand Canyon and more will all be there. To view several images of our  framed art gallery, go to http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/Framed-Art/G0000XsVbLdIcxVw.

Stop on by the event during the month of December! All images will be for sale and can be ordered in various forms from canvases to mouse pads, to puzzles, to ceramic coasters, limited edition prints on Aluminum, and more.

Solid Rock Photography at 507-219-8371, dustin@solidrockphotography.org, www.solidrockphotography.org

Let it Snow Let it snow Let it Snow……..

Ob es hilft, wenn

die beiden das den ganzen Tag hier fröhlich trällern?

Und welche Weihnachts- und Adventslieder weren bei Ihnen so im Moment geträllert ?

Schneeeeee-eeeflöckchen, Weeiiiheiiissröckchen….

war auch immer sehr beliebt. Wenn die Flocken so vor dem Fenster tanzten. Nach der Schule. Mittags. Wenn man über den Hausaufgaben sass und am liebsten schon rausgeflitzt wäre samt Schlitten, Schlittschuhen und um die Schneeballschlachten auszutragen.

Petrus hat dieses Jahr nicht viel für uns übrig an Schneeflocken. Noch nicht. Hat er Krach mit Frau Holle? Lieferschwierigkeiten ? Wegen gestörter Vertrags- und anderen Beziehungen? Mediatoren an die Arbeit ? Ich würde ungern erst den Osterhasen mit Schneestiefeln herumhoppeln sehen, auch wenn Schnee im Voraplenland bis in März und April mitnichten ungewöhnlich ist. So richtig kommt aber so ohne jede Schneeflocke und Eissterne noch keine Adventsstimmung auf, oder?

Ob ich es mal mit einer solchen kleinen Haste-nicht-was-vergessen?-Postkarte an Petrus versuche? Butzi hat mir schon vorgeschlagen, ich könnte ja mal IHN mit Rentierhörnchen oder Weichnachtsmütze fotografieren und das dann Richtung Weihnachts-Wünsche-Stube und Petrus schicken. Vielleicht fiele dort dann der Groschen?

Ich hab da meine Zweifel. Wenn Petrus taube Ohren bei all dem Kaufhaus-Weihnachts-Gedudel hat, das doch bis da oben zu hören sein muss?

Aber vielleicht versuchen wir und Sie es mal wirklich mit einer der Postkarten. Oder mit einem der alten Weihnachtslieder, die uns früher selbst auch weit besser in richtige Weihnachtsstimmung und nicht nur in Weihnachtsstress versetzen.

Welche meine waren? Verrate ich Ihnen. Morgen. Machen Sie doch schon mal den Anfang. Sagen wir mit ….. Ihren 3 Lieblingsweihnachtsliedern als Kind. Mehr als 3 dürfen Sie natürlich auch verraten.

Bildquelle:

© Copyright by Liz Collet, als Print und Karten click hier für mehr Info

RFL auf Anfrage.

Tonight, I’m tagging work to drop off for this (always beautiful) show tomorrow morning.

The video includes some shots from last year’s show- my paintings can be seen on the far left at 4:41 in the video:)

Hoping it’s a great, lucrative year for the Arvada Center and for all the artists participating.

© Lisa Mauer Elliott, Study of the Moon. First Place at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair's Fine Arts Exhibit

What happens once you put all your hopes into a submission package, and the nail biting begins? With many opportunities to submit work for exhibitions and competitions out there, we thought it would be helpful for photographers to hear of the decisions and dilemmas that jurors are often faced with.   The ‘behind the scenes’ experience described below, is humorous, humble and honest – and comes to us from photographer and educator Doug Beasley (published in Nueva Luz 10#1):

Recently I judged the photography competition for the 2009 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit. As the sole judge in the photo category, this was an overwhelming task with over 1,100 entries that needed to be narrowed down to 107 (less than nine percent of the entries making the cut). Walking through the room with the photos laid out on the floor and along the walls told me there was going to be a lot of very enticing images to have to choose from, but also that many would be easy to eliminate.

With the help of several volunteer assistants, my first undertaking was to remove all entries that were visually or technically poorly executed, to avoid further visual overload and to save energy for the hard choices I knew lay ahead. “Poorly executed” unfortunately, often means very bad digital printing. With good Epson photo printers starting at under $200, chances are, it is probably more due to lack of experience and judgment than a real technical issue. I also looked closely at the small prints that seemed well executed, so they don’t get lost among the giant oversized works that scream out at you. Small intimate works can easily get overlooked and I really try and see the intent and value in each piece. After this phase, half the photos remain.

© Sarah Rust Sampedro, Self Portrait. Second Place winner.

I also take into account presentation, but was asked to overlook matting and framing choices and to base my choices purely on the photograph itself. I try, but much of the wildly ‘creative’ framing and colorful mats, carefully chosen to match the colors in the photo and often double or triple matted really get in way of the photograph. People don’t seem to realize how much it detracts from, rather than enhances, their image. People who live in the metro area have a distinct advantage over the rural population, with their access to museums and galleries. Visiting a few museums or galleries that are not in malls, that don’t start with “Thomas,” end with “Kinkade,” or that don’t feature duck art, I think might really help. A mediocre photograph is not made any better by a colorful mat and ornate frame. It is in fact, much worse, sometimes even offensive.

My next task was to eliminate typical or trite responses to clichéd subjects. Way too many cute kittens, cute kids and old barns. I have nothing against kids, kittens or nostalgia but cute gets old quickly when looking at over 1,100 framed images and nostalgia doesn’t replace vision, craft, soulfulness or insightfulness. Cute or nostalgic simply isn’t enough to carry a photo under this level of competition. Use that as a starting point in going deeper. And if you are going to choose subjects such as flowers, that many others are going to submit nearly identical versions of, one should try and find a more unique or personal way of interpreting the subject. I suggest to my very helpful assistants that they should consider having a whole separate exhibit, hopefully in a building far away, for the hopelessly cute, including any photo where your first reaction is “awwww…” It would probably be a very popular State Fair destination but you won’t find me there unless there is something very tasty on a stick on the other side and no other way to get there.

Another category with a lot of entries is “travel.” These span the globe from nice vacation snapshots to some very insightful and beautiful photographs. I feel bad eliminating anyone’s favorite travel shot or the amazing sunrise or sunset, because I love that they stopped and noticed. I know their friends or relatives told them it was a great shot and I’m sure the experience of being there was great – but it is usually the place or moment that is significant, not their photographic record of it.  The choices of what was eliminated so far was fairly easy and instinctual and I am confident in my choices. From previous experience, I know that now the real work begins…

My criteria for selection includes concept, execution, creativity and exemplary implementations of a wide range of styles or genres. The most important criteria for me is emotional impact: what makes the viewer think, or even better, feel.

That quality of ‘emotional impact’ is, of course, completely subjective and up to me to interpret. I try to be as objective as possible while also fully realizing that true objectivity is impossible. I recognize many of the photographers by style, content or because they have signed their name on the front. Many of these people are my friends, my colleagues, and my students. How can I be objective about someone’s photo when I know their strengths and weakness, their vulnerabilities, their struggles, their growth and compare that to the photo of somebody I don’t know? I try to be objective but I simply don’t think it’s possible, at least for me. It was much easier when I judged shows in Alaska and Hawaii where I didn’t know hardly any of the photographers. I think maybe the State Fair should bring in judges from outside Minnesota to avoid this dilemma.

Jurying is mostly selection by elimination. I need to take into account balancing how many images in a given genre (ie, nature, wildlife, documentary or digital composite) are accepted so the exhibit shows a balance and range of different methods of working with the medium and ways of seeing.

In the end it is more about trusting my instincts, but there still is a lot of second-guessing myself. In the final selection there are a few that didn’t make it that now, in retrospect, I think should have.

© Polly Norman, Jungle Jym. Third Place winner.

If your photo was rejected please know that it was definitely one of these. There are also a couple I think now, in retrospect, shouldn’t have made it in and I agonize over these decisions. Another day or another time there might be different choices but that is always the case. Today I stand by these choices. I also feel for all those that chose to honor moments in their lives by making a photograph. Who am I to now diminish that moment by saying it’s not good enough to stand with these other moments submitted by those more accomplished, more experienced or more sophisticated photographers or alongside the hundreds of professional and commercial photographers who also chose to enter the fair?

With 250 or 300 photographs left, they are all strong and all very deserving of a place in the show, yet I still had to eliminate two thirds of these. If you made it that far you should know that your work is good but there simply isn’t room to include all of these in the show. To narrow it down to 107 it is no longer about what is better than something else but what appeals to me at this time, this day, this point in my life, my career. But are these really the “best?” No, there is no such thing in art. These are my favorites and I leave it at that. It also becomes about having a well-rounded show with many styles and genres represented.

Picking the first through fourth place and merit awards is by far the hardest part of the day for me. With jet lag swirling through my body and the sensation of my blood turning to cement I am temporarily unable to continue. I ask that all possible candidates for awards be lined up against the back wall but I simply can’t choose. I want to just give them all an equal designation of ‘my favorites’ and walk away, but winners must be chosen.

The task is made harder and more complicated by the fact that I know at least half of the award contenders personally and a couple of them are very close friends. I consider eliminating any awards to friends. I consider only giving friends ‘honorable mention’ status. But either of these choices would be doing their work and them a disservice. I walk away again to try to clear my head and gather energy. When I return I talk with the exhibit director and with several of my helpers about my dilemma in making awards to friends. They both help me realize that I just have to give the awards to what I feel is the strongest and most powerful work, no matter whose it is.

© Amy Anderson, untitled. Fourth Place winner

Even though overall I love my choices, I am haunted by a couple images that made the final cut that I let outside factors influence me (who they are, what their previous work is like, their standing in the photo community) and a couple that didn’t make it in that I think I made a mistake on. When I go back the next day I tell the Fine Art committee I think have made a mistake at the last minute by impulsively, under pressure, cutting the photo of a man with a red white and blue straw hat the says “Made In China” on it. Is this photo ‘better’ than many of the other much more ‘fine art’ photos rejected? No, but it has made an impact on me and it is one I want others to see, probably more for the wry political commentary than anything artful, yet it is well done technically and aesthetically. They let me add it back in… Now we have 108, what some say is an auspicious number; the same as the number of prayer beads on a Tibetan Buddhist mala. Perfect.

If your photo didn’t get into the State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit it is important to remember that less than one out of eleven photos were accepted, due to space limitations. It was the highest number of entries ever. Out of the eleven hundred images, many by well known artists and accomplished professionals, I thought there were about three hundred strong enough to be in the show and still only one third of those made it in. Your job is to make it to that top three hundred. If you didn’t make it that far (and I wish there was a way for people to know) you probably need to work on developing your vision and craft.

If you did make it into that top three hundred, from there it is up to the taste and whims of the judge. There are many factors that influence the judging that have nothing to do with the quality or artistic merit of your work: the judge’s taste, how many similarly themed entries there were, the need of the judge to create a well rounded show reflecting many sensibilities. There were some very good photos that didn’t make the final cut and every time I had to eliminate one of these it hurt. Undoubtedly there were also excellent entries that somehow got overlooked in the chaos of the sheer mass of submitted images (or the apparent blindness, ignorance or poor taste of the judge).

I think it is the job of the photographer to submit a photo with a strong enough vision coupled with a high level of execution to be in the top tier but also true to the photographer’s individual vision. Submit images that you feel most passionate about, not ones that you think will get in. From there it is anybody’s guess as to the whims of fate that year…

By Doug Beasley,  2009

A moment. I try to capture images that tell my own story from time to time. It was a rainy summer afternoon and traffic was moving at a snails pace, as it usually does in D.C. with any precipitation. My camera sat, at the ready, next to me in the passenger seat, as the traffic lulled and rain began to hit my windshield, soaking the dry summer landscape. I had been in this position many times before, nothing new or special. But that day my mind was focused on telling my story, I let my self be open to what I saw in that moment. Was there something unique here? Something interesting? Could I find something aesthetically pleasing that also told my story? How much do I really need to show in the frame for it to have meaning? What is important here to my purpose or vision?

This picture always reminds me to keep looking for to keep questioning my camera frame. I have found that when I am looking for the shapes, colors, lines, and textures that fulfill my vision, I create better photographs, instead of just photographing what is in front of me. It is a simple enough image, a few raindrops that just hit after the windshield wiper had past, in the dusk of the evening when manmade lights of cars and cities begin to have greater meaning, yet it is more to me than just that, and hopefully to the viewer as well. A feeling or mood perhaps. At the very least a moment in my life given more meaning, by looking and pushing the shutter release.

So is creative writing like photography?  

The more you do it the better you get?

I researched creative writing yesterday and it started out fine.

Then it got complicated.

The site started using terms that I had to do more research on.

It started to sound like math, for english.

So I quit researching.

And I folded and started taking notes about my random days, hoping I could get nuggets of wisdom on paper to tell you later.

But I was trying too hard.

Last year I used Garage Band and actually recorded a few songs.  Eventually I bought a microphone to sound better, instead of singing into the microphone of my Mac.  I sang lead and background vocals, beats, sound effects, etc. etc.

I don’t do that anymore.

Hope blogging won’t be the same???

Now I’m trying to get my “songs” on my Droid as ringtones.

It’s not working.

And maybe that’s for a reason.

But it’s what I want so I’ll keep trying and researching.

And getting back into Garage Band is sounding better and better everyday.

So is blogging.

As someone who’s worked for himself and at home for so long, I never understood Cyber Monday. So everyone goes to work on Monday, uses the company’s faster computer and buys holiday items. Interesting concept?! This is my first year with art and jewelry available online, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow and if it’s the shopping frenzy everyone claims it to be.

A Mountain Landscape (Feliks Kadymov, 2006)

Original modern art painting, ABSTRACT Contemporary FINE ART Original PAINTING. Acrylics on 100% cotton stretched wrapped canvas. Size: 60×73 x1,7cm.(23,6×28,7 x0,7in inches) No need to frame it-just hang it.

Original, not print. Painting is signed in front and at the back. Dated.
The sides are painted, so there’s no need to frame it.

I use a gloss varnish to add shine and to protect the painting from harmful UV rays and dust.

I am Member – EBSQ art association .
Each of Nataera’s paintings comes with a COA (Certificate Of Authenticity). The COA lists the title, medium, size, and other useful information. Each painting has an identification number associated with it which also appears on the COA. Finally, the COA is signed and dated by the artist-Nataera. The COA is your assurance that the artwork is a one of a kind original created by Nataera.

Shipping via post-office is 50 $ (7 days to arrive).
I do and i have Shipping insurance for it.
I pack all my paintings with great care.
Tracking number – automatically provided by www.laposte.fr/colissimo

If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will get back to you promptly.

YOU CAN SEE MORE MY PAINTINGS AND BUY IT ON ETSY SHOP:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35528399

“If nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart. And though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that.”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett

I love this time of year.  I find my senses heightened and tuned to the subtle vibrations of joy.  I’m talking about a walking-around, tiny-bubbles, effervescent kind of joy ~ not the explosive noisy type.   I’ve learned that I can summon this feeling with intention and I can also create it by photographing.  One such experience happened the first time I used a Lensbaby.  I’m not a gadget/gimmick/tricky photographer….but I do enjoy creative exploration.  So I popped on a loaned lensbaby and started shooting, just to see.   I like that idea “just to see”.  How many times have we learned things that were transformative just because we were curious?  And how much joy did that bring? 

Regarding the opening quote:  it’s not unusual that as a photographer my “hands are empty” but it is true that my heart is always full.  This year I’ve been busy making prints and cards for friends and family as gifts.  Then I thought I should take that one step further.  I’m sending boxes of cards to some local nursing homes.  While the residents don’t often have the ability to shop, many still write and send cards to family and friends.  I know that you all have great ideas of your own that spread the joy of this season.  Tell me about them!  And remember:  a thing of beauty is a joy forever. 

….some lensbaby joy:

If you would like to see more images or order one for yourself go to:

http://www.jamkat59.smugmug.com

platform58 issue 013 line december 2009, is out, no entry this moth,

but it is fascinating as always, take a look!

Edward Weston and Charis Wilson

Charis Wilson died last week. I’ve been uncomfortable reading the obits. When the NYT describes her first as Edward Weston’s lover, I feel like that isn’t the top of her list of personal achievements.  There is an interesting recent interview with Charis at Photo Icon. Charis doesn’t say much to negate Weston’s image as a sexually obsessed adult male, who left a trail of models and/or ex-wives including three extremely talented 20th century artists: Margrethe Mather, Tina Modotti and Sonya Noskowiak. Charis does help us understand the passion that Weston shared with all his partners.

Hi All Y’all,

Here are some photos of the show at HELD.

The art will be up for another week maybe, maybe less, so if you are in Portland and you do want to (but haven’t yet) see the work, the store is open 6 days a week, from 11 to 7. No mondays, you know, it’s Portland. The address again is 3033 NE Alberta.

Last night I had an event, and taught a few people how to make yarn from plastic bags. It was fun!

When you do go in to the store, you might get to talk to one of several good friends of mine who run the store. The belts are made from reclaimed discarded material. They are the strongest belts in the world, upcycled, amazing, and cute!

So, here are some pictures.

Best,

Katie Simpson Spain

This is a print of the original painting, “Bulldog In A Bog”

This print is Titled, Dated and Signed by ME the Artist.

Shipped FLAT between 2 pieces of cardboard.

PRINT SIZE: 9.4″ X 8.0″ (Petite)

MATERIAL: *Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper* is a 100% cotton hot press paper that is coated on both sides and is not only acid, lignin, and chlorine free, it is also pH buffered with calcium carbonate for a true archival sheet. This paper is engineered to give you the highest resolution and color saturation possible.

GICLEE:”Giclée” means fine art ink jet print. The term was coined to differentiate fine art prints from commercial proofs made from similar equipment. Giclée differs from other traditional printing methods. Posters are usually produced using offset lithography, which uses 4 colors of differing size dots to produce the colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). Newspapers are produced the same way. Giclée prints have the different colors of ink mix on the surface of the paper, so the colors are bright and uniform, even when examined close up. Our Giclée printers use 8 colors of ink (cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, black, light black, and light light black), so we are able to produce a wider spectrum of color than a traditional print can. (Info from Imagekind)

COPYRIGHT: this original painting by laura barbosa is protected under copyright laws and may not be reproduced in any manner without the artist’s written permission. THIS FINE ART PRINT MAY NOT BE RESOLD, SCANNED or MADE INTO COPIES.

(Original Painting Currently For Sale in My Etsy Shop)