Back at it!

It’s been a while since I wrote one of my blogs. I’ve been busy living life, creating art, and learning/growing. I’ve been experimenting the past year or so on what more I can do with my images. I have realized that what gets my juices flowing is thinking about what I can do to a straight photographic image to take it to another level.

I started out by creating a line image from a photo. After I printed it, I would either paint or draw with ink on it.

Above, you can see the original photo, my line print, then I drew and painted on the line print. The last one is all digital manipulation. I took the same photo and used various techniques and “digital painting” to create a more complex image.

I keep coming back to this type of digital manipulation and creation with my images. Take a look at my new project I just uploaded called She Walks Within . In this series, I not only am taking my images of women and adding a more dramatic effect through digital manipulation, I am seeing my mother’s influence more and more in what I am creating.

I’m not surprised. When you grow up with art all around you and one of the most influential figures in your life, your mother, working side by side with you as you develop, it’s hard not to have that way of seeing the world inside me.

I can sometimes feel her guidance as I am working and am comforted to know she walks within me.

The Other Side

It's been awhile since I wrote my last post. My body and mind have been preoccupied since mid-January when I broke my ankle and had surgery. As my body healed, I found myself naturally prioritizing my focus. My mind was focussed on my body; healing, learning to walk again, strengthening my muscles, and becoming active once again. I am now on the other side of that journey. I feel whole again. 

As I was in the middle of being laid up, I would think about how hard it must be for people that don't have hope of healing. Someone that has a chronic disease or lost a limb doesn't have ability to look forward to being on the other side of it. I was thankful for the fact that I knew, this too shall pass.

As I began to feel more like working on my art, I came up with the start of a project called "The Other Side". We sometimes get stuck where we are and can only imagine what it might look like on the other side of something. In this project I am looking through something (a window, a divider, a shadow) to see and wonder what it is like on the other side of it. 

Here are a few of the images. Now that I am actually on the other side, I will feel like creating more. Look for this new project on my website in the next month.

I'm so glad to be back!

~ Jody

Sometimes we need to take a step back to move forward...

It's been a while since I have written a blog entry. However, I have been quite busy during this time "away". I have had some wonderful blessings relating to my family AND I have had some breakthroughs in my journey as an artist.

If you have been following me, you know I am learning and growing in my craft. But part of my journey relates to my past and having a very talented artist for a mother. I have been struggling with doing a project relating to "Maxine and Me". I have started and dropped it a few times, diverting my attention to something more fun to pursue. One of my first teachers/mentors Maggie Meiners, helped me discover it is a project I must pursue at some time.

My struggle comes from the mixed emotions that go along with having an extremely talented artist for a mother, who is bi-polar. It was a tough road for us at home, but there were also some tremendous gifts we were given with someone of her talent. After her passing, it has been hard for me to focus on the gifts. But I think I am coming around, and am on the best road I can be on at this point in time. 

I dug out some of my mother's work from when she was a fashion illustrator. I have always been fascinated with 1940s-1950s, watching old movies when I was younger and thinking about the "Chicago" of those days. She lived it! Her high school yearbook called her "Von Steuben's Fashion Plate". She was a young woman in advertising creating a style... a style she had in spades at the time. As I held her original drawing for the Chicago Tribune ads, I felt transported. I felt part of her art once again. How can I create that feeling in my work? That feeling of being transported... the feeling of us working together on a piece of art, as we used to do when I was young.

So as I was taking a step back, I discovered the project! Those of you that follow my blog get a sneak preview. I am combining my mother's work with mine. I have just begun the project (an example below). 

So by stepping back, I was able to "turn left" in a positive way and get real joy from working with my mother, the artist, once again.

~Jody

Cerulean Style

Cerulean Style

Gifts of Discovery

I recently finished a course with two excellent instructors; Maggie Meiners and Chuck Gniech. The emphasis of the class was "professional practices". They covered what one needs to do to be more of a professional artist rather than a hobbyist; such as, what to put in a CV and BIO. What I felt was the greatest impact of the course, was their emphasis on the purpose and story behind one's art. 

I'm still discovering my purpose with all of this. I know getting back into art is something I need to do. I'm just not sure why. So our discussions in class helped move me forward in my mission of discovery. I kept thinking I need to do a series about my mother (see blog "Will I Turn Left? April 20, 2015). After all, as a professional artist, she had a great impact on my love of art. As I struggled with my "artist statement" for my portfolio trying to relate it to be about my mother, Chuck said, "Make this about YOU. Tell us how YOU feel." Wow! Now I really had to think, explore, and expose. I had to search inside and come up with a portfolio that was really about how I feel...

When I was a young girl, I spent a lot of time alone. I would purposely avoid plans with friends. I spent the days in our basement alone in my mother's studio working on various art projects. Time would fly by. The house was quiet. I craved the time to create, looking forward to it when I woke up. THAT was really the start of my journey, and I needed to capture that feeling in my photos.

Out of this class came my "Strength in Solitude" portfolio. I have discovered a piece of myself through this process. A good piece. A piece that is content with myself and who I am at 60, because of how I coped at the age of ten. This portfolio is really the beginning of my journey of discovery, and I thank Maggie and Chuck for the push in the right direction. 

I hope you enjoy the portfolio and the artist statement. (click here) Here's a sample of a few photos:

I am grateful for a wonderful year of growth and I look forward to many more "gifts of discovery" in the new year... and, of course, sharing them with you.

~ Jody

 

The Beauty in Imperfection

I just finished a wonderful class on Textures in Nature with Dianne Kittle. She is an inspiring, creative soul that pushes her students to see the world a bit differently than they saw it before. My last blog dealt with one of her assignments. (See Symmetry in Art and Beauty - Sept 14) Throughout the class, I challenged my normal view of "beauty".  

When we did some of the assignments, my natural tendency was to see the beautiful colors in nature. Below are a few from the multi exposure assignment, and experimenting with the use of light and light tables.

I enjoyed the use of pretty colors. So for my final assignment, I decided to look a bit deeper into this idea of beauty the imperfect. One of my classmates gave me a book about Wabi-Sabi. As I read it, it resonated with me. I created this "artist statement" and the end result can be seen in my "Imperfection" portfolio.

As autumn draws to a close, I see many beautiful photos of the nature around us. The colors of yellow, orange, and red adorn the trees against a bright blue sky. As I examined the leaves a bit more, I could see the ones that are dying and decayed lying on the ground. The curled dried leaves as they prepare to become part of the earth upon winter’s beginning, show that nature is impermanent and imperfect. Yet, I found beauty in the curves, textures, and fragile wisps of what once was young, strong, and green.
As humans, we put a value on the young, the beautiful, and the strong. My project allowed me to show the beauty in growing old and frail. There is Japanese concept called Wabi-Sabi. It is a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay. As we approach the cold and dark of winter, I found the beauty in decay, the strength in what is fragile, and the peace and comfort of the natural cycle of life and death.  

I look forward to winter through my lens!

~ Jody