More Mixed Media Beginnings

Experimenting with photography in the darkroom is where my interest in mixed media began.  I was very interested in altering photographs and especially giving them a dream-like quality.  The images below were again shot with film and done by hand in the darkroom, no Photoshop or digital alterations.  A custom negative holder was created to give the photos very soft and 'torn' edges.  The negatives were exposed through a sheet of tissue paper, which gives them a very soft and distorted quality. 

It has been quite some time since I've shot & experimented with film, maybe its time to get out the old Pentax or Holga.

Mixed Media Beginnings

I have always loved experimenting with photography and my first experiments took place in the darkroom.  Garden Dream Series was a project that involved several unique aspects, all done strictly in the darkroom, no Photoshop!  The objective of the project was to create dreamlike images that depicted a walk through a garden.

The first step was to photograph two different subjects individually - nature scenes and self portraits.  I then constructed a special negative holder that would sandwich two negatives at the same time.  These were then exposed simultaneously through a sheet of glass that had Vaseline smeared along the edges.  The overlapping of images, and the distorted edges that the Vaseline provided gave the images a dream like quality.

The first image, Garden Dream 1, was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Plano Art Associations National Juried Show.

Garden Dream 1

Garden Dream 2

Purple Flowers

Several months ago when my sister moved into a new building for work she requested some flower photographs for the walls of her new office.  Since Christmas was approaching I thought it would be a great gift idea.  Her favorite color is purple and we just happen to have an abundance of purple flowers in our garden.  I decided to frame 4 photographs in such a way that when positioned on the wall it would seem like she was looking out of a window onto a garden of purple flowers.

The Beach this Week

Christmas Card 2011 - part 2

Christmas is almost here and I've still got shopping to do & art projects to finish, but at least the card is ready to go.  It was a fun project - from making & decorating the cookies to styling the set & designing the final card.  When I was finished I had lots of sugar cookies to enjoy, and so did my co-workers!

Christmas Card 2011 - part 1

I spent part of today in the kitchen, working on the annual Christmas card.  This year I wanted to try photographing cookies for the card, so I started the day off by baking & decorating sugar cookies.  I definitely have a new appreciation for food stylists!  I love to bake, but can be very messy in the kitchen.  Trying to make a few cookies photo worthy was definitely a challenge.  I ended up eating way too many cookies in the process!  Here are a few quick photos and I'll post the final card later this week once its finished.

New Mixed Media Artwork

I've been busy working on my Venice series and have several finished pieces to share. There are a few more canvases in process and I'll post those once they are complete.