Arthur Gilmore - Watercolors

My watercolor teacher, Arthur Gilmore is having a show at the Piermont Flywheel Gallery in Piermont, NY from May 8th to May 25th. If you are anywhere in the area plan to stop in and see the show. Arthur is a fabulously talented watercolorist and a great teacher! If you find yourself in Suffern, NY on a Tuesday night you should plan to take a class with Arthur. He teaches all levels and is wonderfully patient with me even when my job keeps me from class for months at a time. I'll be back to class soon Arthur (I promise)!

Digital Art

I was cleaning up my images directory on my computer recently and was reminded of another time in my life when I work full time in a photo lab's digital imaging department. During those days (1996-1999) everyone in the department was playing with all the new imaging tools. One of my favorites was a landscape rendering program called Bryce. You may remember it I believe it was used to create the graphics for the original MYST computer game (I am really dating myself now) anyway I really enjoyed this other creative outlet. Although at the time to 'render' a hi-res image for printing often took me overnight on my pore old Pentium 60 pc. I was able to create some cool stuff. Here are a couple of examples of some of the scenes I created.

Springtime in Suffern

I got up early today and planned to trek out to the Harriman State park to take photos. As I was getting ready I noticed the explosion of new flowers on the trees in my yard and captured a few images. Here are a couple for you to enjoy. I really liked setting up and shooting in my own yard.... It was a luxury to have a cup of coffee and bare feet while I was shooting. It is a great reminder that Art is everywhere you just need to look for it, even when you live in suburbia!

My Apologies

Friends -

no I did not get swallowed up whole by the earth or anything else like that. I have been out of the blogosphere for the past two weeks as work has been insanely busy. I'm not complaining... in fact I am very happy to have this job, but it did put some of my other pursuits on hold.

But now back to our original programming... Did any of you see Sunday Morning this week? There was a segment on photographer Greg Crewdson. His images are amazing and disquieting scenes like this one. He shoots what look like simple moments in time... but are elaborately lit and staged scenes. His style is more like a cinematographer than anything else I can define... but the result leaves me haunted and wanting to know more about the "characters" in his photos. The impression I am left with if much like that f viewing an Edward Hopper painting. This work is a polar opposite to my own where he employs a big production for each shot and flirts with (but never gets caught in) artifice or a contrived feeling. I wait for nature to present herself to me and only me and allows me to present what I find to others with my camera. Even though very different I really admire these images and how much they make me wonder. You should see them for yourself!

Carl

Mountain Blue Bird

Hello Fellow Artists:

I am quite happy this week to have put aside my agonizing over what photos to put in my portfolio for the CCA review in May and found myself working on my painting again.

My thanks this week to Stacey Huston and her EXCELLENT blog A"focus" in the wild. I was inspired by one of the images on Stacey's site and she was kind enough to allow me to take a stab at painting it. The photo she took was of a lone Mountain Blue Bird on a branch on a frigid morning.

Here is my first attempt at it in my sketch book. It is not quite as good as Stacey's photo, but it has a charming quality of its own. I will paint another one this week and see f I can get it just right. If you want to see the original photo you'll just have to wander over to A "focus" in the wild.

Keep on Making Art!

Carl

More Images for Your Consideration

Hello Again fellow Artists,

Thank You all for your comments and support as I go through the process of narrowing down what 5 images to use to showcase my vision for portfolio submition for membership in the Cape Cod Art Association. Here are a few more I am considering. What are your thoughts?

Carl