Morning Light San Francisco

Has it really been almost a week since I posted?

I almost never do that. Work and other commitments have been pretty busy lately. We did take some time this week to put some finishing touches on our home office that W re-modeled. It looks awesome. We had a wall that needed some art, but did not want to put up more of the same of my art as in the other rooms. So together we went through some of my images and came up with this series of six shots I took early one morning in San Francisco. We started by chucking the normal tourist shots and started to look at the things that catch my eye when I am out with my camera in a city. We decided to print them as a series in black frames in two rows of three shots. We decided to print them in color because there is enough to tie them together that way, but they would be pretty cool as black and whites too.

What do you think?

I found out this week that I did not get any images into Photography now 2010 at Center for Photography in Woodstock. there were 300 entries and only 20 made the cut so I do not feel bad. Also I don't think Nature photography is what they really wanted. Some of these shots may have done better though. Do they still look like my work even though the subject is totally different. I can not decide.

Thanks to the wonderful Wendy for helping me edit my photos.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Sunday

Slow start today... but am heading into the studio and will paint on and off.

Going back over blog to see what images I thought I'd be painting. I will probably start with a watercolor of the Dogwood from the previous post. I was asked yesterday how I got the pink background. It is an azalea bush that is behind the dogwood tree. by zooming in with a zoom lens and shooting with an f-stop that is pretty wide open... In this case f4 or f5.6 on this lens you get virtually no depth of field and the bush became a solid background to show the flower off. Notice the dogwood leaves just a few inches behind the flower are starting to go soft and out of focus so the bush a few feet away is totally blurred.

Keep Makin Art

Carl

Dogwood in Bloom

This will surely be the subject of a future painting. I absolutely love this time of year when I can get great photographs without leaving my front yard!

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Spring in NY

I just love this time of year in NY. All the trees in my yard have such wonderful color, they make our little cottage look so good. I am seeing so many things to photograph everywhere I turn. I will probably head up to the New Paltz / Minnewaska area on Sunday if the weather cooperates. The Shawangunk mountains look great this time of year and all the apple trees in the orchards are in flower. So hopefully I'll come home with a few good shots and more painting subjects....

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Venice Anyone?

San Giorgio and Gondolas

Photo by Nick Zungoli

We will be heading to Venice this summer. We will be going for a week of vacation and I will be taking a photo workshop while we are there. The workshop is with Nick Zungoli of the Exposures Gallery in Sugar Loaf, N.Y. Nick is one of the best landscape and travel photographers in the world. The work shop promises to be a great learning experience in one of the most photogenic cities in the world.

There is still space available if you are interested in photographing in Venice with one of the best photographers out there.

For more information contact Nick Zungoli or visit his website.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Evening Light

It had been my plan all day to come home and head to the studio and start on one of the watercolors I have been planning for the last few weeks..... but the end of day light was so wonderful playing off of the spring greens I headed to a waterfall ten minutes from home. I had been to this waterfall in the winter and got some ok shots, but promised I'd come back. It was totally worth it. Now it is almost 10:30 and I have not eaten dinner so the studio is out for tonight. I have a meeting tomorrow night so it looks like Wednesday will be studio night.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Ideas For Next Still Life

We were in Upstate NY this weekend for some time with family. During the day Saturday we went to a favorite Antiques place.... I found these great pewter pieces. They are old and a little beat up, but full of character. One of these setups will be a watercolor soon.

I have a back log of things I want to paint so it may be a couple of weeks before you see these pop up on the blog again. Daylight hours that are not consumed by work will be spent out with a camera capturing spring greens and adding to my Hudson Valley portfolio of images. So painting will be set aside for two hours a night after I get home. That will be fun!!

I mentioned the antique shop because they are a great source of inspiration for me a s painter. I get all kinds of ideas. So even if I only buy one or two things I usually end up with a bunch of ideas for new paintings.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Dogwood Flowers

Spring has officially arrived in the Hudson Valley. The dogwoods in my yard are blooming!!

Juried Show Applications

I found out this week that the pieces I submitted for the Biennial Photo Exhibit at Hopper House were not accepted. I am not upset. I think they were top flight images. They just may not have been right for this show...... I tend towards pretty landscapes that are well crafted , but are sometimes not seen as 'art'.

The pieces below are what I have sent in with my application for the 2010 Photography Now Exhibit at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Some are my nature shots and others are a little bit different. This show has the same judge so I may have the exact same results, but thought I would share them with you guys. My own little web exhibit as it were.

I will here about the entry in the next few weeks and will let you know. In the meantime there are more shows to enter and photos to take.

Orchid Complete!

Orchid Watercolor Finished

I am thrilled with how the Orchid watercolor turned out! I knew what I wanted it to look like and therefore how I wanted to paint it. This one felt like it flowed right out of my brush. Now to start thinking of how I want to paint the Mandolin I photographed a while back. I am tempted to try it in Acrylics.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Orchid Second Wash

Second Wash done. Starting to apply base colors for shadows in pinks and blues.

After a little more work. starting to add the color at the edge of the flowers and developing the main flower with a little strong orange color. This is the kind of painting you chip away at. Pick a section, do a little work, do the soft washes and then let it dry and put in a little detail. So far so good.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Start of Orchid Watercolor

Here is the orchid photo I took last week as a reference.

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First wash on background. I choose a flat gray I mixed that will help pop the flower forward in the painting. Getting a good clean wash done without runbacks is key here. This looks boring now, but sets the table for the whole painting.

Next i added the stem and the bud on the end. I used an nice clean mingled green with a dash of alizerin crimson in the bud. It is taking shape already. I will post more tomorrow as I start to develop the flowers.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Waiting....

I will go photographing this weekend in Harriman State Park. I hope to see spring snow crab apples like these I shot a couple of years ago starting to bloom. I'd like to get some new shots of them and also if they are blooming I know the mountain laurel can not be far behind.

Today is cool and rainy in NY a bit of a shock after the warm spell we just had. I can't wait to get out with my camera and shoot something new.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

The cape is calling

Cape Cod has been on my mind of late. We really need to find a couple of days to sneak away and take pictures, paint and hang out in our favorite place. Now how to fit it in around work, spring photo work in the hudson valley and other stuff. hmmm.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Skylands the Highlights

The shot from Skylands this morning inspired me to look and pick out five favorites. It was tough, but these are what I came up with on the first pass. Now I really feel like spring is coming.

All the trees in town today started blooming. Hopefully Skylands will have some stuff this weekend.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Spring is here... Well almost.

I went to Skylands botanical garden on Saturday. I knew it would not be ready to shoot there, but I hoped I would find some cherry blossoms I could frame against some nice cheerful background or something equally spring like. but alas it is not time yet. Another week or two and there will be plenty to photograph there. So I went instead to my other favorite topic and photographed the water shots I posted this weekend.

However the signs of spring are evident if they are not blooming fast enough for me after the winter of snow where we had several storms measured in feet. I am more than ready for spring. So in the meantime I have posted this lovely reminder of what springtime (when it blooms) at Skylands will bring.

Enjoy!

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Minisceongo Creek

I am considering the shots I took this weekend to be my 'spring training' shaking off the rust of not shooting outdoors for a few months. I ended up sacrificing my polarizing filter yesterday which really cramped my style and forced me to do things differently. I think you can see a difference in the shots from yesterday to today.

The stream I photographed is Minisceongo Creek which empties out of Lake welch in Harriman State Park. It flows to Stony Point and eventually gets to the Hudson one way or another. Where I was shooting there is a steep elevation change and many boulders in the path of the stream making some wonderful cascades. The best angles are smack dab in the middle of the stream shooting low and looking up, but you would be taking your camera (and possibly your life) in your hands to do this so you have to pick and choose your shots carefully. I shot over 150 images this morning and deleted about 75 percent in the first round of editing.... So you may see more of these shots this week as I finish going through them.

It was quite amazing having the stream to my self for a couple of hours after sunrise this morning. It was very peaceful with nothing but the sound of the stream and the birds to keep my thoughts company. This is the way I like it. I now feel ready for the explosion of color to come in the next few weeks. I will be taking pictures every chance I get. There are several locations I have been waiting to go to until spring. There is a waterfall tucked deep back in a corner of Sullivan county that I think I can frame in mountain laurel when that is blooming...

In the meantime I will keep working on my watercolor. the photo I took of one of my mandolins will be my next painting. Then the orchid I photographed yesterday will also make an amazing painting. I may try that as an acrylic.. We'll see what strikes me when i am ready to paint.

I am off to the studio. Peace and love to you all.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Spring is here

I went shooting with my friend Mike today. We were hoping for some of the trees to be in bloom, but they are not quite ready (Soon though!) So we shot a creek Mike had found a while ago with some great rocks and cascades. I may go back to this spot tomorrow early in the day before I start the mandolin painting.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl