8 of 9 Art Pieces Are Complete

8 of the 9 art pieces are complete. I’m really happy with 6 of them and am ok with the other two. They could be someone else’s favorite, because we all have our own style that we prefer. This has been a really exciting project that has brought me out of a creative mold to try new things. It is a new way to look at the photos I take and a hands on way to manipulate an image without Photoshop. Because this is all an experiment, I feel like there is not a right or wrong outcome – they are just new techniques to use or avoid on following works. And really, it is the imperfections that help convey the stories of each of these children I photographed around the world. Their lives are rough around the edges and they have been through so much in their short lives. I look forward to unveiling them if/when I find a local gallery, coffee house, airport that will accept the exhibit for a short period of time. After that I will work on getting the display online as well.

Meet Nandini

This is Nandini. I met her in the jungles of Central/Eastern India. This started out as one of my favorite photos and memories and morphed into this collage of elements. I’ve just completed my 4th of this particular series and they are all turning out different and unique. This is partly due to my lack of painting knowledge and the process I’ve chosen to use. When they are all completed, it’ll be interesting to see how they display as one installation.

New Art Project

Just finished this collage/painting. Now if only I knew what I was doing…

It was my first attempt at anything like this. Printed a photo onto a watercolor paper, soaked it in water, applied some brown watercolor to make it “earthier” and introduce brush patterns, then went to this canvas I had painted, stuck it on, and went to town on it with some acrylics. Again…no idea what I am doing, but am really happy with how it turned out.

Feeling Creative Today.

I was feeling creative today, so I stopped in at Jerry’s Artarama. I ended up with these handmade watercolor papers that have great texture to them. My plan is to tear them down to about 8.5” x 11” and see if I can run them through my printer. I’m not sure what my final plan is, but I have a canvas, watercolors, acrylics, and some Mod Podge as an option. I may also try moistening the print and applying brush strokes if necessary to create a different effect. All of the plans are really dependent on my printer liking the paper, and I really hope it does.

If it doesn’t, another possible use would be to cut & lift a few of my Polaroids to adhere to the paper. So many choices. In the end, any artistic venture will be worth the time and small investment of money.

Not The Brightest Light In The Sky

(click on photo to get larger photo to use as a desktop wallpaper)

There are days that i go out looking for something to photograph and come back without having seen much of interest – some of the time it is that I don’t feel inspired, other times it has to do with what I feel like other’s would want to see, and then there are the times when I’ve just been looking the wrong direction. Today was one of those days where my focus was in the wrong direction, but as I headed back into the office I finally looked up. As I looked at the sky and saw the clouds jumping off the bright blue, I first thought I should shoot it as a background plate for other images and proceeded to take a few shots. Then i wanted something different and shot it out of focus and then I grabbed the Tilt Shift lens and came up with this image. The sun was beaming brightly off camera just to the left of frame. A quick edit on my iPad and voila.

It really is an effort to keep giving creativity a chance to shine. Do not be discouraged – it is there, but many times it has to be nurtured.

Winter Lingers

(click on photo to get larger photo to use as a desktop wallpaper)

It is warming up, but winter wasn’t done with Virginia Beach. Celebrate the snow with this warm desktop background I shot on my lunch break.

Sharing Life By Sharing Stories.

Stories – I love stories. Today I found myself at 20,000+ feet sharing stories with an Army Chaplain named Scott as we flew to Atlanta. He was great company and shared his personal story about the journey that led him to become a chaplain and the unfolding story afterward. He talked of his tours with the Army as a soldier and places that it had taken him. Now as a chaplain, he shares in stories of both joy, pain, sorrow and hope (none of which he went into specifics about). It didn’t take him long to ask me about my faith. I then shared my story with him about the many different paths that God has taken me down and how I feel that I am right where he wants me right now – being an advocate for His children who have stories to share, but need a voice – a mouthpiece. Every time I get involved in someone’s story, I get excited and want to tell it.

Up Late Working & Thinking

As I stay up late working into the night while my wife and children are tucked gently in bed, I can’t help but let my mind drift into yet unchartered waters for my life. This existence affords us many opportunities that we have the ability to grasp, pass by, or grasp and then release. Many times they can take us places we have never been or have even thought to be.

In these moments, I struggle with discernment. When should I grasp and when should I release? I have had a lot stirring within me the past 3-4 months and am seeing a vision of what I believe the future future holds for me and my family. At the same time I notice good opportunities arising, but one glaring question remains – what will lead me to the future the Lord is preparing? Is it holding on and keep climbing the rope I have or releasing to grasp on to that which is new?

There are a lot of decisions ahead, but one thing remains…to make my actions have meaning and worth far greater than myself.

One Small Step Forward

This drawing is not a unique idea, in fact it uses many of the same techniques as the drawing in my first post (just yesterday). What is different about this piece is the base layer. I am a scooter owner and enthusiast, so I used one of my scooter photographs I took with my iPhone on a recent trip to India as my starting point. I used Tiffen’s iPhone app, PhotoFX, to create an outline version of the photo in black and white. I used about 7 different filter layers to get it to the point I could use it to start my drawing. The last step in PhotoFX was the pencil drawing tool. See the process and final image below.

Back to the drawing board

I find myself back at the creative drawing board looking for inspiration anywhere I can hope to find it. Unfortunately, my searching has left me empty handed and envious of the creativity I’ve seen elsewhere. I’ve become a consumer instead of a producer. The rut I’ve dug is very deep and has filled my head with questions. How can I take my passion for photography and video to new creative levels? How do I go beyond the rigid levels of safety I’ve begun to subject my work to? Where is the motivation to continue creating when there is much better work being created? These questions freeze me before I even begin a project.

Enter the iPad. It has many limitations, but it also opens creative avenues for expression that weren’t available to me before. It has the potential to spark my creativity like the iPhone did for my photography. This time it is a little different. While I have lost a bit of creative interest in the flooded photography market, I’ve become very intrigued by the possibilities I’m seeing for mixed mediums using the iPad drawing tools and photo apps. So far I’ve only begun to delve into the art software, but I’ve already mixed apps and loaded images to use as a base for the art I’m creating. I’m hoping this will bring back some of my creative interest in photography.

I plan to load some photos onto the iPad this weekend so that i can begin layering them with the drawing apps to create some interesting pieces.

The piece I’ve attached to this post is called: We All Are HOPE To Someone.
I used Qvik Sketch to start it, TypeDrawing to fill it in, Filterstorm to crop it, and Qvik Sketch to dirty it up some more.