Daily Visuals: December 2, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

December 2, 2008

Less than a month into this practice, and I am challenged. There are mornings when a photo doesn't appeal to me. Or I don't know what I think about it yet. Why it draws me, or doesn't. As with any practice, I recognize the importance of just doing it, as cliche'd as that phrase has become. Anything worth doing is worth sticking with? So sometimes there is a photo, but no text. No thought yet. The image needs thinking.

Yesterday Niki took me on a walk along the upper part of the San Antonio River, and we were dismayed to find that the river has dried up. Gone underground; closer to the spring where it originates. Only a dry creek bed where water flowed in June. We were, however, rewarded by the brilliant orange of the Cypress trees. As I poked my camera up through the branches to get a better angle, I started to think about color balance and the optical mix of complements - when one complement must dominate the other in proportion, so that the composition works. I think in this image the bits of blue provide just the right amount of complement to the orange. Imagine how less brilliant - and how different - the image would be, if the background wasn't in such high contrast to the branches.

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November 20, 2008

How does color set a mood? The soft gray and white of the carpet, the cat Marshall, and the sunlit window contribute to to the sense of calm repose. What does blue mean to you or me? We all have symbolic associations for colors; some based on personal experience and some instilled culturally.

The cobalt blue of the vase provides a point and counterpoint to the composition, in addition to providing elements that balance.

Keeping the cat in the lower third of the composition weights the image and is another visual door into the picture world.

November 19, 2008

This picture tells several stories. It references the human desire to order the world around us - the lettering on the wall establishes the alley as a No Parking zone, and the broken glass- jutting out at the top - is another message of fear and frailty. Whoever lives behind this wall wants to be left alone.

But there is beauty in the contrast of the rough brick surface and the smooth translucency of the broken glass bottles. A contrast of textures makes for an interesting composition. And the abstract nature of the printed letters against the structure of the bricks would be worth emulating in another sort of composition.

There is as much beauty in decay as there is in a bouquet of fresh flowers. And aren't decay and fresh growth just two different spots on the same continuum?

November 18, 2008

The Hydrangeas offer a lesson in the effective use of color. The pale blue and lavender are roughly the same value, so they balance each other beautifully. I am challenged to mimic that combination of analogous colors on silk Habotai!

This photograph would be considered beautiful even without the red-orange and yellow flowers at the bottom. But the addition of the complements to the blue and purple creates a focal point and generates some nice contrast because of the complementary pairing. And imagine how different this composition would be, were the red-orange and yellow at the top instead of at the bottom. The current placement adds important visual weight.

A Daily Practice

On November 10, 2008, I committed to a year-long photo-journaling practice. As an artist, I believe it is valuable to spend time every day looking at the world around me. To this end, I committed to posting a daily photograph and a few thoughts when applicable - on color, design, spirit and making. While this is primarily a witness to processes that help me go deeper into my own art-making, it is also a practice worth sharing. I invite you to comment, if you are moved to do so. And thanks for joining in!

November 10, 2008

As an artist and teacher I am committed to the concept of practice. No matter what interests you, improving is almost guaranteed if you choose to spend time engaged by your topic. It's true of riding a bicycle, learning to cook, or painting on canvas. Maybe a few of us have a genius streak that allows talent to roll out fully formed, but most of us have to work at it.

I'm a better teacher now that I've been doing it awhile. And I think most of my students get better at whatever they've chosen as their focus if they put regular time and energy into what we often refer to as mastery.

November is a fallow time of year. The teaching cycle ends because everyone's focus is on the holidays and nobody signs up for classes. The weather - even in Texas - cools, and shifts as we move toward a few months of lower temperatures. Elections come and go, and when we are lucky, we have a renewed sense of hope and change and optimism about the future.

November is usually the time of year when I begin new journaling projects. It feels right to slow, and spend some time contemplating the year's end. I brainstorm new projects and directions my work could take. I evaluate successes and also failures; which are inevitable if you are living a human and imperfect life. I resolve to do better.

This year I am drawn to the practice of posting a photograph every morning. I've been to Australia and Canada and across the USA from coast to coast in 2008. For the first time I've recorded the world around me. When I get home, I download images and sometimes abstract them. I like the unexpected juxtapositions. The angles and perspectives this process affords. Perhaps these images will find their way into, or onto, my art cloth, but my only real goal is regular posting and reflecting - which I believe will encourage me to see the world with fresh eyes.

Please join me. I hope that through the sharing of a visual image we can also share thoughts on art and life, spirit and seeing.

November 15, 2008

Overnight the cold front blows in. Leaves tremble. After midnight a Pecan branch snaps and thuds against the metal roof, jarring us awake with a jolt. This morning, the sudden transformation of the leaves, brought on by a dip in temperature. A perfect complementary color study - red against green. I ascertain pure clear colors, but also those we often discount. A mingling of red into green, dulling the intensity of each, while producing subtle variations of sophisticated color in the process. Oh, teach me, Mother Nature.

November 14, 2008

Nature surrounds us with examples of form and balance. Photographs are an excellent way to capture and play with design concepts. A simplified version of this photograph would make a beautiful study in another medium. Taking pictures for your own use encourages you to look more closely at details of color and line. If only I could learn to match the subtle versions of yellow and green exhibited on these squash, in paint or dye. A worthy goal for an autumn morning.

"Color is mysterious, eluding definition; it is a subjective experience, a cerebral sensation depending on three related and essential factors: light, an object, and an observer."

Enid Verity; Color Observed. 1980