Working from a Photograph

Last March one of the projects I was preparing for Water Paper Paint was this one, Captured Images: Working from a Photograph. I remember at the time wondering what kind of photograph to source, and as Rachel and I were working closely with all the documenting for the book, she inspired the idea of working from a polaroid. I chose this polaroid I had taken because of its abstract nature, with areas of color and movement suggesting a landscape. I wanted to encourage the reader to look at things in terms of light, value, and shapes of color rather than thinking about what is represented; or to look for the structure within the image rather than focusing on the subject itself.

And I just want to say thank you for sharing that you have bought my book and how you are finding inspiration within its pages. I am so pleased.

Sunshine today

I don't know, for some reason the light through the jelly jars on my studio shelf popped out to me just now. Maybe because it's actually sunny today. See that bright light back there, that's sunshine. I seriously think this has been the greyest of all winters. The jars and I, we are eagerly awaiting fresh spring flowers. The last time they were used was in the fall, as props for my Newness paintings. There's even one dried up petal in the bottom there. Sad.
Otherwise today I'm editing wedding photos, previewing the new R.E.M. album, and looking forward to a walk outside in the sunshine this afternoon.
Sunshine.
Sunshine.
Hip hip!

Thoughts on a wedding

Hi there,
I've just returned from visiting family for the past six days and going to my sweet cousin's wedding. It was such a special time in celebrating this young couple. I have a lot of thoughts about this trip; which I'll just let come out as a ramble for now: like how members of my family inspire me to be a better person, for instance my aunt sees people through a veil of love and always thinks the best of them; like how the past two times we were all together were for the funerals of our grandmother last January and then our granddaddy's was in October; like how this wedding took place in our grandparents' church, the church in which my father grew up, the church where my aunt was married, and the church in which I went to summer VBS; like how the union of this young couple seems to reflect on past generations and also signify the beginning of something new. You see, my cousin and her husband will be living in my grandparents' house, a place full of childhood memories for me. There is change and new life being brought into that house, and yet I'll always know how it was when we were kids.
Sometimes the details of an event or the parts of a story don't fuse in my mind until after it has happened and then slowly the particulars seem to come together almost magnetically. As I've been looking through photos I took, (I had the honor along with my sister of photographing the wedding, which was a wonderful experience in itself) these meaningful connections are forming and it's one of those times in which you realize how life really is precious. I think in short, this wedding and this time of going back to that place, have been a way of moving forward, a beautiful beginning to an ending (if that makes any sense.)
So that's what I've been doing the past week. Maybe (if it's ok with the bride and groom) I'll share a few more photos with you a little later. (Today I tried to choose one that was somewhat discreet.) Photographing their wedding day really was an amazing experience.