Verbatim 2015: An art + text collaboration

It was a first for me, back in October of 2015; a collaboration of my photography with the poetry of Spokane's Christopher Cook. I was excited to be invited to participate in Verbatim 2015, an annual fundraiser for INK Artspace and Spark Center.

I first met Chris at the organizational meeting and found him to be open and receptive to working with me--my being a bit under the Spokane art scene radar--and to combining our respective talents. Chris is a long-time Spokanite, whereas I've only been here for about four years, and a rather reclusive four years at that.

He provided me with a lot of his published chapbooks and poems so I could get a feel for how he wrote, and he came on this blog site to see my photography. And so it began.

Chris is not only well-respected in poetry circles, but he also teaches at Gonzaga University and plays trumpet in the Spokane Symphony Orchestra. With his extensive background, he provided me with a list of visual resources from which to choose. He itemized places, which I then wandered around and photographed. Chris also pulled some strings, taking me through the Bing Crosby Theater and the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, where I sought to find some interesting behind the scenes shots.

This turned out not only to be great fun, but also an excellent means of learning how to get around downtown Spokane. Even though I've lived here for a time, I really had not explored much of the downtown area. Why not? Traffic is off-putting, so many one-way streets, abysmal parking, you name it. But, this experience forced me out of my shell, for which I'm most grateful!

It was quite exciting to work in this way. I am rather unstructured in what and where I photograph. This collaboration was awesome in forcing me to focus on the end product for a specific purpose.

I shared the photographs with Chris and he selected one grouping, a diptych of shots from The Baby Bar. This, as I understand it, is Spokane's smallest bar, located behind Neato Burrito on First Avenue.

Thus, the images were selected and the poet sharpened his pencil and went off to do his thing. I could hardly wait to read what Christopher wrote.

The evening of the gallery exhibit/auction and the corresponding performance of the written word came and went with great fanfare. Chris performed his farcical after hours essay, complete with musical accompaniment, and both of the photographs went to appreciative new homes!

Success!

Autumn Leaves on a Windy Day Painting

A painting today.

I tend to look down when I walk along the sidewalk, always have. I see such interesting things. It used to embarrass my young sons because one never knew when I'd spy something incredible and have to stop and take a photograph of it ... pieces of gum, shoe imprints, rain ghosts of dusty leaves, odd tickets, candy wrappers. One just never knew. They could never prepare for the moment when their mother would abruptly stop, stoop, and shoot a photograph.

I'm glad they can laugh about it now, and that it has become the family point of pride in their artist mother. Wait! How did I get off on this tangent? Oh yes, I remember now.

Last week I was walking west on Garland and I noticed pretty little yellow and green leaves on branches that had fallen to the sidewalk in the brisk wind. My sister Melba commented they might be from some kind of locust tree. There were other leaves, too. I also went this week to a Japanese garden in Spokane and there were pine needles strewn all over the place along with more windblown leaves. I liked the wild randomness of it.

Working from photographs I--yes--stooped to take, I came up with this painting. The background is red (Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Umber) because the leaves looked so bright and pretty against the red bricks along the sidewalk. I have used windy brush strokes that I hope convey motion and not mish mash.

Windy Day Leaves
8" x 10" Acrylic on Canvas Board

Last Day of the September 2013 Painting Challenge

Hooray! Today is the final day of my personal challenge to create a painting a day for my birth month of September.

I've wanted to do more three dimensional work, so why not start today? I've white washed a weathered old piece of wood 12" x 12" x 2". I randomly struck black nails at the bottom, although they're all within a pre-determined space ... doesn't look like it, though, does it? I didn't want them to be uniformly spaced. With a broad brush, I painted three vertical white acrylic strokes, added 4 black nails at the corners and wired across the top and the bottom with a thin black wire. I wanted to achieve an off-balanced balance. Hmmm.

In any case, I had fun. The old wood kept sucking up the white paint, but I liked the resulting weathered look. Fun! Done!

Today JKay Borland and I hung a dozen of my paintings, along with her ten paintings at Reflections Kaffee Haus and Eatery on Wall and Riverside in Spokane, Washington.  These paintings in the photograph are on the entry wall. We also displayed on two other walls in the eatery. Our styles seemed to complement the other, and we got it to work in spite of having to use pre-existing nails in the wall--appreciated the opportunity to display even if spacing of the work was a little cattywampus.

These puppies will remain on display for the month of October. My first showing in Spokane!

My small mixed media "Red" in the center
and acrylic "Seaweed" at the upper right.

Reflections Kaffee Haus & Eatery
618 W Riverside Ave, Spokane WA
Open 7:30 a.. to 4:00 p.m.

www.reflectionskaffeehaus.com

The path photographed but not taken

While out walking my 4-legged companion, I was drawn again to the river, something about moving water. What can I say? Maybe it speaks to the traveler in me. Moving. Going somewhere else. Restless staying in one place. This is a very nice place, don't get me wrong. But in any case, the river pulls at me. Who am I to struggle against it?

I'm shooting directly into the sun; flawed thinking, eh? Well, so be it. I played with a Poster Edges effect filter and I like the grainy, inky blackness of the image, with just the mere suggestion of shape and the rippling water.

I was up on Summit Drive, I think, and there are numerous paths down the hills toward the river. One was rather indistinct, maybe it hadn't been used in awhile, but I liked it. If I had better shoes on for it, I would have followed it to see where it went. I also liked the shape of the trees in the background, there's a geometric shape to them, a nice background for the feathery grasses.  Maybe it's the strong vertical of the tree right in the middle of the composition continuing the path upward.

Looking in the other direction I saw the path carpeted with newspapers that had blown down and were caught by the tall grasses. There was something fetching about the incongruity of the newspapers in such a natural setting.




The Path Not Taken



The Printed Path

So, these are my uploads for today.

I went to a thrift shop on Maple in North Spokane this evening, wait until you see what I shot there!

Day One, 2012



Water's Edge/Loon Lake




First day of a new year. There are two words in that sentence that are human assigned constructs: day and year. They are what we humans spin our little lives around. It's a new year, so I should start something new or do something differently. It's the first day, so it's already gone--poof. Did I waste my first day of the new year? Did I miss some opportunity?

Right now is right now, and right now I don't have a sparkling fresh new plan or project. Right now I'm typing my blog entry, thinking about the rootbeer float I'm going to treat myself with as soon as I finish this task.

No new plan or strategy. The Grand Plan for 2012 will have to wait until tomorrow, the second day of 2012.

Hope your first day was a dilly!

Feliz Año Nuevo

However you end up saying it ... I hope everyone has a kinder, gentler 2012, with more love and compassion!

Thank you for your wonderful feedback throughout the year, and for including me in so many Etsy Treasuries ... love it!

Here's my last photograph upload for 2011:



Peace and Love in 2012
(unedited iPhoto)



Day 362 ... I know, I know I already uploaded 362

BUT ... I'm uploading photographs right now, which happens to STILL be Day 362. However, by the time I finally launch, it may be Day 363. The choice is yours.

I took a photograph of a utility pole seemingly right smack daub in the middle of the branches of a tree. The branches look like arcing electricity; well, sort of. So, I decided I would play around the photograph and changed it to B&W, and then applied a Negative effect. I rather like how it enhances the electrical charge. I wish I knew how to introduce selective areas of color, but I'm not that sophisticated ... yet.

I also had a rather drab photograph of some icy leaves, so while I was in a negative frame of mind--so to speak--I added the negative effect, without changing it to B&W first. I like how it looks uber icy!

Hence, I'm uploading a bucket load of negativity tonight!



Arc
(Manipulated iPhoto)




Frozen Botanical
(Manipulated iPhoto)



Day 351 and counting down the days ...

Sometimes one needs the aid of a calculator to determine a correct number. (keys)

I don't know what I would do without the use of a computer to efficiently take care of biz; even if it's just monkey biz! (keys)

I press the little number keys on my smart phone to connect with family and friends and to find out if my sweater buttons are in yet. Hmmm ... buttons. Buttons are very similar to keys in some instances. But I'm not going to work up a sweat over it. I might work up a sweat if I were to wear my heavy sweater in the summer, but it is c-o-l-d now; no sweat. (keys)

I can let myself in someone's home, even if they aren't present; they being Mel and Steve. (keys)

Oops, sorry! That last statement is out of context. Why?

Because today's photo upload is of two different examples of keys. Back at ye ol' thrift shoppe I came across a beautiful vintage organ. I loved the calligraphy used on the sound effect pulls. It seemed to complement the scrolled wood.  I wondered about all of the beautiful music that must have been played on those keys. Then, as luck would have it, I came across an old typewriter with letters and punctuation keys. Did someone write the Great American Novel on this typewriter?

The key thing to remember is that there are fascinating things to photograph wherever and whenever. Don't you agree?




Echo Horn   Melodia   Celeste
iPhoto




Visible Writer ... TAB RIGHT
iPhoto



Day 321 of Project 365

Snow is forecast again for tomorrow, there's already a dusting of snow on the back deck. All but the very last of the leaves have fallen from branches. I have a potted Japanese Maple that we've brought into the foyer, and it still has one or two green leaves, but the rest have turned amber and red, and fallen. The colors were splendid, but now the landscape is turning dull, monochromatic. Even the people out and about for the most part are cloaked in darker hues. But there IS color out there, one just has to be open to it.

I was wandering around a farm a couple of weeks ago and stumbled on the scene of a pair of green metal lawnchairs just outside of a red barn. It was shot with my iPhone, and I did add a film grain effect. Me, like! Just beyond the barn was some sort of mechanical device, and the distressed metal shute called out to me, "Kay! Here I am ready for you to chronicle!" So, I did!

I suspect more of my photographing will take place indoors. Hmmm, there's always something to pique the imagination!

Celebrity portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz was interviewed the other night on television regarding her new book, Pilgrimage, and when asked about what kind of camera to buy replied that the iPhone is "the snapshot camera of today." She went on to comment that it has revolutionalized our lives in that we can carry about our photo albums with us, and can still avail ourselves of the other functions and apps. Where's the need to carry a separate point and shoot camera? Yea verily!


Love how the setting sun plays with the shadows
iPhoto no filter




Green Chairs, Red Barn
iPhoto w/film grain effect




Metal Shute
iPhoto no filter



A Seasonal Shift ...

The days, and nights, here in Spokane are frosty. It's a seasonal shift from sweaters and sweat jackets and sandals, to gloves, hat, heavier overcoat, boots. I'm NOT ready for this transition to winter in northeastern Washington! 

I have a friend languishing on the beach this week in Hawaii, soaking up sunshine. I can almost feel the warmth of the tropical breezes, the sand almost too hot to walk on, the sound of the wind in the palm fronds, the splashy colored tropical blossoms, with their incredible fragrance. C'est la vie.

But there are still some flowers in Spokane not totally frozen, and some foliage that warrants attention. The two images tonight were taken with an iPhone, but I've applied effect filters to them. They'll do for Day 311 of Project 365. Wow! Only 54 days left to this project. I think I've included well over the amount, I'll have to double check.

But here are today's photographs:




Marigolds out at the garden shop
at the community college
Dry Brush effect




Ginkgo Leaves on a pebble walkway
Ink Outline effect



Day 289 Mish Mash

Today is Day 289 of Project 365



If I can't be by the beach, I can pretend!
I set up a little "beach" in a cobalt blue ceramic platter,
complete with beach glass and barnacles.
iphoto




This, on the other hand, is another shot
for my Bondo Series.
I pulled into the parking space next to the sedan
on which I found this patterning bitten
into the paint down to the metal ... Hallelujah!
iPhoto



Marks of destruction

I frequently find my camera lens focusing on something that was bruised, dented, marred, defaced. I think perhaps it is the unexpectedness of it that attracts me. Yes, I admire and value smooth, polished perfection. BUT, there's an almost "Hey! Look at that! It's damaged, but it's so cool!"

Today's, er ...  yesterday's ... uploads are examples of those photographic subjects that I thought were cool, even though scored or scratched or such. 

You be the judge.

August 26, 2011 ... I'll add more for Saturday later in the day



Damaged metal guardrail




Same metal guardrail




Rockface scored to make room for a road




Bicycle tire marks on sidewalk
my favorite!



Father's Day, something to say, photo of the day ...

Enjoying Father's Day at my younger son's home this year. It has been a heart-warming change from my last 7 years of solitary living: a lot of love and hugs from his youngsters, colorful drawings and handprints, specially prepared waffle breakfast for Dad. He and I shared family memories about his growing up and things my ex-husband did lovingly for our sons. Good times.

Ruth, a friend of mine posted a Father's Day poem on Facebook, a sad poem about a brusque, taciturn father who did so many things for his family that went unappreciated; the point of it being all those responsibilities we undertake for the well-being of our children. It got to me, since my Dad died unexpectedly when I was 18. I never had the opportunity to interact with him as an adult, didn't have the wisdom then to understand what he had sacrificed on my behalf or that of my siblings. I still have regrets tucked away, unspoken. I'll have to meet up with him in after life and speak my piece.

Enough. This blog is becoming maudlin.

The other thing I wanted to share today was an Etsy tip by Amy Schreoder. I haven't been doing anything with Etsy for the last several weeks because of my trip and other life distractions.

But, I logged on yesterday to get caught up and came across Amy's post. She's a young thing, but has enjoyed incredible success already in her young life. I found her post simple and to the point. She touched on 3 things:

1. DO WHAT YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING. I love taking, editing and uploading photographs, but I do NOT like to follow through on marketing my photographs. I always put off finding what venues or resources I could be approaching with my photographs.

I put together a whole box of photo cards, at least 50 sets, and never placed them where they could sell.

I must work out a plan replete with deadlines. It's no wonder nothing is happening with my photographs. I'm not getting the ball rolling and keeping it rolling. If something is to happen, I have to initiate it. It's not enough to just do what I love to do.

So, I need to:
Network,
Learn about my photo market,
Draw up a biz plan,
Plan to do something every day and do it!

2. BLOG AND NETWORK. I need to put myself out there! There are so many online resources and how-to sites.

3. TEACH OTHERS. People love to learn, and I could earn a few bucks by teaching others what I love to do.

Hooray! I did something! I blogged! OK, I won't let it go to my head.

Now, here's today's photographs. I went to Crystal Books, a metaphysical bookstore in Grand Junction, and while wandering around, looked up. Just what I wanted to do with Project 365. There was some sort of mirror or reflective panels in the ceiling. I loved how they abstracted the bookcases below. Both are iPhotos.

June 19, 2011

Project 365

I understand we're in for some more rain, so I've particularly enjoyed the last two days of sun. One thing I like about sunshine is the shadow cast where the sunlight is blocked. So many fun shapes, angles. There are often textures that happen outside of the glare of the light, but you don't notice them until there's a contrast; a bit of yin and yang. These two photograph of shadows cast illustrate just such a contrast. Today's photo(s):

02-02-2011

Project 365

01-17-11

Didn't get out of the house until almost sunset. Rain threatened. Terrell Creek Pilings.

I know, I know, I am doing one photo a day for 365 days, but I didn't get started on the first day of January. I go overboard, okay?