New ACEO's inspired

For some reason when it comes to my Artist Cards I feel the need to do something more then to add to the edition of a popular print. I feel they should take on a life of there own and often are a result of inspiration from others or just experimentation. This time it was a bit of both.
I recently joined ILP (I love Photography dot com), a website primarily for Child Portrait Photographers. It is a group of photographers that talk about and share their craft. One of the post, a tutorial about how to get an Ice Grunge look by photographer Andrea Joki, inspired me to play with layers more.
The results are four new limited Edition ACEOs. Each one as a different reason. The first was inspired by Valentines day and my love of bleeding heart flowers.
This card is limited to an edition of 14. The next image, Desert Dancer, was inspired by the many beautiful photos from this shoot that I have yet to process and list. It is a personal favorite because of my love of dance and the desert.

This card is also available in a limited edition of 14. and the image will not be offered in any other size.
I was also inspired by Mothers day and did a small edition of 6 of a beautiful ACEO titled "Love & Joy: Motherhood".

And last but not least, (Actually, this is my personal favorite,) is "Lost in Enchantment: Dreaming" Inspired by Route 66 and New Mexico's beautiful night sky. The original image was actually taken during the day, but the sky came out so dark in the original photo that it lent itself to becoming an evening sky. For those that don't know too much about New Mexico, it is the Land of Enchantment. The Whiting Brothers sign is just off of I-40, and on an old stretch of Route 66. Not much left but the sign these days.


All of these ACEO are or will be available for sale starting this week in both my LJDesignphoto etsy shop and my fine art photography 1000 Markets shop. Each is printed on archive Endora Professional paper and then backed with acid free watercolor paper. They are signed, titled, and numbered.

Postcards: an influance, a collection, and obsession

I love postcards. I collect them from wherever I travel, even if I've been there before. I buy them from antique shops, search though my relatives things, and ask friends to send me one when they go traveling. I have postcards that are over 100 years old and some that were just made this year. I have hand-made ones, limited edition ones, and ones from the drugstore counter. Some of them advertise products, announce art openings, and some were made just to have something nice to write on. I love postcards.

About a month ago my brother said he liked my photos because they looked like postcards. I know many photographers who would have taken this as an insult, but it made me happy and I said, "Thanks." I think postcards have a large influence on my work. The idea of capturing one image that stand for everything that one place has to offer, or at least what someone wants to remember and boast about a place is interesting. Postcards can also capture the era in which they were produced.

One of my favorites from my collection is of the "Chasco Fiesta" in New Port Richey.


The background is quintessentially New Port Richey when one is down by the river. The era is set by the models clothing. It is also gives me a bit of a chuckle to see these young people dressed up in bad Indian costumes to represent a festival celebrating the founding of the town. Even today the celebration is a bit cheesy. I moved to New Port Richey when I was ten and I marched in my elementary's band in the parade. I guess this is why it is one of my faves.

By collecting, I have beautiful photos from all over the world and sometimes bits and pieces of other people's lives. This postcard from Kyoto mailed in 1946 is a great example.




Even though I have boxes and boxes of postcards (I had thought they would be a great thing to collect and not take up too much space, LOL), I'm always happy to get more (Hint, Hint), because I love postcards.

Influences

I am often asked about my artistic influences, and, in general, what photographers I enjoy. These are great questions to start conversations at art shows, but people generally are surprised when is say that my favorite photographer is Man Ray, and that he and Marcel Duchamp are some of my influences.

I love American Dada, but you can't really tell by looking at my artwork. Dada was a reaction to the First World War. It origins of the anti-art movement can be traced back to artist/poet Tristan Tzara and Zurich. Both Zurich and New York were refuges for artists and the American form of Dada took on an American flair. Unlike in Zurich, the New York movement was not well organized and did not issue manifestos, rather they challenged the art establishment with a sense of humor. While there are many wonderful artists associated with the Dada movement, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, along with Francis Piabia were the fathers of the American movement.

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who had a great influence on the modern art movement in America. He's early work is mostly impressionistic, but it is not his early work that fascinates me. I love the "Nude Descending a Staircase #02", "The Large Glass", "The Green Box", and his readymades. It is not just these pieces of art that draw me to Duchamp, but his love of puns and how he lived his art. His work seems so simple on the surface, as one slowly deciphers the clues there are often multi-layered puns. His work is not just visual, but mental. I love that he makes me stop, think, and laugh.

Man Ray was an American Dada/Surrealist artist and a very interesting photographer. He started out photographing his paintings and the work his friends, and eventually became one of the best know photographers of his time. His work includes fashion, portraits, and fine art photography. It can be argued that he was the first to fully utilize darkroom manipulation techniques such solarization and photograms, sometimes termed Rayographs. While photograms were around before Man Ray discovered them, by varying the objects and adding shadows and layers, he created a whole new kind of photogram. While best know for his portraits, some of my favorite works are his collaborations with Marcel Duchamp. "Dust Breeding", a photograph of the dust that accumulated on "The Large Glass" for a year while Duchamp was in France, is one of my favorite photographs.


May Ray: Dust Breeding (69.521)".
In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/duch/ho_69.521.htm (October 2006)