I know I’ve mentioned using the ‘roidizer’ app more than a few times before – but I just have to say it again – I love this app! — Leaf shadows cast on the side of a metal cabinet (through mosquito netting) captured with my cell phone using the roidizer app.
The Power of the Container
I love this…
This is taken from the ‘new’ book, The Encaustic Studio: a wax workshop in mixed-media art, by Daniella Woolf – that I just got the other day.
She says…
“I have been gifted with a wildly fertile, actively creative mind. I look at an object, a pattern, a tree, whatever, and my mind goes to town and morphs, morphs, and morphs. I love to be in that creative place; maybe it’s similar to the experience of meditation for some. However, if I don’t put a harness on it, it can run away with me or paralyze me. I have learned to limit my options, perhaps by color, pen, or medium, but there must be some parameters for my work.
I call this having a container. In some ways, it doesn’t really matter what those parameters are, but simply that they exist. If I give myself free reign and infinite options with which to create, I can’t move. The world is too big. But if I give myself a few limits, I am golden. I can soar and fly and go completely wild within this container.
(I used to) pick a project or give myself an assignment for the month, with limitations that would force me to explore new territory. For example, one December I put these parameters in place: I would work only with black pens, white paper, and two paper shredders. With these simple implements, I developed a new vocabulary for myself. My handwriting and mark-making looked different with just a change of the gauge of the pen or the scale of the work.
Challenge yourself to work with limits. Whether you restrict your selections of materials, colors, or themes, see how far you can go in your art with fewer inputs. Limits create a container for your work that will allow you to explore ideas in depth and go beyond what you think you know about the things you have at hand.
I don’t know about everyone else but this is so true for me. (I have the same problem when I’m standing in front of my closet and haven’t already decided what I will wear that day).
I plan to put this process to work this weekend – I’m expecting an order of supplies tomorrow (hopefully) …so we’ll see!
I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Image of my (glass) desk top taken with my cell phone and the ‘roidizer’ app.
At least in this part of the world…
And I spent the better part of the day roaming around the yard documenting it with my cell phone (and that new app I mentioned the other day – ‘roidizer’).
I have two Redbud trees – one is in full bloom (but its small) and the other (which is much larger) is just beginning to put blooms on – as in these two images…
I love how delicate and determined the blooms are.
I ended up in the front yard and next thing I know I’m fixated on the brick walk path that leads from my front door.
Taking so many of these images made me think about an article I’d read just yesterday in (Flea Market Decor’s Spring 2012 issue) – about how someone made laser copies of an antique quilt and papered the wall with that (instead of hanging the quilt itself). That’s a cool idea, don’t you think?
And I made enough images of the walk today that I could probably recreate the walk if I wanted to! (I guess its a photographer’s thing).
Anyway…while I was focused on the patterns and colors of the antique brick I became aware of a rather noisy commotion going on up in the trees A crow was really crowing and carrying on – so much that i had to wander closer to see if I could tell what all the fuss was about.
Then I hear the owl.
I looked in the direction of the sound and saw an immense silhouette on one of the branches way up high, but thought I must be seeing something else. But, no, it was the owl. He was huge!!
He took off and the crow proceeded to chase him! I always thought it would be the other way around. But apparently this wasn’t the case in this particular situation because that crow chased him until I lost sight of them both. But I heard the crow fussing for at least another thirty minutes (where ever they ended up).
Spring is definitely here!
Oh, and before I forget…before and after images of the blue room.
I’m crazy about Polaroid photography. I just love it!
I have several cameras that I actually used (up until not too long ago) because I enjoyed SX70 photography (photo manipulation art-making). If you’re not familiar – it was the type of Polaroid film that would take a while to ‘set up’ or process. It looked like all the other Polaroid films but this particular one allowed time for ‘play’ – which meant you could alter the image by manipulating the film itself – with any thing that could ‘push’ the emulsion around. The film was like a sandwich with the emulsion sandwiched between the base layer and the top finish. You could move the emulsion around by pressing with a stylus or dental tool (or anything that you found you enjoyed working with) until you were satisfied with the result.
I show a few of these images (in my post of August 21) if you’d like to see some examples.
The best part (to me) was the instant gratification that this form of photography offered. I was still warming up to the idea of digital and Photoshop was definitely outside my comfort zone at the time. But the real reason I enjoyed it so much was because I could put my personal touch on each individual photograph and make it a one-of-a kind piece of art. No two images were identical and I liked that idea a lot. Still do.
But in this fast paced world we live in where technology changes in an instant – this type of film/photography has gone by the way side to make room for the new and improved…in other words, things change.
But instead of dwelling on what is no longer I’m trying to embrace the changes and focus on the now. And anyway, we all know – art making is not about the tools.
Its what we do with what we got.
I find that I now take a lot of images with my cell phone because I always have my cell phone with me. “The camera that takes the best pictures is the one you have with you”.
And today I just stumbled upon a fun app that keeps my Polaroid craziness in tact. Its called “roidizer”. Its free and very simple and fun to use – if you enjoy Polaroid photography you’ll enjoy this app!
The above image was made with my cell phone using the Roidizer app.