Memories

Memories, Still Life #3160

I invite you to walk in to the picture created specifically for a special man who is one of a kind.  So what better way to remember him than to create a still life fine art photograph that is as unique as he is.

A brown background is warm, loving and masculine surrounding the collection of memorabilia that was borrowed from shelves in his artist's studio.  Do you see the artist's business card that reveals his current talents?  Conversely, several other items take you down the memory lane of his youth, from his military dog tags to bullets and shotgun shells.  The cloissone decorated liquer carafe is empty of fluid but full of memories of a friend, now deceased and a symbol of much younger years.  The tiny little brown bear holding a camera has duo meanings: his bear totem and his life as a photographer.

Pick up the stack of books and skim through the titles so you have a small inkling of what he's passionate about.  The titles reveal his love of travel, road trips, cooking and gardening including raising roses, which is why the roses in the vase are significant.

It's lovely that this has been created now while the giver and the recipient are alive, healthy and happy.

Treasure all of the moments with your loved one when you're together in spirit or in person.

The heart hath its own memory, like the mind,
And in it are enshrined
The precious keepsakes, into which are wrought
The giver's loving thought.

                                                             Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Still life photograph is available for purchase at

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/memories-wendy-blomseth.html

Walk Into The Picture #6 Cookies, Coffee and Comfort

Cookies, Coffee and Comfort

Walk into the picture and look at the beautiful table setting.  Isn't it inviting?

What are you drawn to first?  Do you want to enjoy the fresh coffee?  Do you want to nibble on the fresh out of the oven cookies?  How about flipping through the pages of the books?  Or do you simply want to get comfortable in a chair close by and let your full senses take in the whole scene, the sights, the smells, the touch and yes, of course, eventually the taste?

I invite you to take it all in and make the selections as you wish.  

Enjoy this moment of mindfulness.


Available for purchase at https://fineartamerica.com/featured/cookies-coffee-and-comfort-wendy-blomseth.html

Walk Into The Picture #4

May 2005, Lilacs for My Mother

Spring Lilacs will always remind me of my mother, Eunice.  She had several wide and tall lilac bushes in our backyard, in an area called "the North 40" even though it wasn't in the north boundary of our yard.  I think it was just a farm term she or my father had heard at one time and liked the sound of it.

In the spring we always monitored the blooming cycle of the lilacs in the North 40.

So I invite you to walk into the picture of these lilacs.  Of course you have to smell the lilacs because there isn't a better smell in the spring time.  Touch the tiny petals and notice the graduated shade of the color purple.  Some will appear darker, some lighter if they're affected by the sunshine.  That morning eastern light gives it a beautiful glow.

The vase is very special, too, because it is a collectors item from the Red Wing Pottery Company from Red Wing, MN.  People that collect these, love them.

Lastly, the little table stand was actually crafted by my husband's late father, Carl whom I never met unfortunately because he passed on before we ever met.

What do you think of when you see this image?  Does it remind you of anyone? Or, are you simply a fan of spring lilacs also?

However it calls to you, look at the still life portrait but feel the love of someone else and call it by their name as you enjoy the sight and smell of these spring lilacs.

Reprints available at Fine Art America:  https://fineartamerica.com/featured/my-mothers-lilacs-wendy-blomseth.html

Walk Into The Picture #2

From My Garden, May 5, 2016

Walk Into The Picture and you'll want to smell the freshly cut lilacs and touch the fragile, delicate petals of the bleeding heart plant that grows in our  urban garden in Minneapolis, MN.

You will doubt me and say you don't believe it when I tell you that the sheer veil is my actual wedding veil from 9/6/99. I use it almost every time I'm photographing at my home studio because it allows me to diffuse the intensity of the strong western light that we get on bright sunny afternoons.

You'll wonder how old the silver tray is and the story behind the acquisition of the silver urn.

I imagine you'll love the still life and want to sit down next to it with a glass of champagne or possibly fresh tea and biscuits.  Early in the morning you could look at it while stretching, doing yoga or writing in your journal.

Enjoy this moment of mindfulness with the flowers from my garden.

available for purchase at Fine Art America: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/from-my-garden-wendy-blomseth.html?newartwork=true

Beer, Books and Buds

Beer, Books and Buds 

Roses in Light and Shadow

Roses in Light and Shadow 

"The peonies are getting ready to break my heart"

Wild and Perfect Peonies, May 2016

 Peonies: A Poem By Mary Oliver

"This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
and they open —
pools of lace,
white and pink —
and all day the black ants climb over them,
boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away
to their dark, underground cities —
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,
the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding
all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again —
beauty the brave, the exemplary,
blazing open.

Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?
Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?"

from New And Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

Vases, Light & Shadow

Vases: October  2013  (available for purchase)

As I go through my photo archives of last year's initial experiments with still life compositions this image keeps calling me.  I cannot tell you how beautiful the lines and colors are in that center rear vase that is made from wood. 

I love it!  The other pieces are lovely on their own but the vase is so singularly striking and precious.

When I started to collect items for this still life I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to photograph.  I went through Karl's collectibles upstairs in his man cave and pulled these items from a variety of different corners and shelves.  On their own they were nice but together they really complimented each other.

It feels important to document these collectibles that he has accumulated over the years so they are remembered in an image so that  they have a second life beyond their short life on our shelf.

Ceramics on Blue, Light & Shadow

Ceramics on Blue, #8649, September 2014  (available for purchase)

Blue, blue, blue.
I don't know exactly why I wanted this image to be so blue but typical black and white seemed so, typical.

The surrounding area was actually very green and I guess that made me go so far on the other side of the color spectrum. It was the brightest time of the morning when the sunrise light is the harshest but if I was shooting film, the film would have soaked up the light like a sponge.  Digital image capture isn't quite as loving but I've learned to love the harsh contrast and what photographers call "blown out highlights."  If we were shooting film, they wouldn't be blown out or, if I was bringing a suitcase of special filters I could tone it down. But I don't want to for this effect.  Got sun?  Love it!

All these ceramics  have been used for floral arrangements up at our cabin at one time or another, except maybe the one that is my husband Karl's ceramic wine glass.  Rarely used for drinking if I remember correctly.

Ahh, the painting with light and color in the glorious moments of sunrise.

It doesn't get much better than this (unless it was sunset.)

Invite to Light and Shadow series images on display

I am so excited to announce that the day has come
to select a few of my recent Light and Shadow still life photography series images
and share them with my local community and online.  

JOIN ME
October 4th - Opening Reception

October 16th 6:30 - 8:30
KBEMfm Radio hosts GALLERY GROOVES: music and art

November 1st - 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Meet and Talk to The Artists Closing Event

Vine Arts Center

GET BEHIND THE WORK, II MEMBER SHOW

2637 - 26th Avenue South, Mpls. MN  55406

www.vineartscenter.org