Sarah's Gift

Sarah's Gift, March 2016

Have you ever been blessed with the kindest person in your life? And if you're extra fortunate they live near you?  I am that doubly fortunate.

My neighbor Sarah with an "h," (unlike my sister Sara with no "h")  lives across the street from us and in the last few years we've all become great friends.  We look out for each other, cook with each other, feed each other and try to do kind things for each other.

This lovely bouquet was a gift from Sarah to brighten up our house on a cold dark March Saturday afternoon.  I didn't over work the set and simply added the minimum amount of complimentary colors with a silky, shiny neck scarf and my favorite rich green background.

I think the flowers speak for themselves. Sweet. Simple. Fragrant. Thoughtful.

Just Because in Blue

Just Because in Blue, February 2016

I think I've fallen in love with this blue tone style of imagery.

"Back in the day" of film processing they called this style Cyanotype and it was a very rare photographer who created these well.  It was before my time but I always loved them.

Thanks to today's post-processing technology I converted the warm tone image into a Cyanotype-like portrait.

I used most of the elements from the Warm Tone portrait shown previously and added a few elegant items to make this classy and feminine.  As I said when I was a portrait photographer, women can rarely go wrong with pearls.

Just Because - Warm Tones

I don't ever really need a reason to buy a flower arrangement.  Sometimes it is simply just because I want one to brighten up my day.

Having friends over for a dinner, however, is always a good reason to buy a fresh bouquet of flowers.  So I visited one of my favorite florist shops with the intention of just buying a small, inexpensive, bouquet.

This day I actually purchased an already stylized bouquet because it seemed to call my name.  It was simple, yet varied and had nice muted colors, in other words not a big screaming at you arrangement.

But the surprise was that after paying for the bouquet I saw this moderately priced gold/bronze vase and I knew it would be a good investment for this arrangement and others.

As always I came home and watched the evening light through the windows of my home studio to see if it was going to give me some of her magic light and yes, she did.  So I started the process and let it organically evolve.

Just Because in Warm Tones, February 2016

Backdrop was set up from a previous session and I thought it worked perfectly.
Two surface clothes from my inventory of shawls
Flowers in the new vase
And then I paused and looked around my studio room to see what was calling to me saying it wanted to be included in the photo.

Since it was still a cold  February day outside my friend Doug Sievers' book "Trees In Winter" seemed the perfect literary addition to work as the base.

Beverages in beautiful glasses were added.
Two pears
The final object d'art was my glass bird - just because.

I played with the sunset light for about an hour and chose this one as my favorite.

Conspiracy

Valentine Still Life no. 5529

Valentine Still Life Portraits Dedicated to Karl Blomseth who gave me all of this, and so much more.
“I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” Paulo Coelho.

Naughty Naughty

Valentine Still Life no.5521

Naughty, Naughty.

How Do I Love Thee?

Falling In Love, 2016

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

 

For the artist who falls in love with their own work ...  "thee" can be anything, from a person to a plant. Today, it was the Light. Capital "L."  For me, a life long photographer, it's always been and always will be about the Light.

At around 5:00 pm today the angle of the sun created a beautiful light and shadow pattern illuminating the fabric that still hung from last week's portrait session.  It was truly breathtaking and caused an internal alarm that almost shook me. I literally fell in love at first sight.  But I knew that I had a finite amount of time to create the artistic still life portrait I desired.

I started with the beautiful flowers purchased last week from Bachman's that were still looking good eight days later. I loved seeing them each and every day this week even though I was aware of  many minor changes as they aged and wilted.

While I was freshening the flower arrangement and changing the vase I was reminded of comments repeatedly shared by artist friend Jim Marion Foreman that "as we create our favorite art pieces we fall in love with them. We develop an intimate relationship with them that, in that moment, is an intense love affair between the artist and the art."

This was more true than ever today.  

I loved the first session of portraits that was just the flower vase when I was merely "flirting" with the sunlight and shadows. Then the Muse, who was my stand-in, caught my attention as she communicated that she too had an extraordinary attraction to the warmth and embrace of the sun. 

To add a thoughtful conversation to the budding relationship I added two big art books "so we'd have something to talk about" and liqueur in a glass so we could whet our thirst after talking.

As the sun went down and the colors became softer and warmer with a golden palette, the final token was shared, pearls. Pearls that spoke of our sophisticated, sexy and sensual affair that lasted only as long as the light illuminated our scene.

Standing in the dark later I couldn't see the vase or the Muse or the pearls but I remembered the deep love that we had shared during those moments together in the sun and the shadows.

How do I love thee?  

Truly, let me count the ways.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 - 1861

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Bread, Wine, Cheese and Thou

Bread, Wine, Cheese and Thou, 2016

All my images are a photo journal of my life events, of course, so that means they also overtly or covertly represent my spouse, family and friends.  This image is a Valentine's Day still life created with the intention of representing the lovely verses by Omar Khhayyam

XII

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough.

A Jug of Wine, A Loaf of Bread--and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness--

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

I love how I get focused on a theme or a verse and it all magically comes together into a still life portrait. When others see the still life portrait they see the objects, but I see and feel the people who helped bring it all together and the magical creation process. 

Today this portrait started with a backdrop curtain gifted to me from friend Sarah M. when she moved out of her previous studio. I'd been waiting for the right opportunity to use it and thought it would be ideal for a Valentine still life that would look like a classic painting. 

Coincidentally, the second friend who contributed was also a Sarah.  Our neighbor Sarah S. had generously shared hearty sour dough bread, Newton label red wine and Stilton blue cheese, all yummy. Sarah was alongside Karl and I when I purchased the lovely flower arrangement at Bachman's during their Winter Farmer's Market open house.

The remaining objects called to me asking to be included in the portrait also,  i.e. set of poetry books,  olive oil and vinegar from Vom Foss, an orange, nuts and lastly, cinnamon candies.

I created about 20 images as the afternoon winter sunlight peaked in and out of hazy clouds and illuminated this scene. As always I had the camera firmly planted on my Bogen studio tripod and a reflector positioned to bounce back the available light. But this time I did a little experimentation for a change at the prompting from an art exhibit attendee who I chatted with recently. He queried why didn't I photograph at the wide open end of the focal settings such as f1.4, f2, f4 and the like so it looked like a contemporary photo.

My answer was basically that, for my purposes I feel I get the desired effect by photographing at f8,  or f11 so everything is sharp and in focus and has the look and feel of a classic painting. 

But, just for a little variety and to overcompensate for the hazy sunlight I thought I'd play at both ends today and compare the results.  

I'm happy to say that I loved three different images at three different settings:  f2, f5 and f10 so I had test prints made of all of them so I could carefully examine them up close.

Final favorite that is now going to the next production level, a canvas enlargement, is the f5 image because it helped to soften the pattern of the curtains and yet keep all the objects in sharp focus. 

I just love it when I get to play, experiment and do something a little different each time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dreams

Dreams, 2015

 What would you do if someone invited you to create your own still life from their supplied elements?  Would this be a dream come true, or a nightmare?

This portrait was created November 2015 during the annual Vine Arts Center member show. I set up elements of a still life and invited exhibition attendees to move things around, make it feel like their own and then create a portrait using the mobile device of their choice. 

This blue tint, cyanotype, was my creation with the added touch of my earring on the ring finger of the hand statute.

I apologize for the big gap between postings this past fall, 2015 when I was working toward curating the group art exhibit, The Space Between The Words, at the Vine Arts Center and late January 2016.

As time and energy allows, I'll go back in and fill in some art and stories about the exhibition process.

Thank you for understanding.

Video: Wendy Blomseth explains the still life photography process

Oh my, could life be any more exciting than to have a short video recorded of oneself during the big, Grand Opening Night of the exhibit: The Space Between The Words?

We had a wonderful opening with 114 guests in attendance.  We heard positive feedback about the lay out of the show, the individual artists' work, the food, the beverages and even the weather.  Couldn't have asked for anything better.

Here's a short video where I'm talking about the exhibit timeline, my love affair with light and photography and a quick announcement about the upcoming October 3rd Vine Arts Center member show titled
"Process | Presentation: Get Behind the Work, III." 

This is all I imagined it to be and more.

Life is good!

Tonight is the night of the Grand Opening

Tonight is the night. 

 

The realization of a bucket list item initiated June 24, 2014 when I said, "Let's do a show at the Vine Arts Center next year." 

 

Well, the moment has come. The artists of Karl's group, The Art Salon For Fertile Minds took up the challenge and everyone created new work, pushed their comfort zone, tried totally new things, collaborated with new friends and are ready to bare their souls as seen in their art.

Come if you dare to meet the people who are following their passions.

www.vineartscenter.org for details tonight and throughout the month of Sept.

When One Door Closes Another Opens

Door Closes, Another Opens

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and 

so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which 

has opened for us.    Alexander Graham Bell 

When one door closes, another one opens, so they say.
Breathe.

Well the time is right. I finally took the big step(s) on my personal photography journey:
(1) I started a new Facebook business page: Wendy H. Blomseth Fine Art Photography that will be a new platform to promote my fine art photography endeavors in addition to this blog and my identity at http://www.mnartists.org/wendy-h-blomseth  Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, etc. I've got a lot of work to do on it but I am excited to confidently build this brand.

(2) It seemed only fitting and proper, therefore, that I immediately proceeded without hesitation to finally delete the InBeaute Photography business page that I had held onto for so many extra years after we actually closed down the business.

Prior to this moment I was never ready to walk away from my identity, my brand, as THAT PERSON, THAT PHOTOGRAPHER.  Knowing that the FB business page still displayed InBeaute Photography validated my twelve years under that brand.

Even though it feels like a soft stab in the heart, it is a small one now that I know I will recover from.

I can again walk tall as a photographer, now independent, who is seriously pursuing a body of photographic image work that I am proud of and passionate to continue to create.

Breathe.
Yes.
A new door has opened and I'm going through it.

I imagine that you understand this feeling as well.
If so, Namaste.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Yes, Karl actually said this as he tried out the new portable microphone system for our upcoming events during the exhibit The Space Between The Words at the Vine Arts Center www.vineartscenter.org.

Tomorrow evening is the regularly scheduled  Art Salon For Fertile Minds with the double bonus:
(1) a sneak preview of the art exhibit

(2) Art Salon Member Susan Gainen will facilitate "lightning speed Q&A of the artists" participating in the exhibit "The Space Between The Words" and invite the visiting guests to view the art, offer up their questions and be inspired into further discussions.
Why do you make art?
How did you make this/these pieces? (pick one or two)
Why did you make this/these pieces? (pick one or two)
What is your favorite art-making tool?

The grand opening is officially September 12th so early visitors get the first look and, if interested, first chance to purchase pieces that are for sale. More info at

Time will be allowed for the guests to ask questions as well so the new microphone will be well utilized tomorrow evening at the Art Salon For Fertile Minds.  www.artsalonforfertileminds.blogspot.com

How Long Does It Take?

Still Life in Black & White: September 6, 2015, no. 4324

“Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

How long does it take for understanding and acceptance? Ten years. Sixteen years. Never.

Today is the sixteenth wedding anniversary for my husband, Karl and I. It has been quite a journey of miles, years, experiences and we are both probably still learning about each other.

We are, as we often do, spending the weekend together up north at the cabin that he originally purchased to be the "boy cabin" for hunting, fishing and man time with friends.  Throughout the years the ambiance has changed considerably as we've used it as our photography workshop headquarters, artists' retreat, friends play ground and couples intimate personal time. How long did it take? I'd estimate it was an evolving process from 2000 to 2008 with small embellishments added each year. When I look at it now, it's hard to remember what it looked like back in 1999 before we got married.

I've been working on a photo still life series to "honor the emotive moment." It started as a learning experience to teach myself how to create fine art quality images with a new digital camera. Over a period of ten years I've been creating these still life portraits at a time/place when it had a special meaning for me, from birthdays to anniversaries to holidays.

Even though I consider one portrait to the best from each series, I usually work "in the zone" for two morning sunrise sessions before I pack it up and say, yes. I've got what I need.  How long does it take? Overall: ten years. Each session: two - four hours over two days. 

Today I came away with two favorites, the black and white at the top is in honor of all the years Karl and I spent in our black and white darkroom.

Still Life: September 6, 2015 no. 4336

The color portrait above I love because of the quality of the morning light and the props that Karl produced:  backdrop fabric and the coffee cup set he had purchased years ago for one of his past photo sets.

So, how long does it all take?  Most days I have very little patience and a short attention span. But when I take a step or two back to pause and reflect I love our years together, our many past collaborations and the ones that we're creating each and every day now in these present "emotive moments."

Stop by for the Soft Opening of the art exhibit

Have you heard of the "soft opening" event?

Tonight, September 3rd is the soft opening of the art exhibit "The Space Between The Words" celebrating the group art exhibit from the members of the Art Salon For Fertile Minds.  It's showing off the exhibit for the artists, family, friends who cannot wait for the big grand opening.  A few things still need to be tweaked but we're about 90% ready to host guests.

I hope you can join us for one of the five, fun, free, interactive events we've got planned for September so this is a very inclusive experience for visitors. see www.artsalonforfertileminds.blogspot.com for details.

If you cannot make it tonight, here's a very short, low budget video sneak preview made last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSNft76a8qs 

Fifteen Days and Counting

Wednesday night's meeting of the artists participating in The Space Between The Words exhibit kicked off with a few moment of personal sharing.

I intentionally invited each artist to look within and share "How do you feel about your experience thus far working toward this exhibit?  What's been fun? What's been a challenge? What's the biggest surprise? "

This discussion brought us together as artists sharing the excitement and joy of creating new art pieces that would shortly be viewed by the public at an exhibit at the Vine Arts Center. Comments shared ranged from working towards goals, trying new materials and  first time exhibition jitters.

The evening discussions continued for two hours with participants seeking clarification on the display space allocated for each artist.

About 50% of the participants took advantage of the meeting venue being the Vine Arts Center and dropped off their art work. Everyone was circling around their own work and others so they could get a sneak preview of what had been created.  Something like an early Christmas viewing of packages, some partially wrapped, some fully wrapped and a handful of works totally open for all to see.

I can feel the excitement that everyone is experiencing and share the same anticipation as they're having.  It's been several years since I've been in an exhibit like this one and it's been both challenging and rewarding.

Fifteen days and counting til the "soft opening."

2:05 Video: How to Create a Still Life Portrait

You may be interested in how one can easily create a still life portrait.  This 2:05 video demonstration is while working at our cabin in northern Minnesota with the minimum of technology.

Some of the key things to think about are:

• The angle and intensity of the sun
• How you're going to control it and bounce it back into the subject
• Backdrop material, hopefully without a lot of wrinkles  
•     (I've never ironed so much since my mother made me do it.)
• Needs of the flowers so they stay fresh looking
• Angle of the table top the object is sitting on
• Angle of the surface the camera is placed on
• Angle of the camera to the subject
• Reducing camera shake by setting a delayed release

Next time I'll bring up a few more tools. But really, it's all about how the light is directed on and around the subject and getting your angles straight. 

Variations on the Sunflower Theme

Well, it appears that the sunflowers "got a hold on me" again this summer.

Is it their big "face," their bright colors, their tall stature in the vase? I think I best give this some thought.  It might be said that I photograph more sunflowers than any other flower.

Shown below is what photographers call a contact sheet, which is an old fashioned term, if you think about it now.  I'm not laying down actual negatives on a sheet of photographic paper to create identical size reproductions.   Oh well, no worries.

These are what I'd call "test shots. "  They are the result of two different weekends with two different bouquets, environments, backgrounds and more.  Take a look at how simple changes can result in subtle changes in the image as well.

Serendipity and Sunflowers!

What a fabulous coincidence! Serendipity! Fate!

As I was driving with Karl to the store at Moose Lake, I impulsively asked to be dropped off at the Moose Lake Flea Market and look for some fresh local flower bouquets.

I casually commented that I wondered if T.J.'s daughter was selling her home grown sunflowers up at his store, T. J.'s Country Store (Home of the Best Wurst)  in Mahtowa, MN.  But, no, we didn't have to drive up there today.  I was thinking that we'd go up there next weekend and buy some brats and bacon.

I got out of the car and walked through the row of vendors outside the Flea Market warehouse.  At the very last tent there was a family of three selling beautiful sunflower bouquets in glass jars. I commented to the group that I had wondered if T.J's daughter was selling sunflowers today, but we didn't drive up there, so how lucky I was to come across their sunflowers.

They all made eye contact with each other and the women said  "I am T.J.'s daughter, Sarah, and this is T.J.'s  granddaughter." Not wanting to be ignored the man jumped up and said "I'm T.J.'s son-in-law, Dave.
We all laughed at that one. They talked about their sunflower business, "Sunflower Sisters" and their  farm.  I relayed several compliments about their delicious brats, sausage, bacon and their sunflowers. Can you imagine that the next person who joined our friendly conversation was none other than the "J" in the name T.J., the wife of the owner.

I recounted my story of being held "hostage" by their bouquet of sunflowers I bought last year (August 2014). I must have taken 30+ pictures over three days up at the cabin. I kept making minor variations on the angle of the light, fruit, vegetables, serving platter, etc.

Still Life: Sunflowers in August,  2014  (available for purchase)

Sara said "Come up to the farm sometime and you can see all the sunflowers in the field."  Hopefully that will happen someday.

We drove home and Karl went to his easel, canvas and paint brushes to "work."  I went into the cabin aka my Studio Up North and set up a still life portrait commemorating our upcoming 16th Wedding Anniversary with today's sunflower bouquet and the wine bottle given by Betsy & Jack Doyle at  our 1999 wedding celebration. I'll be creating this into one of several different  wedding anniversary cards  for Karl.

Still Life: Sunflowers, Aug 15, 2015  (available for purchase)

I am very pleased with the simple composition and rich saturation in the colors, especially the flowers, of course.

But, tomorrow is another day and quite possibly, if the sun comes out for me, I'll be held "hostage" once again creating a new still life portrait being kissed by the morning light.

Still Life: August Birthday Bouquet

Well,  what do you plan  for your Birthday Eve day?
I had two totally different mind sets depending on our lovely, unpredictable,  Minnesota weather.

Nice, sunny day,  do the Walk For Scleroderma with my friends and then go bicycle riding. Or rainy day, who knows?  Come up with Plan B.

Well, I kept going back to sleep and just couldn't get up early to join the walkers. Sorry, friends.  I was exhausted and needed to sleep in.

When I finally got up, I had a slow morning of coffee and sorting through the Plan B options because it didn't look all that nice outside.

Eventually, around 12 noon I suggested we drive over to the neighborhood Farmer's Market on Lake Street and buy some fresh flowers for my birthday bouquet.  I bought two bouquets and then started the process of sorting, cutting, arranging, posing and photographing my birthday bouquet still life photo portrait.

I knew that whenever the next still life occurred I was going to use my set of three vases that I bought at a shop in Ouray,  Colorado.  The nicest gal, Nancy talked me into all three vases and of course, I couldn't resist them.  I'm so glad that I bought all three. 

Test shot early in the afternoon on my mobile device resulted in the basic layout.

Test shots early in the afternoon

I really wish I had an endless supply of wrinkle free fabrics.  I tried to use a solid purple background that I had purchased from a craft store but it was going to take an act of God to iron out all those creases.  And I tried, really.  But they were too visible in the test shots.

After a dozen or two different photos based on the changing light in the late afternoon, I decided this one was my favorite because of the light that was cast on both the sunflower and on the vases.

Still Life: August  Bouquet (available for purchase)

For those interested, I've found that I prefer an  ISO 400 or ISO 650 so there is high contrast and then a depth of field like F11 or F16 depending on how much of the background I want sharp.

I have natural harsh light coming from the west so I put up a white lace curtain to diffuse the west light while simultaneously setting up a white reflector on the opposite side (propped on a painting easel I don't use for painting) to bounce the light back into the side of the set.

This portrait is a bit busy with the patterned shawl as my background and my pink scarf as the table covering but it's got the right colors and textures so it works for me.

Hope it does for you, too.

Canvas Enlargements

Canvas Enlargements Arrived Today

What a relief! The photographs reproduced as canvas enlargements arrived via FedEx  today.  I was a little nervous because the vendor hadn't updated the production/shipping log earlier in the week so it didn't look like it was in production.  But no worries.  Here's all six as they appeared upon arrival.

I am very proud of the work and love the way the still life portraits look on canvas.  For those interested in my vendor of choice, I purchased these through Canvas On Demand www.canvasondemand.com
an online company that is easy to work with. You simply upload the images, make your selections, process your credit card and you get your finished product in about 2 - 3 weeks but order a couple of weeks earlier than your deadline (like I did) to spare your nerves.

Canvas On Demand, like many canvas reproduction companies, now have two different styles of canvas wrap presentation styles: traditional which wraps around a wood frame and the newest type "Premium" that wraps around basically, what I'd call a mat board box.  The wood style has a one year guarantee and the mat board box has a two year guarantee. You'd think it would be the other way around, wouldn't you?

Canvas Enlargements Arrived - Favorite Shown Here

The unexpected snafu is, for art exhibitions the installers require that you have traditional wire hanging hardware installed on the frame for safer hanging.  I don't think you can perform that type of installation procedure on mat board boxes.

So I'll have to do a "work-around" for that. Maybe pound two small nails in the gallery wall so it has a more secure base from which to hang.

This link below is to a different vendor but it's worth sharing so you see that typical wire hanging requirements for an art gallery installation.
http://www.cgproprints.com/wire-hanging-hardware   

Well, I'm set with all my still life portraits reproduced on canvas now.  Unless of course tomorrow's trip to buy flowers at the Farmers Market results in gorgeous flowers that would look picture perfect in one of the new vases I purchased in Ouray, CO.

Just sayin...