More ideas

Branching 

dividing, separating, forking,  partitioning, splitting

 

 

The long view

How you frame a photo gives you insight into compositions that interest you.  I would love to say I take all kinds of time setting up shots and giving conscious thought to why I'm framing in a certain way, but it would be a bold faced lie.  I put  the camera up and snap in a second or two; it all boils down to impatience.  It's only after I get home that things start to make any sense for me as I analyze what I've taken.  I think we are attracted to things unconsciously and patterns are only revealed at a later date. Alas, photography is only fodder for my painting.

Here's a collection from beautiful Devon  I've put together for your perusal and comment.

 

 

 

Hope you 're not leaving without your say.

Up close

Everyone has their own interests when taking photographs. I've never questioned what I am inspired to photograph or why I may be interested in a subject. I just shoot merrily and file images on the computer trusting that all will be revealed at a later date. Last night I was sorting shots from my last two trips. I wonder where these are leading me.






I see many similarities with a recent painting in the Reading a Garden exhibition called Web. I was hoping I would move away from obsessive detail. Hard to say but my attraction to these three images is immense.

Into it

Sit in it, lie in it, roll in it, look at it, sniff it, touch it, draw it, paint it.
Meadows are a part of who I am.

Shoot it from any angle you like.

Even slightly skewed, meadows hold their own.
Why?

Revealing

I'm head and eyes, or would that be limbs and trunk, into my photographs of trees. Sort and resort, sort by size, colour, texture, function, look for themes, look for opposites, find pairs. Peel back the layers of intuition.

Seek answers....

What attracted me to these images?
Was there underlying symbolism?
Was it an aesthetic attraction?
Does the scene have some emotional connection?

We have all kinds of words that refer to trees growing together in groups:

boscage, brake, chaparral, coppice, copse, covert, dingle, forest, grove, orchard, park, plantation, spinney, stand, thicket, woodland, woods .

It depends on where you live and how large the grouping of trees is. My photos tell me I'm not really interested in bunches of trees. I prefer those that are:

Solitary

alone

cloistered

unfrequented

desolate

remote

deserted

unattended

sequestered

lonely

I'm wondering....

Did I take these photos because ones eyes are automatically attracted to that which stands alone or is different from its surroundings? Or is it an emotional attraction to things that symbolize feelings? Or is it both or neither?

Birth of a series

Sherwood's response to my last post," I think that body of work has already begun, Margaret -- with this post itself! " was very perceptive. I've already begun to tease out how my interest in trees will evolve form my current work for Reading a Garden. When I start a new focus I have several things I consistently do to immerse myself in the exploration at hand. Some of these processes happen concurrently. How I work is definitely influenced by my past years as a teacher who believed strongly in the development of background knowledge to improve understanding. I know some of you will think this is all very obsessive, but it works well for me.

First, I brainstorm a huge bank of words connected to the topic. I never sensor any word that comes to mind. If it is remotely connected to the topic it goes on the list. Leaving my responses wide open encourages depth and breadth in my thinking. I continue to add to my brainstormed list for many weeks/months as I explore other areas related to the topic.

When I move into the second stage of preparation - wide reading on the topic- I can procrastinate forever. I never feel my understanding is deep enough. Right now I'm looking at the symbolism of trees/forests in art, history and literature. This is usually the stage where I convince myself I need to buy new reference material to expand my understanding. My self control over buying new books is improving. I now try the local library, second handbook stores, friends' collections and on-line used book stores. Every now and then I have a good reference before I start. We'll see how long I stay in this learning stage.

For anyone who has read my blog from the beginning, you know I use my photographs as a way to broaden my understanding of a topic I am interested in. Right now I'm culling all my photographs that reference trees in any way. Once these are placed together, I begin the process of sorting and resorting all the while keeping notes in my Trees journal. This is one of my favourite ways to find my way in my work. I don't know about you but I take photos intuitively. If it speaks to me I never question why. I just shoot and wait for it to become important. The sorting and resorting helps me see the themes I am interested in. I also follow several photography blogs. Looking at other artists' photographs provides me with fresh ideas. I look for ones I am attracted to and then record why. This is not about technique or composition, It's about what content draws me and why.

Concurrently, I begin to look at how other painters, sculptors, instillation artists have explored this topic in their work. I don't do this to copy other artists' work, rather I want to get a sense of where what I am interested in fits with what is being created by contemporary artists.

My focus on trees has really begun in my Reading a Garden series but I expect it to expand beyond this series. I've already created several works that I will re-post here. Several others are in various states of completion. I guess I've already begun to say quite a bit about the trees I came across during my two week stay on the Demesne.

Screen(2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

Hidden(2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

Entangled (2009) 24 x 10 in. mixed media on board

I began and ended with a photo of trees from Birr Castle Demense . What do they tell you?

Endurance

My love of pattern usually causes me to trip, lag behind my travel mates and sometimes get downright lost. Because my head is often down, I've bumped, tripped and fallen. My friends see this behaviour as a natural part of travelling with me. When we get home I have few photos to share with the group because I rarely document people or anything in the distance. I'm attracted to texture, pattern and flowers.

My "art pictures" as my friends call them are precious to me and I draw great inspiration from them. They relate to my subject matter and they allow me to move beyond my present work to a place where I am free to sort and re-sort and develop new ideas. Some of them I will never use but considered together they have changed how I look at things. While these pieces from modern and ancient Italian towns are beautifully patterned they also represent endurance and the cycles of time.

Pattern

From my earliest memory pattern has always attracted my attention. There is something safe and calming about pattern. The repetition draws you in and your eyes are ordered to follow the routes laid out by another party; it is a mindless activity when you give over to the rhythms created. Even the most complicated patterns provide this calmness for me if I allow myself time to see the components. I see pattern everywhere in nature and the created world. It creeps into aspects of my artwork and daily life. My daughter has admonished me for my attraction to pattern when choosing clothing; she is a neutral lover.

While we stayed with our friends, Pauline and Chris, in Devon this summer, I admired their wonderful garden which is terraced and works its way up a steep incline behind her house. It was an intricate world of twists and intersections when you looked up and through. My friends were astounded to see what images interested me. It connects right back to lying in the meadow as a child and seeing the blades of grass and stems of buttercups. I am attracted to the parts just as much as the whole. How do you see the world?