Rocco

DSC05605, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

I think this would make a divine portrait. Rocco's coat is so many different shades of interesting.

UPDATE:

What do you think?

Still Life: Cherries

DSC05315, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

My college art professor lauded the benefits of doing still life studies as often as possible. He saddled us with the responsibility to create our own compositions. Truly, some of my favorite works were a result of these assignments. Here, I worked for about an hour on a bowl of cherries in a windowsill on a very windy day. The clouds would block the sun and delete the shadows from my view, and then the sun would reemerge, almost blinding me. Still, I need to do more of these.

Below is some pictorial documentation of the process.

The initial outline/composition sketch in charcoal:

Starting to fill in some tones:

Tones pretty much complete; adding detail:

Finished product:

Biking the Bluegrass

DSC05243, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

My husband and I decided to participate in this year's Bike the Bluegrass to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. Though we are not professional cyclists, nor are we exceptionally skilled at fundraising, we really enjoyed the trip and were able to complete the 125+ miles over two days without injury. I got into the habit of wearing my camera around me as I rode. I like how the composition is slanted - it represents my attempts to take pictures while riding. Dangerous, yes...but in my defense, the roads were all but deserted as we sped along from Louisville to Frankfort, and then from Frankfort to Lexington.

Peace

DSC05045, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

This is the baby sister of the toddler shown earlier, children of a favorite college roommate. This image presents a stark contrast with the prior shot, and has a bit of a divine light cast. I am starting to be aware of the way a shot can be divided, and this one has a very geometric, 90-degree feel to it.

I am trying to figure out how to keep Flickr/Blogger from cropping my pictures down to fit the layout, so please click on the above image to see it completely.

Movement

DSC05044, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

I am continually entranced by movement. It came about as an accident, as I was getting tired of the nasty colors a built-in flash casts over subjects in low-light settings. So I started turning my flash off. It resulted in hundreds (thousands?) of blurry pictures. Some are not salvageable. Some, like this, capture for me the essence of a fleeting moment in the life of a youngster. Indeed, were I to paint this even in the minutes after having taken the picture, the child would be already different - they grow so rapidly.

But this, to me, is the essence of bottling the energy that comes free with every two-year-old.

Studio, Space

DSC04978, originally uploaded by aunt.meeb.

Eric and I decided to take advantage of a great opportunity and rent the first floor of our condo as studio space for the three summer months I'm off school. That way, I would have a dedicated space to work, and I would feel compelled (since we are paying for it) to be down there as often as possible. It is amazing, the feeling of reconnecting with part of you that's been neglected. The smells of the oil paint, familiar faces on dusty canvases, the feel of the masonite in your hands...it is powerful.

My main goals are to practice, practice, practice. I intend on working specifically from pictures, just to get back into the habit (plus I have some images that I've been desperately wanting to preserve in oil paint), but I hope to also do some still life and experiment with other media. I hope I can share this space with loved ones as well. It's so open and airy. I will have a hard time giving it up in September, but deadlines are good for me. Stay tuned...