Archive for the ‘Ansel Adams’ Category

GiveawayGiveawayGiveawayGiveawayGiveawayGiveawayGiveawayGiveaway! I’ve done 400 Blog posts – who knew I could keep going this long! I hated journaling as a kid, but with the advent of the computer, my writing took off. Now I love keeping track of and processing life.

When I started, the blog was solely a place to record my Photoshop work, as I was taking an online class and needed a place to dump my work. I started January 20, 2007, and I was so pleased with my ability to even set up a blog to begin with. And…if you’re interested, you can see the very first thing I actually created with Photoshop here. I periodically go back and look at the earlier posts to remind myself (when nothing seems to be working in Photoshop) that I really have come a LONG way.

These are some of my more favorite posts:

Quilting Like Crazy

Ansel Adams Exhibit

Left-Overs

Absolutely Fabulous Glorious Day

My Wonderful Seventh Grade Art Class

The Spring Art Show

Over the years I have met some wonderful folks through blogging and the accompanying social media, for which I am very grateful. Staying in touch with other creative souls is such joy. So to say thank you, hubby and I have put together an assortment of goodies, most related to marbling, but the occasional nod to the math geek in me.

Now to be eligible for the giveaway – you need to subscribe to our new newsletter. I am exploring a brand new format to our monthly newsletter (which has been “yearly” for the last three years), complete with pics and video about marbling. Subscribe and I promise you won’t be disappointed (and if you are, you can unsubscribe…). Just fill in your email on the box to the right of this entry. You have till July 13 to subscribe, and then I will use the Random Generator to choose a subscriber. Feel free to let others know about the giveaway.

Giveaway Goodies

Now let me explain what you could receive (and the pic is just a sample – not everything is photographed):

* A remnant package of 100% pima cotton, hand-marbled with assorted colors and patterns – 6 pieces.

* Three postcards for mixed media collage of digital marbling (TN).

* A few pieces of marbled papers, again for collage.

* A 10% Off coupon for anything on our website.

* A Polynomial Quilt Pattern, which would make a great present for the math teacher in your life, if not for you!

* 14 small pieces (about 2 x 5 inches) of some heavy-weight colored (not marbled) silk, again for collage or some crazy quilting or piecing – it’s all for your imagination!

* A set of digital marbled notecards (four cards, with envelopes)

So – it’s up to you now – the count-down to July 13 begins….sign up and spread the word!

The Tucson Museum of Art is winding down its exhibit of Ansel Adams, and we headed there today. First, let me say I think the Tucson Museum of Art is a really ugly building and gallery, and the lighting of the exhibit was (I think) appalling. It was really hard to see the photos, as all the gallery lighting was reflected off the glass of each photo. I got to see myself reflected in El Capitan and lots of aspen, and it detracted overall from the exhibit.

That said, these photos are absolutely amazing. One thing I was struck with was the commentary with each picture, mostly in Adams’ own words – and he was quite expressive, quite poetic in his description of the scene. The pictures of Yosemite are spectacular, and we have started planning a trip over spring break. Amazing we live so close and haven’t yet been there…yet we live seven hours from the Grand Canyon and let 20 years go by before visiting again.

I have some favorites…like this one of the rose with a backdrop of plywood. The texture of the plywood adds to the scene, and who knew plywood could be so expressive. This was an unusual photo, in that Adams rarely contrived the photos; he just let them happen.

This next was taken with a long exposure, and no wind, otherwise, as Adams says, it wouldn’t have been possible.

 

There is such glory in black and white photography. And such masterful work in photo developing, which seems like a lost art, thanks to the digital revolution. To think Adams had one chance at a photo…he was a genius at the foreshadowing of a picture to come…wait and it would happen, and he was ready for it.

This next is considered one of his “abstract” photos – a frozen lake. If you look really closely, you see the water, the ide, the cliff, and the morain right at the water’s edge. Really beautiful.