July 13, 2008

Photos by Sharon Lee
Beaver Chewed Tree
Pink Poppy
Pink and White Flowers
Two Brown Mushrooms

I've been thinking lately of additional ways to earn income and still keep the free-lance flexibility that I would like to hold onto so I can create art when my creativity is highest not necessarily when the clock has been punched out. For the past six months or so I've been taking nature photographs in the woods as well as in my garden. Each day I attempt to get one or two successful photos taken. This does not mean I only take 1 or 2 photos but perhaps 20 or more. Right now I have about 30 fairly successful photos and I hope to take 20 more before I start scaling down the photos to the absolute best and start the printing, matting, framing process in hopes of selling these photos in several art fairs.

I am often intimidated by the quality of my photographs. A few weeks ago I was watching a documentary on Cindy Sherman and fell in love with the way that she set up photos to tell a story. Some people are brilliant at capturing interesting light, some photographers travel to exotic places and take interesting photos of other cultures and some are remarkable technicians. I feel honestly I have not mastered any of these skills. Then one day I realized that color is my thing as well as nature and I could find my photographic voices through these two things.

June 11, 2008

No painting started although I have a general idea of which direction I want to take. My plan is to be secretive about this painting until I'm sure it's well on it's way as I sometimes change my mind mid painting and wouldn't want to restrict that instinct because I had publicly stated my painting's intention. However I always have a creative idea or two brewing books to write , magazines to publish, photographs, videos, sewing, knitting, gardening you name it and I'll figure out a way to introduce emotion, color and pattern into that activity or thing(s).

A friend and I are going on a two-hour drive with some of his buddies to drive in a 4 x 4 park. Please don't expect me to explain the thrill of driving through mud and terrifying hills for me driving is a most un-enjoyed chore and if I could and live close to a town I would ride my bicycle and gladly give up driving. However my friend's passion is for driving in conditions and in places that appear to be undriveable and this was a birthday gift from me to him. I am planning on visually documenting as much as I can both through a video and digital still camera and an additional mounted camera. I have no experience in taking these types of photos and/or videos-but I like the challenge and really like the opportunity to combine my search for aesthetics, beauty and patterns in something that doesn't on the surface appear to be what would normally be considered to have a potential subject matter for art.

May 11, 2008

I belong to a "Photo of the Month" internet club with people from around the globe. The moderator assigns a subject at the beginning of the month as to what to base our photograph. It's fascinating to see all the various interpretations of one theme (wood, cold, music). Last month's subject was "What is it?" which let to extra comments and fun guesses. This month the moderator decided on one subject;bridges and an optional photo anything taken on May 11th. I like the challenge of creating with stipulations as it helps to hone my focus and push myself outside of artistic habits and patterns. Today I carried my camera around with me during a hike in the local woods, a curbside collection of morels and a trip (1 hour) to drop off three pieces of art for an upcoming show at the Penn State Altoona campus. Because the photos I took seem to have a fairly wide range of images I decided it might be interesting to uploaded all the useable photos I took today on my Flickr page. Of those photos I used one to head today's post and one for the Photo of the Month club. All these photos were taken with my Cannon Power Shot G9 digital camera.

May 10, 2008

For the past three days I have been in New Jersey to attend the confirmation and subsequent dinner party for my niece. Because these types of visits (family) are (for me) rather hectic with little time for creativity I took advantage of  the only creative tool I had with me which was my digital camera. At the mall, in restaurants, church, dinner and my sister's house I was rapid snapping of photos. It was fun in a way because it distracted me from the family dynamics which can sometimes be stressful and I also got a fodder of references for painting that I would only have a memory of. Over the course of three days I took 161 photos. Say a good standard of good to unusable photos is a 1 to 10 ratio, I hope to have taken 16 photos that are worth the cost of printing. (Actually I think I'm just under with 15 photos.