Scanner art

A few months ago I discovered scanner art, also know as scannography.  This is the art of using a scanner to make creative images. You just plop something down on the scanner, scan it, and then edit the image with photo editing tools.  While editing, I  sometimes layer the scanned image with a second image, giving it added texture or interest.

I could make scanner art all day, everyday.  The possibilities are endless.  And it's so much fun. I only wish I had more time to do it.

Here are some of my favorites so far:

Happy New Year

I only posted to this blog five times in 2013.  But since it seemed like I wasn't blogging at all, I'm kind-of surprised by that number.  And since this is my first post of 2014, I guess this blog isn't completely dead yet.  And I wonder how long it can exist?  Will it still be here somewhere on the internets ten years from now if I don't purposely take it down? Will it still be here in twenty years? Fifty?  I doubt that.  But who knows.

I didn't take as many creative photos last year as I usually do.  But here are some of my favorites from 2013:

Blue moon

I made a new photo collage that I think is pretty cool:     

Color!

One of my photos is in this group show - the blue one at the bottom right of this poster. Because I've been working so hard on my thesis I haven't been taking pictures or doing anything fun for weeks and weeks and weeks, so I'm really looking forward to seeing my photo up on the wall with all these other photo artists and schmoozing at the opening reception.

Photo Show

Tonight is the opening of the photo show that includes some of my work.

I've spent the last month with these photos laid out on my basement floor, arranging and rearranging them for hours. But it was time well spent since I'm pleased with the result, and looking forward to basking briefly in the spotlight tonight.

The Illuminated Mural

I went on an urban "safari" with a group of photographers last Sunday and took tons of new photos. One of the sites we photographed was The Illuminated Mural, a public art work in Detroit. This mural is painted on the side of a nine story vacant building near Detroit's downtown.

I love the way it seems to be raining color down the side of the building, and I love the way the bricks add texture. It's really fabulous in person and it was fun to hang out there for part of an afternoon.

The Super Moon

I took this photo of the "Super Moon" in Kalamazoo. It was taken from the steps of East Hall, the oldest building of Western Michigan University, which is perched high on a hill overlooking the city.

I'd come prepared with my tripod and telephoto lens, but would not have gotten such a good shot without the kindness of a fellow photographer. All my shots were coming out blurry until he told me to use my self-timer. It made such a difference! Duh.

I just happened to be in Kalamazoo visiting my grandchildren on the night of the Super Moon - the largest moon in nearly 20 years. And what fun! A small group of people gathered at the top of the hill, including a drumming circle. It was quite festive. A wonderful way to welcome Spring!

Woodward Avenue photography show

Two photographs by me are going to be in this show. I'm thrilled to be part of it, but won't be able to go to the opening reception because I'll be in North Carolina for the second residency of my MFA program. Darn!

Woodward Avenue is Detroit's main street. It's the spine of the city, running straight up from the river, through downtown and into the northern suburbs. Woodward Avenue is known as M1 - Michigan road #1. It's a National Scenic Byway, and defines Metro Detroit.

I love Woodward Avenue, so this project was a lot of fun. Each photographer participating was assigned a mile of Woodward in which to find something significant to shoot. My photographs are details of The Spirit of Detroit, a statue that sits in front of the Detroit City Hall at the foot of Woodward and Jefferson.

Here also are two of my photos that were not chosen for the show:

I really like the way this project made me step outside of my box and photograph things I wouldn't have normally shot, in ways I wouldn't have normally shot them, with great results.

The best of 2010

It was hard to choose, but here they are:
My top ten abstracts of 2010

Oil and Water

Fire and Ice


Ghost Bird

Fulgent

Transatlantic



Lost Language


Assemblage



Eclipse


Au fait



Palindrome


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Too busy to blog

Lately I'm either working on stories, fooling around on Flickr, or playing Scrabble on Facebook - three activities that can pretty much eat up a day for me, along with going to the gym, running errands and cooking dinner.  Thus: not much time to spend here.  

I'm sure I'll get back to writing incredibly fascinating blog posts sometime soon, but in the meantime here's some photos I recently took in downtown Detroit:

Cool Clouds

BB & I went to see The Social Network last night (which I can highly recommend) and we were awed by these incredible clouds when we came out of the theater.







After the movie we went to National Coney Island - which I thought was looking pretty photogenic, too.

Art Prize

Here are some of the photos I took at Art Prize - an unique art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Begun last year, the art is displayed in venues across the city and the winner is determined by public vote.
This year there were 192 venues, 1713 artists, and 42,496 registered voters! The top prize of $250,000 is the biggest art prize in the world. It's an event that's had a tremendous impact on Grand Rapids. The place was thronged with people when we were there. Here's just a little bit of what we saw.
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This is "Vision" by David Spriggs of Montreal. It's one of the "Top Ten" of the competition. Made from sheets of Plexiglas that have been marked somehow to make this effect, it's different from every side and angle. I thought it was amazing.

This is a detail of "Dream Collection" by Heather Holloman. The Mason Jars hold objects pertinent to the dreams described on the tags. It was fascinating and I wished I would have spent more time looking at it and reading the tags, but it was crowded, my feet were hurting, and I just wanted to get somewhere to sit down for a few minutes. Darn.

This is "Chroma Passage" by Janice Arnold. A hallway of the Grand Rapids Art Museum draped with handmade felt. I loved this.

Detail of "Chroma Passage"

This is "Lure Wave" by Beili Liu of Austin, Texas.

Also one of the Top Ten.

This is my favorite - "Svelata" by Mia Tavonatti of Santa Ana, California. A beautiful image of a woman and waves, it looks like a large painting, but when you get close you realize it's a mosaic.

Detail of Svelata:

This is "Salt & Earth: garden for Patricia" by Young Kim of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This image is created with salt and red clay. It was on the floor in a dark room, so hard to photograph, but amazing to see. This is also one of the Top Ten.






You'll find the Art Prize site at http://www.artprize.org/