A Handmade Book \ Art Notes Monthly-Sept ’14 \
over the recent past i’ve been experimenting like crazy with the iphone for photo making. it’s ease of use has certainly freed me to shoot wherever & whatever calls to me in the moment. a luxury i do not experience with my film cameras. they take preparedness, physical stamina and, because of film developing expenses, require much more intentional shooting than i’m doing now. while discretion is just as important to me now, every frame with film is much more carefully chosen so as not to be wasteful!
“Take your pleasure seriously.” Charles Eames
Handmade Book Prototype
“For nothing is pleasing to God except the invention of beautiful and exalted things.” William Blake
i’ve amassed quite a collection in a short period of time which begs the question, what to do with them all?! for me, the digital medium is missing something fundamental to my working process; the tactile experience of my craft through developing film, touching negatives & pouring over proof prints. i found myself missing the handcrafted. to that end i started crafting a handmade book to showcase this new series. without any knowledge of bookbinding i’m not quite sure how to bring this from prototype to fulfillment? if you have any pointers i’d be most grateful!
with my analog work the opposite is true – i’ve harbored a desire to publish a traditional black & white photography book. it’s an enormous undertaking that little by little i’m chipping away at.
i guess it’s about balance. balancing the intimacy with the immediate.
i have been posting on INSTAGRAM – come have a look!
what do you think? let me know in the comments below. don’t be shy. i’d be honored.
also which particular image(s) would you like to know more about? i’d love to feature it in a future “art notes monthly” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here.
thanks so much for being here!
cheers from
An Exhibition & Re-Issue of The Savages \ Art Notes Monthly-Aug ’14 \
i was sitting at my computer one afternoon looking at my website. well, more specifically viewing the series, ‘Life Among The Savages’. and, in a flash, the way i saw this work changed. “they belong in pairs”, the inspiration insisted! suddenly some of images no longer made as much sense to me on their own.
‘Life Among The Savages #1’
“That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” P.C. Hodgell
for the following 6 weeks i feverishly began re-working the images. how will i print them? which images belonged together? some were obvious to me others needed time to settle. during this process i realized that while working on the original edit, i unknowingly paired the work prints together for viewing on my studio wall. i was not at all conscious of this. heck, when i offered a sneak peak of the up coming series in this earlier blog post i displayed the work side by side as a split image.
ultimately, many of the images were paired, two becoming one, emphasizing the intersection & confines of the realities i was experiencing. the series now comprises 7 images total: 3 paired images and 4 single ones. as it turns out, the nature of printing this way is a delicate process resulting in beautiful one of a kind handmade prints that are in small editions of three.
you can read about how the series started and how, by releasing this landscape series, i felt fear of not being identified as a portrait photographer.
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‘Life Among The Savages #7’
on another note, i’m pleased to share the news that 2 of my images, ‘Oneness‘ & ‘On The Bridge‘ were accepted into the juried MobileMagic Exhibition at the LightBox Photographic Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. sometimes this old school film girl uses her iphone camera to make some magic. the exhibition takes place both on-line and in their gallery. so, if you plan to be in the area before august 8th, please stop by to see the show and report back how it all looks!
‘Oneness’
‘On The Bridge’
i have been posting alot of new work on INSTAGRAM – come have a look!
what do you think? let me know in the comments below. don’t be shy. i’d be honored.
also which particular image(s) would you like to know more about? i’d love to feature it in a future “art notes monthly” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here.
thanks so much for being here!
share away by using the social media links below!
cheers from
You probably didn’t know this… \ Art Notes Monthly – June ’14 \
in the early days of my art journey i was the lucky recipient of lots of film from former analog shooters that were cleaning out their stash. they had already made the switch to digital & were all too happy to rid themselves of it all and i was all too grateful to receive it! this included rolls of both black & white and color film. i eagerly began shooting with no allegiance to either. as much as i was very pleased with many of the color images, before long i was mesmerized by what came through in black & white. it was like i was peeking through a portal to other realms, pulling me in. there was so much more that met my eye than was on that flat, two dimensional paper.
color appealed to all my senses yet the b&w penetrated beyond what was immediately perceptible. only after the allure of color itself was eliminated were these depths and layers revealed. lurking in the shadows it was as if the duality of the whole universe was looking back at me. highlights, mid-tones and shadows all reflected the depths of human experience. i was hooked.
“I see in color but feel in black & white.” Michael Pointer
for some reason i wanted to share with you some of the original color photos i made. maybe because lately, i started creating some color photos using the iphone’s instagram app? it’s definitely a playful way to photograph. although…i still tend to convert most of the images to black & white. just can’t help myself! feel free to follow along on instagram.
on another note, i’m pleased to tell you that my image, The Deep Fog, has received an honorable mention in the 2014 juried International Call for Entry through the Professional Women Photographers organization. as soon as it’s published i’ll let you know! i wrote about the image back in february.
The Deep Fog
what do you think? please, do let me know in the comments below. don’t be shy. i’d be honored.
also which particular image(s) would you like to know more about? i’d love to feature it in a future “Art Notes Monthly” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here.
thanks so much for being here!
share away by using the social media links below!
cheers from
Evolution – \ Art Notes Monthly – May ’14 \
Connective Tissue #1
hi all!
this image is from the series, Connective Tissue. i took the girls (maya & talia and their friend maya-yup!) to an open field near our house, where there is space to roam around, be silly, what have you – just be. it was a perfect late spring afternoon. i just loved being there with them!
primarily my art is about the love, intimacy and connection i have and feel for my subject. it is my world yet at the same time it becomes their world, our world. it then transcends me and my subject and becomes about belonging. yes, it’s about the universal longing and need to belong.
“What is faith if it’s not paying attention to what we belong to?” Sue Monk Kidd
what makes people connect? how do these bonds play out? how are the dynamics formed? what roles do we play? who decides? how is it decided? these are some of the many questions i was contemplating while making these pictures.
i hope when you view this & the others in this series it invites you to reflect on your own earlier experiences & wonders in this regard.
oh, i’ve already changed evolved the name of this section from the uninteresting “image of the month” to “Art Notes Monthly”. feels better already!
what do you think? please, do let me know in the comments below. don’t be shy. i’d be honored.
also which particular image(s) would you like to know more about? i’d love to feature it in a future “art notes monthly” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here.
thanks so much for being here!
share away by using the social media links below!
new post: my work is about the universal longing & need to belong. CLICK TO TWEET!
cheers from
“image of the month” Aunt Violet #7
for april’s “image of the month” i’m choosing to honor my lovely aunt violet since her birthday is april 10th. well, was. this will be the 6th year without her here yet heck, she did live ’till 100. even so i still wish i could pick up the phone to hear her kind voice cheering me on. i do know she’s with me, for sure.
at the time of this photo she was about 99 & had been living in a nursing home close to my house for a couple of years. you can read the whole story here. mostly i was alone on my visits with her, however on this particular day an old friend joined me. i was so grateful and relieved, since we were able to spend our visit outside – something we rarely were able to do. what a treat! it was simply too physically demanding for me to negotiate getting her in & out. it was a gorgeous late summer afternoon. i leaned on him to do all the heavy lifting.
“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness,
the astonishing light of your own being.” Hafiz
as we all sat there chatting, laughing and enjoying our time together a fascinating thing started to occur. my aunt began moving her hands and arms in very measured, graceful gestures while her face was awash with tranquility. her movements were pure poetry. i was mesmerized. i realized she was doing t’ai chi as she had learned more than a decade prior. in between she would pause (as seen in this photo), contemplate and then either carry on with her practice or gaze over at us smiling with utter joy. Aunt Violet #7 is from the series, Aunt Violet.
Aunt Violet #7
please, do let me know your thoughts in the comments below. i find it’s the easiest & most helpful way to streamline the conversation. i’d be honored.
also which particular image(s) would you like to know more about? i’d love to feature it in a future “image of the month” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here. don’t be shy!
while you’re at it, feel free to share the post by using the social media links below!
thanks so much for being here!
cheers from
Image of the Month, uh Quarter…
i had all good intentions of introducing a new section on my blog, image of the month, at the top of the year. some unfortunate tech failures, a health scare and a brief hospital stay (yup, but i’m okay) left me quite depleted. add to the mix a snow filled winter that deemed much of what i’m most interested in shooting inaccessible and things slowed down alot here.
i can hardly believe what i’m about to say but if it wasn’t for my iPhone camera i do not know what i would have done! this is a first for me.
it kept me connected, albeit loosely, to my craft. to seeing. to noticing & recording beauty in the midst. and a little is better than none at all.
“The fog is rising…” Emily Dickinson
this was made on that crazy foggy afternoon here last week. i was dying to run around capturing it all but my body felt otherwise. i’m happy to have this one.
The Deep Fog
i’m not so inclined to photograph snowy scenes, however, shooting through my bedroom window is something i’ve been doing for awhile now. heck, i’m probably closing in on a whole series at this point.
“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus
February Morning
and, the lovely view from my hospital room…would make anyone sick! i can’t tell you what it did for my spirits though, to realize i had the ability to make art while surrounded by such unsightliness and vulnerability. the camera & ear-buds saved me. i’m so incredibly grateful for the technology.
Room Without A View
and now, the 1st installment of image of the month (uh, quarter) where the focus is on ‘why’ an image was made.
Life Among The Savages #5
(please read in this art notes monthly-aug ’14 on how this 👆 evolved into 👇)
Life Among The Savages #1
this image (above) is from the Life Among The Savages series. it was the first time i went toward a storm rather than away from, with or without my camera. i’ve always been afraid of thunderstorms and the camera was so comforting. yet to truly illuminate just how this image came into being, we really need to start with this one:
Mind F*ck
years ago i experienced a rather profound betrayal. blind-sided to say the least. honestly i didn’t feel i would survive it. i suppose that’s how many of us feel when faced with unthinkable circumstances. after discovering what had occurred i immediately jumped in my car and began driving. frantically. to nowhere. no plan. i came upon this entangled forest pulled the car over and began walking. i paced around for a couple of hours with both a primal angst and camera in tow. incredible how nature mirrored my internal landscape so vividly. this was the first image i made that day which ultimately became the seed concept for an entirely new series. in the end, “Mind F*ck”, didn’t make the final cut. during the editing process other images felt more compelling, less literal.
circling back now to “Life Among The Savages #5”, (above) the exact circumstances aren’t as clear yet i distinctly remember feeling enormous frustration & fear that day. by this time nature, my car and my camera had become my go to, powerful tools for coping, so i intentionally drove toward the foreboding sky. stepping out of the car i felt such awe in the presence of the swaying trees, thunder & the mighty winds that almost took me with them. it was at once exhilarating and alarming. the experience ultimately was palliative. making this image truly served as a neutralizer to these intolerable emotions.
i recently read an article that explored betrayal as a gateway to forgiveness. it’s soul affirming to realize that i have come out of that fire with forgiveness & love in my heart. it took years, mind you. now if i can only do that in other areas of my life.
please let me know in the comments below which particular image(s) you’d love to know more about so i can include it in a future “image of the month” installment. for ideas you can look in the galleries here & here. while you’re at it please feel free to leave any thoughts & comments.
the ability to make art while surrounded by such unsightliness and vulnerability… CLICK TO TWEET
thanks so much for being here!
cheers from
This is not your Mother’s…
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” Michel de Montaigne
The Mother Series #2
while shooting self-portraiture one afternoon, on a whim i phoned my mother to ask if she’d like to come over and be my subject. and so began this 2 year body of work, “The Mother Series”. until this moment i had no interest in including immediate family in my art. it was mine. you can read the full artist statement here.
all but one in the series was made outdoors. we spent time in backyards, farms and parks around both our neighborhoods. connecting this way and being out in the fields was such a new experience for us both. entering new territory apparently is good for relationships since we laughed…alot.
the process was at once fun, challenging and enriching. this took me in an entirely new direction in my work as it’s the 1st time i both posed and directed my subject in every frame.
The Mother Series #6
“Your boundaries are your quest.” Rumi
The Mother Series #5
The Mother Series #3
in the new year i’m planing to start a new column on the blog tentatively titled, image of the month. i’ll post a particular image and share my process of making it. i’m hoping it will be enjoyable for you to learn the back story and something to look forward to!
it would mean alot to me if you would leave any thoughts/feelings you may have in the comments below. i find it’s the easiest & most helpful way to streamline the conversation. i’d be honored. after you’re finished looking and commenting please click over here to view the entire series.
cheers & happy holidays from