What's up, Karl?

Moon - Van dyke process - Cotton Rag

"What's up, Karl?"

"What's up Karl?"

The importance of a comma.

You wouldn't know this by tracking this blog, but I really enjoy writing for it.  Sadly, I've been busy with other life things and let this exercise and discipline slide by the side.  While not producing anything here in a while, I've worked a great bit on my art and life.

The life bit - it continues to move on.  Work is busy.  I went the UK and Basel, Switzerland for two weeks.  I traveled to my second home in Las Vegas a number of times.  I contacted and am planning collaborative efforts with a few photographer friends.

The art bit - big changes.  I completed an alternative processes class where we made photograms, cyanotypes, Polaroid, Van dykes, gel transfers, assemblage, collage (digital and analog), toy cameras (Holgas and Dianas), tin types, and many other cool techniques.  Some of them worked for me, others didn't.  The big discovery though was my need to get away from just taking a picture, editing and enhancing it and calling it done when I printed it and put it in a frame.  There are so many great ways to present my art.  I am really getting into creating digital collages based on themes.  Why can't I put words directly on the art?  Now if I want to, I do.

Another big learning lesson was that it is so easy to create reproducible art in photography - just make another print.  Somehow I found comfort in knowing I could always make another print.  For many of these alternative processes, I only get one piece and no more like it.  This gave me an appreciation for marble sculptors, painters, and other single-item creators in the art world.  By knowing there is only one piece like this in the world, it feels more powerful and special.

For my final project, I chose a theme and created 5 pieces using different alternative techniques.  The theme was on objectification of women and caused a good bit of debate during the class critique.  I loved that.  You will see more on that in a special post.  

I also worked with four nude models in the past few months.  Each was completely different and brought her own unique gifts as muse and model to the shoot.  You will see some of those pieces in upcoming posts as I write about each shoot.

Now it is time to focus again on getting my business going.  All this creation is fun, but I need to get going on planning and implementing the next stage in my life.  I am slowly setting up work in the SF Bay Area.  I am also trying to set up work in my second home, Las Vegas.  I will write more about LV in the future.

One thing I will write about Las Vegas now is that I've had the pleasure of catching up with Terrel from Photo Anthems.  Last Sunday, we went out for a drive in the country scouting locations.  I enjoy talking with him about art, photography, life, women, Las Vegas, family, and all other things in between. 

I am also in contact with a good friend and artistic creative both behind and in front of the camera.  She and I went to high school together.  Once her life settles down from moving back to the US with her family, we are planning to do some big collaborations.

Its been a great Spring.  My artistic energy is pushing me and I am pushing myself to create stuff I never imagined before.  I look forward to sharing in the future.

Up top is a scan of my Van dyke print of Moon.  Below is my cyanotype.  Both are created using a light sensitive emulsion spread onto paper.  After laying a large negative on top of it (created in phototshop, but any film negative would work) similar to a contact print, I left them out in the sun for 5-10 minutes.  After processing them, voila.  I love analog art.  I prefer the Van dyke of Moon much more, but I loved learning both methods.

Moon  - Cyanotype - Cotton Rag

I love this song and nobody sang it like Janis.

<br />