March 10 on 10: Taking up Painting

Last fall, I was finding myself itching to try something new. I still love photography, but wanted to get into some other creative pursuit and, at first, I had toyed with the idea of starting to make metal sculptures because that was something I had never done before and it just seems cool, but the cost of entry into something like that is high and daunting and I don't know where I would put the welding equipment! Then I shifted to acrylic painting--much easier to try without a huge investment.

What I like is abstract, so I also figured I didn't really have to know how to draw (good thing, since i don't).

I have not done a lot of work yet and not too much that I am really, really pleased with but I am okay with some of them.

I have approached it without much structure at all. I just started and quickly realized how easy it is to mess up a painting . . . the difficult part is going too far which I keep doing . . . eventually, a painting just loses its way with too much touching and manipulation. But it is hard to know when to stop.

The good thing about acrylic paint, though, is it's easy to just cover over a canvas. I have done that a lot. Many of the canvases have 4 to 5 layers of false starts (or finishes).

I also found myself taking macro photographs of the paintings--sometimes panning over the painting or taking a close-up shot of a small section of the painting--and digitally manipulating it to get a result that I liked a lot better than the painting.

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Here are two examples of one of the first pieces I did (neither exists as a painting any longer no because they were not worth saving). I panned over these and changed them up in post-processing (including adding texture layers) to make them look like this.

Here is one where the image started out as a macro photograph of a small section of the painting that I also manipulated heavily in Lightroom and Photoshop.

In this one there are several digital layers of different images of the painting to make it look like this. (Again, the painting is gone from the physical world).

The next six are ones that actually stayed as paintings and more or less looks like this in real life, but most have many, many layers underneath of something I did not like at all :)

And sometimes I like to take the color version and turn it black and white and then wonder if I should just do a black and white painting, but I have not tried that yet.

I don't know what I am doing really and I am fully aware of that. At this point, I cannot replicate any of my results--good or bad--but I think it is fun. There are times when I get frustrated because of my lack of knowledge and there are times when I just think I am being dumb because there is really no reason for me to paint. All I am doing is piling up finished (for now) paintings in my breezeway and I don't know what I am going to do with them. But sometimes I just have to take a deep breath and decide that if it is fun and I get messy hands, it is fine to keep painting--this doesn't HAVE to mean anything at all.

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This is part of the 10 on 10 blog circle. Please follow the circle starting with Katrina Kennedy.

(Next month, I will get back to photographs).

November 10 on 10: Obviously, a Difficult Day . . .

I am struggling today as I know many are, so I just cannot say much.

Here are images from the last month: 

and a little light:

This is part of the 10 on 10 post, please follow the circle, starting with the lovely Kim. Her work is sure to inspire.

October 10 on 10: Autumn in the Adirondacks

This month's 10 on 10 blog post was rather easy to put together because I just got back from a 5 day trip to my house in the Adirondacks. Kim Bajorek joined me for the trip and we stayed very busy but also had a lot of fun. 

When we first got there, I was a little worried that the colors were not at peak, but as we drove from the Albany airport north to Raquette Lake, the colors improved. The also improved as the days went by. 

The weather also ended up being pretty perfect for photographing. There was little sun, but the overcast days allowed us to photograph the whole day long. 

Kim had been there once before, three years ago. That time we mostly stayed around Raquette Lake, but time, we took a few trips a little further away, including one trip up to Lake Placid (in a round about way), which is 1.5 hours away. It took all day, though, since we stopped many spots along the way.

One of the stops was to an unnamed pond which had low clouds resting on the mountains and lots of fall colors.

We also made our way to a waterfall called Split Rock Falls, which I had never been to before:

As we were driving to get to Lake Placid, we passed by this famous barn that I have seen in many, many photographs before, but never had the chance to photograph myself. There were many other photographers there as well. This barn is abandoned and will not be restored. I think it will only have a few years left until it falls down, so I am glad I had the chance to get there at least once. I might go back again, though, now that I know exactly where it is and also know that it is an easy place to photograph because there is parking right nearby. 

I'll bet it would look great in the winter with snow in the background.

I also had fun with the reflections for abstracts . . .

. . . as well as more standard landscape shots:

The only thing missing was the foggy mornings that I am used to having up there both in the summer and the fall, but the last morning, I got my wish with a beautiful misty dawn:

I am hoping for another trip at the same time next year. All my 10 on 10 friends are invited :)

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  This blog post is part of the 10 on 10 blog circle. Please follow the circle starting with the talented portrait photographer Kristina Rust.

September 10 on 10: Our Spokane Vacation

 Every year, my family take the same vacations. We go to the Adirondacks of NY and then at the end of July, we go to Spokane Washington and Idaho to the 'lake'.  During both of these vacations, we are visiting our extended family. Living in Indiana, we have no relatives nearby. This year, my mother-in-law had some health problems, which prevented her from being able to travel to the lake (she is fine now), so the family decided to gather and stay in Spokane. Although we missed going to the lake, it was fun to be all together and to explore some different parts of Spokane.

We did not do a whole lot because it is hard to get everyone organized, but we did manage to go on a couple of hikes in the area. The weather was good, except for being hot and dry.

We did one hike with the whole family. It was short but a little steep and there was not much shade. Still it was worth it to get everyone out of the house

There were lots of rock structures to climb which made it fun for kids and adults alike:

Here is the whole gang on the way down:

Everyone else had to leave a couple of days sooner that we did, so we had some time there with just us and my mother-in-law. We dragged the kids on one other hike. This one had a pretty interesting landscape--rocky from ancient lava flows which made the whole area covered in balsaltic rocks:

It was fun to climb on, even if a little tough:

 Overall, I did not do a lot of photography on this vacation--at least not the type I usually like to do where I get up early in the morning to try to capture some interesting nature shots, but I did enjoy doing some close-ups of interesting bark on the trees here and there:

 Well we missed out on going to the lake this year but we plan to be back next year, of course, This is part of the 10 on 10 blog circle. Please follow the circle and see what the talented Kristina Rust has been up to.

July 10 on 10: Our Annual Adirondack Vacation

It is the time of year for our annual vacation in the Adirondacks. We have been here about a week and the weather could hardly be better. Also the mosquitoes and black flies are barely around this year which is a welcome change. 

We have been enjoying the hikes. This year we did a new hike up Mount Adams and it is the hardest hike I have ever done in the Adirondacks. We thought it would be no problem since it is only 5 miles, but, boy, it was tough! The view was worth it, though:

We also did easier hikes, like up Castle Rock which offers a great payoff for a relatively easy walk up:

And Goodnow (the hike was easy, but the fire tower was much higher than on Adams):

I have also been enjoying the early mornings going out for photos, with the lovely light mist (or heavy fog, depending on the morning).

We have one week left here at our second home and I will not want it to be over but we will enjoy the memories we have for a long time.

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This is part of the 10 on 10 blog circle. Please follow the circle starting with the talented Kathleen Ries.