by transitions, again
It’s been some time since I’ve shared what I’ve been doing in the printmaking studio. I wrote about transitions last September, now I feel as if I’m again in that state of mind. In the fall I created and finished a series of 26 small prints, then moved right into another related series of somewhat larger pieces which I’ve just recently completed editioning. I’m very pleased with these and have had great responses to them.
I just haven’t done all the photo documentation of these works. The prints in the first series are small enough to scan but I’ve yet to do it. The second series I photographed a few days ago and only today have downloaded them. I see they need lots of adjusting for they are underexposed and need some colour correction. I’m even wondering if I should re-shoot them with some better lighting somewhere else, but where? Or, should I use the original digital files they were printed from? Anyway, as you see, it’s been a very productive period for me but I’m procrastinating over getting them ready to post here as well as into my little online gallery.
However, and here’s where the ‘transition’ issue comes into play, I’m at a point where I’m still feeling my way around the next pieces that I want to work on and need to spend time with them for the next two weeks while the momentum is still with me and before an upcoming enforced ‘holiday’.
From Feb 12th to 28th our studio will be closed because our usual annual two day reading break on the campus has been extended to over two weeks because the parking lots will be used exclusively for the Winter Olympics. Strict security controls will be in place so no classes or classroom access anywhere – imagine that! So, I think that period of time may be when I complete the photo documentation and post my new works here. That’s my goal – wish me fortitude for I can too easily get distracted by other things like macro photography.
On the home front is another transition ahead with our daughter and granddaughters heading back to London at the end of this week after a wonderful six-week visit here. The house will be awfully quiet….
January 25, 2010 in Being an Artist, Photography, Printworks by Marja-Leena
Seems like everyone is talking about transitions now. My Canadian relatives have rented their house and fled south to avoid the Olympics.
So culture takes a backward step in the face of red-necked (red-faced, actually) sport. For shame. Time to go out one night and paint Phillistine in each of the parking lots, assuming the space will be free from snow. Such a move may have an unexpected result. The lots may be left empty, thought to be allocated to competitors from a new country that has sprung up in the former Yugoslavia. Little do they know that Phillistine is the largest country in the world and covers most of the planet’s surface.
Hattie, we had briefly thought about renting too but husband is too busy at work to get away.
BB, hah, that’s an original take! I’m upset that an educational institution would do this kind of thing. But even Herr Harper has shut down government for an extra extra long vacation that began at Christmas. Meanwhile us taxpayers are paying for all of them to have fun while we can’t afford the tickets.
Don’t get me started on anything to do with any Olympics.
I’ve been enjoying you macros very much. Interesting what you say about glasses and focus, I’ve found out at last that I can only take a reliably reasonable shot with the Lumix by pushing my glasses down my nose. This didn’t seem to be a problem with the former camera, but perhaps it’s my eyesight that’s deteriorating?
Good luck with the ‘transitions’ series; perhaps as spring draws on your focus will sharpen.
Barrett: Philistine and his brother kitsch.
I am eager to see what you have been working on.
Lucy, glad you like the macros. Is your camera an SLR and do you have a diopter adjustment on it? That really works for me with our Canon. Our Lumix is not an SLR so I don’t have to peer through a tiny viewfinder, but sometimes the screen is hard to see clearly if it’s too bright. Aging eyes are challenging indeed! Thanks for the good wishes with my work, I’ll need it with various distractions ahead, like spring – I spent two hours in the garden, uncovering buried snowdrops and other green things poking up through the earth.
Hattie, right!
Olga, thanks. I’ve been negligent for some time in showing my work – soon, I hope!
[clink, clink] Here’s to fortitude! And now I am officially on tenterhooks for your reports. I shan’t be watching the Olympics, which have become quite unsporty and too soapopery.
R, thanks! And I’m with you on the “unsporty and too soapopery” (love that new word)! I might peek at the opening and closing ceremonies in the hopes that the First Nations’ artistic presentations will delight.
Glad this time period has been so productive for you! Looking forward to the photos when you get them up. As for the Olympics, I’m always excited to see them, although I tend to just catch bits of it here and there. I’ll have to remember to watch the opening ceremony since that’s always a spectacle and fun. I guess for you locals, it’s often more of a hassle than anything, but still it must be exciting to have it going on right in your backyard!
Leslee, I think you are more of a sports spectator than I am. In the past I have enjoyed watching the ski jump, cross-country and figure skating competitions. One year the hockey battle for gold between Canada and Finland had my loyalties very much torn! I’ve certainly gotten away from watching the last few Olympics, and seem to never be interested in the summer ones. Oh, we certainly do grumble about the inconveniences and the huge cost overruns especially for security!