Lately I've been feeling like all I want to do is make art. This is not a new feeling for me, but I can suppress it most of the time because I know I have to uphold my job and pay bills...roof over my head, food to eat, etc...but sometimes it just KILLS me that I have to spend so much time and effort away from what I truly love in life. I'm certain that I'm not the only one feeling this way...but there has to be a way. I will figure it out, I'm sure, but it's difficult to function at my regular job with all these creative thoughts bouncing around in my head. Life is short. It's really true. I just want to make the most of mine, all the time. A difficult task when sometimes life itself gets in the way of what's truly important to a person. Any thoughts on what I can do to make this feeling more bearable are greatly appreciated! :)
Thanks for reading my rant.
LisA**
see all the photos from this shoot,if you're so inclined.
(memories always look better in black and white, I think.)
There are several interesting shots in color, as well, where I walked up and down the campsite taking pictures of the flowers and tall grasses from weird angles...those look really abstract and they'd make awesome art on the walls.
Check them out and let me know what you think! :)
LisA**
The latest of my self expression through body art. I love stars...according to the book, The DaVinci Code (an excellent read, BTW...way better than the movie...sorry Tom Hanks!), stars are the original Pagan symbol for woman. Now I am not particularly religious, at all...much less Pagan....but, I find this very fascinating. Symbols can mean anything to anyone...just depends on how you look at it. Please, don't think there is a 'feminist' reason why I appreciate that and got these tattoos either...I simply happen to be a woman, and although men are great, I am happy to be a feminine being. That's all. :)
Hope you like them as much as I do! There will be more at some point, but I better slow down before I get carried away! It's so easy to get addicted! hehehe
LisA**
It amazes me, the things we fear...like standing in front of a crowd and speaking for 6 and a half minutes...and how those things really are nothing to be afraid of. No matter the outcome, we survive...with experience and memories to show for it in the end.
I am considering showing the Damage Control Series photos at the next event in July. If you are in the area, maybe you should stop by...or better, yet, request to present some of your own work!
http://pechakuchadfw.ning.com/
It was a moment to remember, and I'm very proud of myself for facing my fear and coming out on top! :)
LisA**
So, this is my newest tattoo. One of my own design. Eventually I'll be getting an entire half sleeve done, but for now, this will do...on my arm, anyway. I'm getting about 6 stars done on my shoulder blades this Monday night...I'm hopelessly addicted. :)
There's something about being able to permanently wear your self expression on your own body. I think it's a beautiful thing.
I sat for 2 and a half hours while my tattoo artist, Randi Ledgewood, painstakingly inked every line and detail I had drawn. It's kinda weird to see someone else draw something I already drew on my own arm....but totally worth it.
We did this at her house instead of a parlor because she's an apprentice (well on her way) who's currently helping out at the parlor and doing tattoos where commissioned on the side for extra cash. But she's pretty awesome! She's got a degree in art, which is admirable....and per her own description, she's obsessively clean! Everybody wins! :)
I will definitely be posting photos of my next tattoos after I get them done, so if anyone wants to see them...check back!
Thanks!
They came out very classic looking, I think. :)
Also, this was an experiment in makeup and costume, I suppose. I put Crystal in these awesome false eyelashes and then did her eyes in all silver and black make up to make them really POP. Then I kept her mouth very small...I wanted to draw the most attention to her eyes.
The polka dotted gloves she's wearing, I've had for years, just waiting for the opportunity to use them! You can't tell by the photos, but those gloves are hot pink with white dots! A nice touch in a black and white world though, I think...added another element of texture.
With Cassie, I had seen this technique done before and I always wanted to try it and see how it looked in pictures. A solid dark stripe highlighting the eye area and extending straight across the bridge of her nose.
Casie did her hair herself and we added this vintage looking flower and sequined pin I had for extra detail. I think a lot of her photos ended up looking very 1920s...I like them. :)
Cassie brought her own stripey corset also...I don't know how women used to wear those things as a daily article, but it was a pain to get tied, and a pain to snap, and I know poor Cassie was dying the whole time...she pulled it off well.
Anyway, we started out at my apartment complex, just roaming around the little pond and gazebo area...or affectionately called 'the bog of despair' by my husband and I because of all the frogs that scream every night...
I really enjoy taking a small setting and using all the little details to make it seem in the resulting photo as though we were in a much bigger space.
Who needs a studio? The whole world is a studio just waiting to be shot! :)
Well, after we had done about all we could do at the bog of despair, we all hopped in the car and headed to my husband's rehearsal studio to take advantage of the graffiti wall in the parking lot. I am happy to announce that I got to shoot that wall before it was painted over by whoever owns the building.
I also shot a few on the steps at the entrance, utilizing the brick wall and cinder blocks that encompass it.
I have found that I really like those kinds of textures in black and white photos.
The boiler hat was Crystal's idea...she got it at Party City right before coming to my house that day. Yet another good classic costume element used here.
Initially, I envisioned an 'emo' theme to this shoot. I wanted a small, red, heart shaped, latex balloon so that I could spot some red into these black and white photos. You would not believe how hard it is to find that kind of balloon when it's not Valentine's Day!
So, what I got were not so much 'emo' as they were vintage-glam-punk-something...
I really appreciated both of my models for taking the time to come out and let me tell them what to do for a day. They had a lot of really great ideas and we got some pretty shots out of it.
I think we all had a lot of fun at this shoot. :)
LisA**
______________________
This is the beginning of a new themed set I'm working on. I went to an Army surplus store an found a gas mask and some other props to use in these photos.
Why 'Damage Control'??
Well, I wish there were some super clever reason why I'm calling it that...and, who knows, by the time I've completed this project, the photos may allude to some deeper subconscious meaning that even I didn't see in the beginning. For now, though, it's simpler than all that. During my second visit to the Army surplus store I found a red paperback manual that says in black official looking letters: Damage Control. I thought it was a good and fitting title for this series. That is all. :)
So, what is going on here? I'm experimenting, really. I want to do something in earthy tones with red accents. I like the internal feeling I get when I see the color red...it's my favorite color, for some reason. I read somewhere a quote that states:
"Red is the color of PASSION. People either love it, or they hate it. There is no in-between."
There's only one model in the first set (my friend Jacqueline, again) creating a sense of loneliness perhaps...or the scene from simply, her perspective. I think there's an air of mystery to her thoughts as you view her in these photos, and it's that ambiguity that I'm trying to achieve by utilizing such a versatile color scheme.
I would like to raise questions in the viewer's mind. I want the red to ignite some spark inside, as you look upon these photos, and hopefully you'll be able to put into words the way I cannot.
As a primarily visual person, I often find myself thinking in images more than words. Like most people, however, I have trouble deciphering those thoughts and finding more than a vague understanding of what my psyche is actually telling me.
So, comment wherever you feel! :)
This particular photo is the only one in black and white, so far. There's something about the fact that she's trying to smell the flowers through the gas mask hat strikes me as ironic.
Perhaps the thought that, in the future, this may be an everyday image to behold.....
A great deal of my art is turning ideas into tangible images and then analyzing them afterward, to better understand my scattered thought process. :)
You can certainly expect to see more in this series very soon!
Enjoy!!
LisA**
What do you daydream about? Is it something far-fetched, or something that might actually happen?
Submitted by lost_in_eternity2207.
I have a tendency to daydream about making my life a better one to live. In reality, I am bored with my mundane and tepid day job, but I need it to survive. I get tired of doing the same thing day after day like a hamster on a wheel...jogging in the same place and going no where....pointless, really. I am bored with the same old movies and the same drab beers on the weekends. Meaningless conversation with people who have nothing but superficial drivel to contribute. "How are you?" (asked as if they care) "What have you been up to?" (while they pretend to be interested as they listen) Really, I just want to have deep conversation with people who care about the things I care about...I know these people exist somewhere...therefore I paint and take pictures to present my ideas in hopes that these like-minded people will find me.
Yes, I DaYdReAm in CoLoR...I figure if I am to attract unique and interesting people, I must become the unique individual, myself. I daydream about quitting my job, dying my hair a multitude of colors, embarking on adventures with my camera and publishing books that contain my projects to distribute any way I wish. There would be no limit to what I could do! Wear feather boas if I want to...and bikini tops and stripey socks of every color!! I want to chase butterflies and run through the grass in an open field with my arms outstretched and my red/blue/green/purple hair blowing in the wind!!! I think about running up the stairs to the roof of the tallest building I can find, collapsing as soon as I come through the door, admiring the clouds in the sky from just a bit closer to them, while catching my breath.
I daydream about being completely free. Being spontaneous and taking every opportunity that comes my way, with no thought or rationality. Just doing whatever interesting thing pops into my head, as soon as it shows itself to me. I wish I could be a bird...live in a tree, or the letter 'O' on some supermarket sign...high above those who said I couldn't be free...dropping 'presents' on them from my aerial home.
Woah, this is getting a little bit silly, I guess...time to re-enter the real world...I'm still here, no worries. Just SO nice to visit the world I daydream about...sometimes. :)
This has been, so far, the best shoot I've done. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Jacqueline and the pictures came out really great! The location was a public park in a residential area in Watauga, Texas. There were all kinds of people milling around while we were shooting: men mowing the grass, joggers, children playing, etc...we did receive a few awkward glances, but, mostly no one payed much attention to us. I did have to strategically plan out the angles in a lot of shots to keep from capturing the bright orange signs and tape from construction that was going on in the street behind the field we were in, but it was a lovely setting anyway.
Jacqueline is a wonderful model to work with and she had lots of creative ideas during the session that really made it special. Look forward to seeing future shoots with her in them!! :)
There were so many good ones from this portion of our day that I almost forgot about the real reason we came to this location: the creek.
It was Jacqueline's idea to lie down in the water and cover herself in flowers. Inspired greatly by the famous painting 'Ophelia' by British artist Sir John Everett Millais (1852).
As we walked down to the small gurgling body of water, just beneath a bridge where joggers and other park goers passed, Jacqueline became a bit apprehensive, and for a moment, I feared she was changing her mind.
However, she was such a trooper! After we took down her hair, she tested the temperature of the water with a couple of toes...it was COLD!!
She ran up a hill and picked a handful of the buttercups that were growing in patches and returned to the edge of the water to toss them in. I mentioned one section with particularly nice textures and green plans floating on top...I told her, "that's where I want your head to be."
Without further ado, she walked into the water and lied down right where I asked her to. And from there, I attempted to capture as many different angles and distances as possible, only giving minor direction when I wanted her hand a different way or the tilt of her head and such.
After I felt I'd captured all I could from that position, Jacqueline got up and I asked her to lie on the dry bank with her head in a puddle. These shots seemed to have a totally different, more surreal feel to them, I thought.
Again, capturing many different angles and them later making these more warm earth tones, but still draining out some of the color to make the images a little less saturated and more cold than the color tone suggests.
Finally, with Jacqueline drying out in the sun, we got just a few more shots of her in the field of buttercups. Those flowers were such a great contrasting texture and color element to have in these photos. The pale pink and translucent petals made these images somewhat softer and more feminine.
Well, that's that. :)
I was just offered the opportunity to give a presentation on this set May 29th!
Very, very excited! Wish me luck!! :D
Thanks Again!
LisA**
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