My Humble Homage

When we started this assignment, I looked at a number of the artists on the suggested links, but decided to select my teacher and colleague, Thomas T, not so much as blatant brown-nosing but because I do like so many of his pieces I see around.  I started with this picture from his Moonhead Studios Blog:

While I have more I want to do with this one, here's my rudimentary attempt:

(Since his picture had that disappointed mood, I thought a closed bookstore would be perfect for my picture.  I also plan to work on the color to give it the warmth of his picture.  Finally, instead of the dog (or my son's dog), I may try to add a picture of someone--Ben perhaps--walking by with headphones, oblivious to his environment.



And next I have my next version below:

 This is another of Thomas's pictures I appreciated.

My version:

I didn't actually realize until I finished that while his text refers to life as a dream, mine, from Midsummer Night's Dream is from Puck's final speech, in which he tells his audience that if they are offended they can just imagine it was all just a dream.  I may add texture later. I notice the slightest hint of a pattern (Simplicity? McCalls?) in the background of Thomas's picture.

Portrait: Part II

Working on the portraits project makes me aware of  how much I have to learn.  I find that if I try a process and then repeat it two or three times, I am more likely to remember how I did it. I am also getting more comfortable with experimenting, knowing that I can do and undo.

The self portrait is most challenging because I find the close-up view daunting.  (Who is that woman with the furrowed brow?)  I don't mind smile lines around my eyes, but those forehead lines, made as I read, are not as endearing.  I also find that when I take picture of people (which I am always doing) who are reluctant subjects, I tend to say, "Don't worry. I can Photoshop that out."  I've had requests to make people look younger, slimmer, with "fewer chins."

Here are my first few self portrait attempts. Be on the lookout. More are sure to follow.

I have also been working on my portrait of Melissa McCarriher (Did I spell it right, Melissa?)  The challenge was getting the entire face. Her nose didn't always show up when I got the eyes, and the mouth didn't work. I finally learned to make the most of the magic of layers!

Portraits in Progress

For some reason, my favorite so far is the top portrait--my elegantly bald husband.  I learned to use masking and the lyrics to the Cowsills' late great hit "Hair."  I love some irony...and I love this bald man!

 Top to bottom:  Dick Posey, Melissa McCarrahar, David and Gracie Garrett, Sadie Burns Finlay, Avery, Griffin, Stuart, and Avery (again) Troup.

 

 

The CD Project

Right now, more than anything, I need a place to look at what I've done so far, placing front cover next to back.  Here's option one:

I needed to be able to place my works in progress--CD front and back covers--close enough to see how they flow.  Here's the first.  I used photographs I took at Hickory's Octoberfest of the Alabama Blues Brothers, here for their "farewell tour."  Justin Crisler, a.k.a. Elwood Blues was a student I taught in Alabama about 1994.

For Option Two, I played around with some pictures I took during photography class a year or so ago.  For a project, I was taking pictures of "Old Things," so I had a great time at the little Coca-Cola museum owned by Allen Huffman (of Club Cola and the Granite Drugs Huffmans).  Here's my work so far:                                                                        

Finally, I played around with some photos from New Mexico.  For the track list, I made a handwritten "set list" on a sheet of paper torn from a spiral notebook, and I put it (with a monkey magnet and some duct tape) on the fridge in the picture.  Campy, I know!

Post 8: Brushes--A Work in Progress

I am amazed at the brushes function. I am also still baffled by masks, so this weekend, I am determined to figure out the process, even if I have to watch a youtube video--or twelve. For now, though, I am experimenting with the brush function.  Then I plan to combine more of my developing skills.  With the portrait assignment looming, I have been thinking about my potential models--other than myself and my colleague Melissa.  As a grandmother, I have great options.  I decided to make a brush of sweet Griffin's face and to play around with type too.  Think of this as a work in progress.

This brush is my granddaughter Avery.

This one is just a line brush.
And finally I have added a little bird brush.  

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Blog 7: A Scanner Darkly

Here are the directions for this blog post, which I will remove once my work is complete:

A Scanner Darkly – Blog Assignment 7
-          Using a scanner as an image capturing device
-          Thinking in terms of non-representation
-          Looking for successful compositions
Using random collage material – old magazines, material found on the ground, old photos, etc. – make an arrangement on a scanner bed to capture a large image – 8 x 10 x 300dpi.
Next, using the crop tool, set to 4.75 x 4.75, look for and crop a minimum of three images.  These images may be used for your CD Design project, if you wish.
Finish the work how you see fit then post the images to your blog site.
Due by Thursday, October 17.

The scanner in the room proved a bit uncooperative, so I have been trying to do some work at home, putting my massive folders of torn magazine images to good use--finally.  I recognize that at times I have trouble going for the fully nonrepresentational.  I also have a fondness for words, so they may creep in.  One challenge I see is how to take someone else's image and make it my own.

I am also having some trouble getting the "dafonts" to load form my flashdrive to Photoshop.  In class, I can usually download and use it, but at home I am still limited to Photoshop Elements (and I see now why it is less expensive, since it does less!).  I'm
also trying to see how to set the cropping tool for 4.75" by 4.75".  (And I feel very uncomfortable--or British--leaving that last period after the inches sign.)

I think the hardest parts of the CD assignment are:
(1. to make what I see in my head materialize;
(2. to stop coming up with more and more different ideas and to start fine-tuning.

I have a number of other colleges from which to work:

More Work in Progress

If I never accomplished another thing in this class, learning to work with my old photos has been worth every bit of time I have spent:  Here are the colorized versions and my filtered illustration. I have always loved this picture of my parents before they married.  This post is a work in progress. I'll be adding the original black and white soon.

Blog 6: Now Add Type!

I know that the human brain is drawn to text; my certainly is.  Now that we are beginning our CD cover project, we are getting to add a layer (or more) or text as we learn to incorporate type.  I see already that I have two problems:
(1. my trial of creative cloud expired;
(2. I'm lagging behind on the learning curve in learning about masking and remembering the fine points of drawing lines for type to follow.

Here are my very rudimentary creations so far:

This images was created from a photo I took at the Weymouth Center for the Arts in Southern Pines last February where I did a writing residency. We were pleasantly surprised on Saturday morning when riders and hounds arrived for a fox hunt.

I used the images and a little Powerpoint voodoo to make note cards for my writing group members.

I am also working on a street scene as part of my CD project.  This is a photograph of Rogers Department store, on the corner of Court Street and Mobile in Florence, Alabama, my hometown.  T. S. Stribling won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Store, loosely based (and not loose enough for some of the natives) on the Rogers family.  My father-in-law worked here from the time he came into town from the farm at eighteen, eventually managing the furniture department before leaving to open his own store Posey Furniture Co.

The Rogers family closed the store (to much chagrin) more than fifteen years ago and the building sat empty for awhile. My son and father run a haberdashery across the street. New York designer Billy Reid moved his flagship store to the same block when his wife decided she preferred small town life.  My own first job was in an office just up Mobile Street. The plaza there is closed during one week in August for the W. C. Handy Music Festival. 

 This third image also originated as a photograph I took at Weymouth Center.  While the scene here is rather serene, my most recent memories include tents, food, dancing, and other revelry on the lawn during a September 28 wedding, most of which I watched with my friends from the upstairs windows.




While I'm working:  Here is another playful attempt:

Blog 5B: It's a Good Night For Singing

Since I went to college in Music City, USA--Nashville, Tennessee--one might expect me to be a fan of the music coming out of Nashville and playing on top-forty country stations. What a mistake!

I certainly tired of top-forty pop while I was a student.  I think I heard one too many Carpenters song--or it might have been Olivia Newton John--and I started looking up and down the radio dial for something different.

At the time, even country music fans were rebelling against the mainstream, and about that time (and I do date myself) the "Outlaw Country" music started coming out of Austin, Texas--and Luchenbach.  Willie Nelson grew out his hair, tied on his bandana, and started recording the songs that he'd practically given away to the likes of Patsy Cline--"Crazy," "The Night Life (Ain't No Good Life)," and "If You've Got the Money, Honey, I've Got the Time."

A lot of those musicians were also making their way to Nashville.  At that time, it wasn't hard to hear such great singers as Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, or Guy Clark playing in small clubs and tiny venues.  One artist might be booked, and lots of others would show up and perform.  I made some great friends with whom my first common interest was music.  One of those friends introduced me to Jerry Jeff Walker.  I've been a fan ever since.

Jerry Jeff is probably best known among mainstream for writing "Mr. Bojangles," recorded and made famous by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His cult favorite hit is "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," by Ray Wiley Hubbard.  Over the years, though, I have loved so many of his songs.  I've seen him in large venues, but I've enjoyed him most in the smaller ones, such as the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte's NoDa district.

A lot of the songs he records are also covered by some of his compadres. It's hard to remember who recorded the songs first--Jerry Jeff, Guy Clark, Rita Coolidge, Emmylou, up-and-comers like Todd Snider.  Everyone's done "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" and "L.A. Freeway," for example.

Some of his songs are the soundtrack for my life.  My children recall singing along--and very loud--to "Navajo Rug" as we made many road trips back and forth between Alabama and North Carolina, since my husband moved here in September before we followed in June. Jamming with some more recent friends, I was tickled recently when someone started up "Jaded Lover," another old favorite.

While early Anglo-Saxons and their forefathers hoped to gained glory and travel in the afterlife to Valhalla, I guess I'm just hoping to make a side trek through that part of Texas, easing onto a barstool at Gruene Hall. I hear any night there is "a good night for singing."

Blog 5: Music Video

I have always been fortunate to share my love of music with my children.  While they have developed wide interests, we have always enjoyed playing the "listen to this" game.  John, my middle child, my oldest son, has more similar music tastes, though. I'm sure the time he logged at ASU had an impact too. We are both devoted WNCW listeners, and I took him to his first Merlefest.

Now John is living back in our hometown, Florence, Alabama--the famed Muscle Shoals area.  While I was growing up, the music coming out of the area was at a height.  The Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney--everyone came here to record.  FAME studio had a horn section that drew lots of recording artists, particularly when they were trying to break out of a mold or a slump.

The area is experiencing a renaissance these days, producing such groups and artists as Drive-by Truckers (including Patterson Hood, son of David Hood) , Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, The Civil Wars, and the Secret Sisters.  "Funky" Donnie Fritts, songwriter and longtime side man for Kris Kristofferson is a local. The Alabama Shakes hail from just up Highway 72 in Athens. 

Jon Davis, a friend of my son, has played with lots of the local musicians and with the Bottletree Band.  He played recently at one of Dick Cooper's infamous parties that was covered by Rolling Stone magazine (linked above). Jon has just released his first solo CD, Hint of a Southern Drawl, accompanied by several other local musicians, including Dylan LeBlanc (who's had his songs recorded by the likes of Emmylou Harris).

Listening to Jon's music reminds me of the lesson I learned so long ago:  most good musicians are just ordinary people with enough talent and drive to take it to the next level. How nice when it produces an album I love to play as I drive!