Darkroom Chemicals

Today I'm mixing up a fresh batch of darkroom chemicals. The last batch was mixed in December or January. They are supposed to last for six months in closed containers, but I'm going to start fresh. Only two more days and it will be April and I've promised myself I would develop that iris picture, and there are numerous oak tree photos taken here in Cool that I have never developed - other than making contact sheets. There are some I took right after a storm and I have to say they're pretty awesome.

Yesterday I went shopping at Ikea and I bought some storage boxes for photos and other photography items. Trying to make the studio a little more tidy. I also purchased a keyboard tray to attach under the work space counter. I think I can get my hubby to install that for me.

If you've read my blog of late, then you'll remember that credit card issue with Light Impressions. My credit union has already credited my account and are still investigating the transaction. So it pays to fight for your rights, and in this case my coveted money.

One last mention of an upcoming show. My friend Janie is having an Open House for her Midtown Art, Meeting & Event Complex, as she has updated her spaces and has a new client, Fitness Rehab. Her mother Minta Ricketts is the featured artist (oils), and Mike Abbey, stained glass artist, as well as myself, photographer, will be on display. It is all part of Sacramento's Second Saturday Artwalk for April, from 5:00to 9:00 p.m. at 1925 U Street and 1924 T Street.

Matting & Framing & Painting

So I got a little side tracked on Sunday late afternoon. I started an acrylic painting of the Eiffel Tower from a calendar picture I had saved. That wasn't the one I wanted to start with, but that's what came about. It's only the first layer basically, it is a work in progress. At first my husband was 'wow' that's great. Then later, 'hhmmm'.

Then on Friday I brought home the large framed photo of Banyon Roots (from my Hawaii in B&W Series) to repair. It gets so cold in the High Hand Gallery in the winter that it made the matting buckle at the top of the photo. So I took the picture apart, placed heavy objects on it for two days to flatten it. I also cut the 4-ply extra backing just a tad smaller, as that seemed to be too tight, possibly adding to the cause of the buckling. I put the whole thing back together and it looks good. Hope it stays that way. I'll drop it off today and re-hang it for the show. The gallery was closed yesterday so it was only out of the gallery for one day.

As an aside, Loomis is having their annual Iris Show, and the High Hand Nursery is joining in with that event displaying iris for sale. The artists at High Hand Gallery are bringing out their works of iris art too. I remembered I had a B&W photo I took years ago of an iris in the Sunset Magazine's Garden in the Bay Area. I'm going to develop that one in the darkroom just for the show.

Photography in Encaustic

Here are photos of the two encaustic pieces my friend and I worked on. These are the ones I did, and she also has two. We will put these in the High Hand Gallery's Collaborative show later this summer.

Light Impressions! Anyone know or use this company?? I've ordered from them over the years - not that much, but never had a problem until this year. I don't even know why I'm giving them this space on my blog other than to spare others the hardship and stress and loss of money! I'll try to make this short: I ordered from them in January. Waited for the product - nothing after a week and a half. I call them, 'it's on back order for 3 months'. What? You weren't even going to send me an email to this effect?? I need these products! Give me my money back! It will take 10-14 days. 3 weeks later, no refund. I call again. Oh, I see you called, but the refund wasn't processed. GRRR! I'll process it today and have a supervisor call you. That's right, no phone call. I call again, two weeks later. She will definitely have the supervisor call me. No phone call. Now it's 2 1/2 months later no phone call, no refund, I call again. It will take 16 days for your refund - that's business days. Honey, it's been 2 months worth of business days. So I call again today, I'm in the waiting loop as it's called. While I'm waiting I get online and type in Light Impressions customer service...WHOA, NELLIE!! Look out!! The list goes on and on. Even the Better Business Bureau gives up on their quest to solve a problemo! So now I've called my bank to file a complaint against the company in hopes of getting my money back. I'll let you know how that goes. Light Impressions is off my list of suppliers. Buyers be ware!

Transient Keepsake Photography

Bought the frame for my replacement photo for the Keepsake's show at High Hand. Normally I cut my own mats, but I went ahead and purchased a double mat for the giclee print I made of a new 'leaf' photo. I'll be putting that together this morning, as well as cutting a piece of non-glare glass for the frame. Here's a photo of the new leaf picture.

Yesterday I was still working on photography, but in a different medium: encaustic. A fellow artist and I joined forces for our collaborative show which is scheduled for later this summer. She works in encaustic which is beeswax and/or resin painting. Well, we wanted to incorporate the photography into the process as other artists do. You can look it up online and even watch videos of this process on YouTube. Most of the time Charlotte uses canvas, but one can use other mediums: acrylic panels, board, you name it. We ended up using acrylic panels - just small 8x8s. We printed out some of my color photos from my series of Monet's Garden in France, onto transfer paper called 'Sheer Heaven' from cre8it.com.

Then we painted two layers of beeswax onto the acrylic panel, heating it up with a commercial heat gun in between layers. While that was cooling, we sprayed the print with rubbing alcohol, turned the wet side to the rice paper and rubbed the back side of the transfer paper, transferring the photo onto the rice paper. It's different everytime! It's not necessarily a clear precise print, it's more muted and artistic looking. Then again coating the rice paper with another layer of wax, heating it with the heat gun. We also added some additional touches with oil sticks, making an abstract design over the transferred photo, and again another layer of beeswax. And voila! Another piece of artwork! That was alot of fun.

Gallery Life

Trying hard to get back in the flow of life here at home. We've lost a dear family member, so it's going to take some time. In addition, we were in the middle of the kitchen remodel and that project is just about done too.

Last weekend at the High Hand Gallery was the Third Saturday Artists Reception and though the weather was storming with heavy rain, there were plenty of visitors. In addition there were three live artist demonstrations: Pauline Amerine drawing her fruit and vegetable with pastels; Ann Bowns painting a silk scarf; and Unni Stevens making block prints! So it was quite lively to say the least. We also had some live music for the evening - a gentleman was playing the electric guitar with some soothing sounds. And the really good news was that I sold one of my framed photos specifically hung for the 'Keepsakes' show titled, "Autumn Leaves". So that was pretty cool for moi! What that means now is that I need to replace it - PDQ!! I've already decided to frame another fall leaf theme type photo, and I'll need a frame for that too. And I need to do it tonite! So, I'm off to get that done and it's also raining again today.

Here's the picture that sold this weekend!

Raymond Bigelow

It's been a very sad week as my husband Ron's twin brother Raymond passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. He had suffered a massive heart attack - cause unknown for now. He also leaves behind his sister Cheryl. One never expects death as we're busy living life, so when it does happen we are taken aback and return to the real life. Life is birth, living and dying. Raymond did alot of living. He raised his son, Jason, and they were best buddies. Ray had just moved to Florida the very first week in December to be closer to his son. So I guess this is where 'quality v. quantity' comes in. What better way to leave this world than to be living your dream.

Being a twin, however, makes the loss even greater I think. Ron was strong for his nephew, but when it was all said and done, it was his turn to mourn the loss of his brother and friend. They called each other 'Uncle Ray' and 'Uncle Ronnie'. They were very humorous together and it was always great to hear their laughter. Ray had a way with words, quick witted, and could make you laugh about even the most trivial things - everyday happenings. He made friends easily and had many in Barstow, Las Vegas, and now Florida. We will miss you Ray. I'll miss your phone calls. Thank you for being my brother-in-law...

Digital Prints with an Overlay

Been busy this week. Already been to the gallery twice - yesterday I was able to finally hang my works for the March and April show: Keepsakes. Kat did a great job hanging all the artwork. People may not realize how hard it is to hang artwork to make it look pleasing to one's eye and to group the art according to colors. It's a knack and she certainly has it. Today I will be going back to take photos for the person who sends out the High Hand Gallery's emails for the monthly shows.

Yesterday when Kat was hanging the artwork - she needed one more photo to hang next to some blue-green felted scarves and wall hanging. We hung a Bodie picture but it just wasn't working. So she asked me if I could bring in something 'blue'. This morning I searched my files and found a sailboat picture from Tiburon Bay. I've learned that if I have a photo that I'm not really happy about as far as clarity goes - it already has substance - if I put a layer on it I can turn it into a great piece of artwork. Manipulated photos...something I never really liked to do but now it's kind of fun. I've done this mostly for cards. So I put a layer of 'Chalk' on it and it came out fabulous! I printed it on Smooth Fine Art Paper and made it a giclee (very large file with archival K3 inks). I've already matted it and put it in a frame. I tried my hand again at cutting glass, after practicing the other day, and was able to cut the non-glare glass the first time! I'll finish off the back, make a label, and head out to the gallery to hang it and finish taking photos of the featured artists, of which I am one!

High Hand Gallery

This weekend the show ended at Blue Moon Gallery in Sacramento and so it was time to pick up my photos. Sadly there were no sales at this show - just cards. As I was discussing this with the owner of the gallery, she commented that photography is a good way to display art for the price! (So true!) When you see or watch design shows it's always B&W photography that is on the walls. I think it is the economy right now and of course we had alot of bad rainy days in February which didn't help either. I'm not one to cry in my gin, so it's off to High Hand!!

The theme for this month's show is 'Keepsakes' which I've mentioned before. I have already selected the photos and will deliver them to High Hand Gallery tomorrow as that is when the gallery gets changed out. It's always exciting to see the new art on the walls. This morning I sent three photos of the work I am putting in this show to the person who is doing the press release.

This weekend I also found out about a local art show right here in my neighborhood!! A fellow artist is putting this show together with local artists in this area. We live in a very rural area, so once I get the particulars I will post it on my blog here. And of course I will also send out information on the new High Hand show as well.

Blog Statistics

Keeping up a blog isn't as easy as one would think. Last year was my first year and I wasn't that consistent. Although, just like everyone else on this planet, life a lot of the times gets in the way of the blog. However, I am trying to get off to a better start and I must say it's encouraging that the statistics have gone up as far as the viewers/visitors go. And miracle upon miracle: I have two followers! ; )

The one thing that I guess will take time is the fact that hardly anyone comments. Some folks have said it's too hard to sign up - but I find that really isn't so. If you already have a google account you just sign in with your established password. Or maybe I haven't intrigued anyone enough for them to make such a 'post'. I do thank those who are following my photography trials and tribulations. I don't speak in technical terms - there are plenty of bloggers out there who do if you want that. But I would enjoy receiving your comments or thoughts on photography. I have years of information stored in my little brain so feel free to ask! I've amazed myself lately for instance, working out the darkroom process. I couldn't believe all the information, books, and notes I had collected, stored, marked down, and tagged over the years. I put it all together in one book and 'voila'! My bible was created.

So for all you young or old new to the photography scene folks out there - the world is your classroom.

Framing and Double Mats

Surprise, surprise! I found a brand new black metal frame still in the paper in my supply of frames for my 'Winter Snow Lion' color photo! Then I started looking at my mat board supply and I saw the flash of the steel gray-blue piece of mat board pass thru my fingers and I thought - perfect! I'll do a double window mat! I've actually only cut two of these before as it is hard to do to get perfectly even! But - voila! It came out pretty nice I must say, and then with the black frame, it just makes the whole picture pop! It took a few hours to put this one together but it was well worth it.

I've whittled it down now to two photos each of the four categories: Historical Keepsakes, Transient Keepsakes, Mother Earth's Keepsakes, and Forgotten Keepsakes. And I have four B&W and four color. I just have one picture that I will do in the darkroom for this show. The picture is the Old Veteran cypress out on Point Lobos. I've shown it before, however, I haven't processed it in the darkroom. Labs always printed it out for me. And I looked at the ones I had in stock, but I'm not really liking the quality now. Funny how that works.

Printing on the Epson

Got some color prints done on the Epson. I have kind of a stash of frames from Aaron Bros. However, you have to be picky on their frames as a lot of the frames are made with soft wood which makes it tougher to keep from getting damaged with dents (which you would have to re-frame later down the road). I also buy metal frames from Delta Mat & Moulding - which can be pricey, but they are top notch. I also buy the non-glare glass from Delta. Gallery owners have commented to me that I'm one of the few who pay the extra money for the non-glare, but they appreciate it and it's to my favor if I want to show off my photos. There's nothing worse than not being able to see the full impact of a picture when you're struggling with the bright led lights at galleries. So today I will have to purchase at least the one frame in my travels today. I need to get this show on the road!!

Here's a photo from my Bodie Series that I haven't presented to the public yet. A color digital shot of old bottles and one filled with marbles.