Thousand Bowls Feed the Hungry

Another camping trip last week - this time to Willets in Mendocino County.  Great weather and a wonderful time with the family.  No scenic photos taken really - just family snapshots!

Back in the studio regrouping again.  Taking care of some gallery business.  Attending a potluck tonight at the Blue Moon Gallery for all the artists.  That should be fun.  It's also a 'workshop' of sorts as we will all be making a clay bowl for Chris Max Thompson's project, "Thousand Bowls Feed the Hungry'.  So this should be interesting.  All the bowls made will be sold at the gallery to feed the hungry in local Sacramento area charities.

I realized that my images I had planned on submitting for High Hand Gallery's Artstock Large Format show in September and October aren't really large enough and don't meet the criteria!  I need to get on the ball and figure out what I will order in the way of a gallery wrap and/or the print on metal I've been talking about and doing nothing! ; (  I've been trying to select an image or two and I'm having a hard time.  I'm not liking any of them!

More later...I'm just getting back in the groove.

"Any photographer worth his salt has 10,000 bad negatives under his belt."  Ansel Adams

Photography Labels

My family left yesterday morning and it's back to a quiet house and normal routine.  What a whirlwind visit, but then it's always like that!

Yesterday was the baby shower that I was taking photos for.  It turned out great, everything went smoothly and I got the photos taken.  I think after I work on them I will head over to Walgreens (week after next most likely) to see what kind of DVD layout they have for baby showers.  I used Walgreens Wedding DVD for this same friend and it came out pretty awesome I must say.

Making more cards this morning to take over to High Hand Gallery later today, as well as delivering my four gelatin silver prints from Venice and Burano for the re-hang for the next two months.  Last night I realized I hadn't typed up my inventory list, let alone the labels for each of the photos for the back of each image, and then there's the label for the walls too.  Just those little things alone took me an hour and a half.  My normal format for the labeling on the back of images is this, which also includes an image of myself:

Maria Soto Photography

B&W and Color Landscape Photography

"Title of Piece"

Name of 'Series'

Copyright:  2011   Year Printed 2012

Gelatin Silver Print

Website:  www.mariasotophotography.com

Email:  ArtisticEye@MSN.com

Phone Number

Heard from Blue Moon Gallery on what images they selected for the August group members' show.  I'm just waiting to hear what size they want.  I heard from High Hand Gallery last week that I had sold a large print too!! Lucky me!  This is one of the images selected for the Blue Moon August show.

Cyanotype and Gelatin Silver Prints

As a follow-up on the Cyanotype scarf that I made, I'm posting an image of what the layout looked like when the scarf was laying out in the sun getting toasted!  Thought you might want to see that.  I wore my scarf on Friday to the High Hand Gallery when I was working.  I stopped by again on Saturday to bring a framed photo back and brought up my Blog to show some of the artists working there what it looked like.  They really enjoyed seeing it.  In the course of the conversation, they got me to thinking that maybe I could, on my own, treat scarves myself and make them - might be less expensive, that is if I decide to go that route.

I plan on going back into the darkroom today to start working on my next project which is the Blue Moon Gallery's August show titled "Collectively Speaking".  Because each artists work is very different from each other, each artist is asked to create three pieces of a same scene or theme.  I have a couple of themes in mind as I'm perusing thru my European film images:  restaurant scenes and performing artists, both of which I captured during my trip.  I'll keep you posted on that progress.  I need to submit the jpeg's by May 1st.

I also have the deadline for the California State Fair's Fine Art "Call for Entries" taped to my wall as a reminder.  That deadline is April 20th.  I haven't really gone to the website for the complete information yet.  Something I'm still contemplating as I've never entered the State Fair competition.  I know my nephew has and actually won first place a few years back.  He's really good!.      

Matting & Framing

Yesterday was a chaotic zoo! I was running around like a nut, spinning my wheels, and really not getting anywhere. Sometimes when you try too hard, it just doesn't work. Well, it wasn't a complete failure. After spending too much time at the High Hand Gallery taking pictures of the new artwork for Facebook, I then headed out to the mall looking for a frame for a 16x20 black and white picture titled 'Bryce Canyon Floor'. I ended up coming home and just using a frame I already had - still in the package. I think it looks just fine too. The photographic image I've had printed for some time now, and I wanted to do something to it to make it even better. So I hand tinted with water color pens specifically for RC and FB papers. I hand colored the mountain range that ran right thru the middle of the image. It is a pale ochre (light tan-ish yellow). Then I cut a mat that was about the same shade! Just happened to have it! I also changed out the glass for non-glare and voila! Instant jaw dropper! So now I had two pieces to take to the Blue Moon Gallery for the next month's show. The other piece is the photo transfer of the rose that I previously posted.

I got all this done by 2:30 p.m., packed up the two framed pieces, and again headed down to the Sacramento valley which is a good 45 minute drive. And it has been really hot here. At first the gallery owner wasn't sure if she would have room for the large B&W piece, but then she decided to keep it and hopefully will hang it for this weekend - tomorrow nite!

Today I was busy uploading and resizing photos for the High Hand Gallery's Facebook page. Got those done and posted! Now I have other things to do and it's not in the studio.

Photo Transfers

Yesterday I worked on framing another completed photo transfer. It is one of a rose bush my husband and I purchased in memory of my brother Joey. It's called "Just Joey". The rose is a beautiful peach/pink color. The finalized transfer / water color image is more of a deeper peach - verging on orange. I just happened to have a frame in stock that is silver and black, thin wood frame with a mat, and I added a second mat around the actual painting. The frame was a perfect match for it! I've posted the original photo and the painting. And I just want to say this is NOT how you photograph artwork. I photographed it already framed, and that's a definite no-no.

Today I need to head out and pick up another frame for the other transfer. Hopefully, I can get this completed to get on over to the Blue Moon Gallery to trade out two gelatin silver prints that have been there (and not sold!) since February of this year. Bummer. That particular gallery is geared more to the painters of the art world. Those are the types of artwork that sell there. So, hence the change out!

I haven't made it into the darkroom yet - I have so much to do before I leave on my European trip! I did purchase an external hard drive, loaded it, and have been painstakingly dealing with the addition of the new program to my PC!! Ai, yi, yi!! If you know what I mean. My PC is 6 years old and that is apparently old in the fast world of technology. But I'm not upgrading! Not now.

I did hear from my sister-in-law in regards to the old negatives I scanned for her and put on disk. She loved them!!

The Thrill of it All!!

What a night, what a night, what a night! You know it's hard work to stand on your feet for almost four long hours on a concrete floor. But what a blast! So many of my good friends came out in support, and in addition, there were loads of people out on a great night to enjoy art!

The photography show was so unique in that each artist had their own style and subject. Jim Klein showed his photography from his trip to Italy; Susan Raines exhibited her talented works in color digital overlays of various subjects; and Holly Renfro displayed her color photos from her trip to Japan.

My photos included a variety of my own choices - all in black and white, developed and printed in the darkroom. I had two from France, two from the Sacramento area including a diptych of a street person explaining the 'theory of global warming', Chihouly in black and white, Bethesda Passage Way in Central Park, two from Gladding McBean, and "Lithograph Cypress" from Point Lobos. Many hours I labored, but it was all worth the journey. I basically forced myself into delving deep into the study of this process by simply telling the gallery owner, "...all my prints will be gelatin silver prints". That was all I had to do! What a trip that was. Now that it's over, I am totally exhausted.

However, next month I am one of the featured artists at High Hand Gallery...so here we go again!