B & W Christmas

I've hardly posted this month. I've been wrapped up (no pun intended) in Christmas happenings. The one big 'trip' that happened was my first experience in a light air craft! My husband's son-in-law was going to make his cross country flight as part of his training, to Weed, California, to pick up their new puppy they were getting for the family. So he invited me to come along so I could take pictures as I had previously requested a 'ride' for my birthday. He thought I could take photos flying up to Weed, and then puppy-sit on the ride home. It was a great experience and for me wasn't any different than a ride in a Southwest plane, except for the fact there were quite a few drafts going on and if you didn't wear the earphones you couldn't hear anything. Oh, and no one served you any food or drinks! Hah! As it ended up, the whole flight up to northern California was absolute clear, blue skies, however, Weed was socked in with fog, so we ended up landing in Dunsmuir. The puppy was delivered by the breeders with no problem and we were up in the air again.

It's such a different perspective from way up there in the wild, blue yonder - it's just a small glimpse of Heaven, and oh so beautiful. The puppy did great and slept on my lap under the blanket and was no problem at all. We made it home for the big surprise for the grand kids. Here's a sweet view of a mountain range and a close up of Mt. Shasta. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

High Hand Gallery

So I'm done with my everlasting birthday, as my husband puts it, and Thanksgiving is over and the bird whittled down to bits and pieces for soup making, and NOW I am moving on again with my artwork.

I am now showing my art in the High Hand Gallery located in Loomis. I took all my works: framed pieces, matted photos, cards and card gift sets, magnets, a pillow and coaster gift sets. Today I start working in the gallery as it is a co-op. So today from 12 to 4:30 p.m. and again next week on Wednesday from 10 - 2:00 p.m. Both of these days will be my training. Yesterday I met with the founder and chair person, the curator, and the calendar keeper of the gallery. They are all personable people and I am looking forward to being part of their community.

Several years back when High Hand was in the early stages of the nursery, I had permission from the owner to come and take photos early in the morning. The building and grounds of the nursery were the original Loomis Fruit Packing facility. If you go the 'galleries' on my website you can view the photos and read the history. I'm posting one of the photos here for you to view.

All said and done - 'wish me luck'!!

Morro Bay

I've returned from a week's vacation in Morro Bay with my sisters Pat and Carole. We rented a great home on the hill facing the ocean and Morro Bay rock! We, well mostly me, could see the early morning sunsets (my sisters didn't get up as early as I did), as well as the sunsets. It was beautiful...one day after another glorious day of sunshine! Day after day after day......jealous?? ; ) It was a great location to be because all you had to do was to drive 10 miles north or south or east and you were in another town with all new sights. There were miles of vineyards and wineries, wine tasting, and the vine colors were going crazy! Reds, burgundies, dark greens, light greens, and oranges - it pretty much drove me crazy it was so beautiful.

We actually got a private tour of the Eagle Castle Winery as one of the owners was a childhood friend. We saw the winery in Paso Robles and then we remembered he lived in Morro Bay. So my sister called him up and he offered us the tour!! How lucky can we get? If you're ever in Paso Robles you will definitely have to stop by the wineries - that's what it's all about. The town is very quaint too with loads of places to eat. The shops were a little pricey, but still worth the stop.

My sister Pat got us tickets for the Hearst Castle night tour. We've been to several of the other day tours, however, the night tour gives you a different view, as all the lights are on, the outdoor pool is lighted, and the staff dress up in period costumes. It was a great trip.

The last night we were in Morro Bay was the best sunset as there were finally some clouds in the sky that night, and a lot of folks were out to see the sunset.

Win some - Win some

Remember about a month ago I was turned down from High Hand Gallery? Well, yesterday late afternoon I receive a call from them saying their 'photographer' left and now they were calling to see if I was still interested in showing my works with them. I played really hard to get and immediately said, 'yes'! Someone will be getting in touch with me soon - someone from the welcome wagon! ;)

So, now I need to figure out what I will submit, although it will probably be Bodie B&W's that are already framed, although I might even put together some of the ones I took of High Hand that I have displayed on my website. You can go check them out. The website gallery is called "Historic Loomis Fruit Growers". I'm posting one of those pics here today!

Acrylic Class

I know this blog is about photography - but in the midst of all things photography - I have other interests that crossover into each other. So Monday I took my first acrylic painting class here in Auburn. I'll do this 2 times a month for now. I chose this teacher because I liked her style. She personally does body figure paintings: big, bold, bright colors, smooth strokes - and the result is 'wild'! I love it. I wanted to learn how to use the bigger brushes, so as not to get so involved with my paintings, unlike my photography. The class is an hour and a half - and it sure goes fast. So I'd like to think I'll be painting in 'stages' since I only have the hour and an half, twice a month.

This afternoon I spoke again with the owner of the Blue Moon Gallery regarding the photos for the show in February. I'll still be able to use the ones I wanted to and I'll throw in a couple of France photos. Now I need to select at least four jpg's to send her for the card mailing. I also will submit a diptych (two prints comprising one theme).

Mediterranean Pigeons

So I mentioned that I had alot of inventory that I've never done anything with. I selected a color photo that I took in St. Maxime, France, along the mediterranean. My sister Pat and I were wandering around the little village and there were two pigeons sitting on a window sill. Well, I painted it in acrylics this week. It came out pretty cool, but I'll let you decide.

Also, I will be in a group show of photographers in February 2011 at the Blue Moon Gallery. So I've been spending time selecting photos for that show. I will submit most likely all black and whites. And I'm hoping to print them in the darkroom and maybe have a couple of giclee prints. We are left to our own selection of what to submit, so I'm thinking it would be a good time to select some of my own favorites that haven't been shown.

I'm also thinking since this year has been so slow that I thinking really hard on having an Open House. People can come view my studio, have refreshments, and possibly purchase some art for holiday gifts! That's the ticket!

Busy in the Darkroom

Yesterday afternoon was quite fun developing black and white. Because the majority of the time I expose my 400 TMAX film at the same shutter speed setting makes it fairly easy to come up with the same developing settings in the darkroom. Needless to say I was on a roll printing out some of my past favorites that I've never done anything with. Before I had my own darkroom, I had another lab develop the film for me, and then scan the film and put the images on a CD. I can appreciate the work that went into that process. At first I thought $10 was rip off, but I take that all back!

I have probably enough processed film to last me the rest of my life - in other words I wouldn't have to go out again. But we know that won't happen. I have so much that it would take months to go thru - some that I thought were never that good
but when in reality they were bad scans (since I was looking at the finished product and not the negatives). So, I was going thru alot of my old stuff yesterday. There was one that a gallery owner wanted me to do, but I could never get a good print from a scan someone else did. Although if I remember correctly I did my own scan and tried again, but maybe I was having an 'off' day, because it came out superb!

I also spent some time creating my own processing times for the fiberbase paper. I'll be using Ilford Multi-grade IV fiber paper. I've only been developing 8x10s on RC paper for now. But I think I have that down now - I didn't want to waste my fiber paper! Moving up to an 11x14 will be fun!