Friday, November 29, 2013

Going Home


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This one has such a lot of meaning to me that I find it hard to even begin to explain.

There is an obvious road.. that's leading home. There is a shadow coming from bottom left, that's me.
Looking around at all the beautiful elements - the open hand with flowers and candle, the large purple flower to the right and the moon, the person standing on the boat sailing over the water.....and the rainmaker to the left... they are all symbols for life, for balance, beauty, passion - invitation.

To me this means that it doesn't matter in which direction I go, it doesn't matter what I do, how I spend my time - everything leads HOME. There is no other way than the way home. There are no mistakes, nothing to be sorry about and nothing to regret.

I am living from my heart, I am kind to others and thoughtful of the environment. I am a conscious being, aware of how it feels to live in harmony with all relationships I have... relationships to people, animals, plants, un-animated objects and whatever else there is around.

And above all of that, I love to play and have fun :-)

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Curiosity


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I am so very impacted by the MA work right now - in the most positive sense possible - that everything that I do seems to have to do with light, geometries, feelings of vastness, freedom, appreciation. The different areas in this composition show much more of how I feel than I can express it myself.
I see myself in these two cats, standing on different platforms with my eyes wide open, curious while at the same time ready to participate.

Extremely exciting!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Your Hands



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Now this is the 'real' piece for week 10 challenge.... Instead of trying to show something about all my 'obvious' passions, I concentrated on my passion about hands.... not sure what that is, but I just love looking at hands and their movements and their stability and balancedness and and and....


These particular hands are passionate about cars,  That's where the steering wheel (and the tyre below) are coming in... :-)


Both Tim and I couldn't decide which one we liked best, so it'll be two once more...




Nothing but....




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Week 10 Challenge was about passion... which created a lot of pondering in my space. There is so much I feel passionate about, the 'normal' things like our environment, peace in the world, nobody being hungry or cold ever... then the more personal things, like Tim, the cats, the flowers in our garden, the sun shining in my eyes in the morning, the miniature gardens, MA, the photoshop possibilities to express myself... and so on.

I also like it when reality and imagination are fading into each other....

Eventually I came to the conclusion that I really have a passion for life itself, just with all that it contains. So be it. There are two results, I like the first one better, but the second one has something that I like as well.


Thursday, November 21, 2013

Logic


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I have been thinking so much about my habit to 'think through' everything, looking for the logic of everything all the time, using the rational mind as if it was 'ME'. So it was no surprise when I eventually ended up with the composition above...

... creating the intention to use Imagination a bit more often, imagination to get everywhere.....

Monday, November 18, 2013

A Rose, Just A Rose


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I was - and probably still am - overwhelmed by the beauty that is developing in our garden. I could spend hours outside looking at all the different shapes and colours... taking photos morning, midday and evening... and then sit for hours and look at the photos.
Especially I enjoy the ones that start wilting, and the ones that are pretty much gone. Their colours and fine detail is always amazing to me, a beauty that needs a bit of attention to be noticed... but then it's hard to go away without touching the leftovers, taking them off the stem to have a closer look at the filigrane complexity.....
Reminds me of ... ageing gracefully... the flowers certainly know how to do it!


First attempt was this, but I thought it needed a bit more attention:

Sunday, November 17, 2013

My Doorstep



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Sebastian from the Photoshop Art workshop came up with this new challenge, where he gives us quotes and we create something that's about the quote.

He is making this a competition, which isn't really for me, so I took a bit of a humorous approach...

I had to think of a photo that I took of the damaged deck at Kahu Road when we moved out when I read the complete quote:

The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.  — Paul Strand 

So I thought I'd make a photo of this doorstep... the frame should show the artistry as well as the handyman work needed and applied.... I also made it all a bit leaning sideways to make sure that it doesn't look too comfortable :-)

So much fun ...

Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Unadulterated Rose


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This morning just before work I took a few photos of our roses, holding the camera against the sun.... and when I looked at the results I was just so happy with myself. There were such good shots, I couldn't believe it.
All day the question was in my head what actually defines 'beauty'. What is it that makes me (or others) gape in awe... what it is that let's me look twice and then again? What is it that touches me so much, from the outside... touching the deepest part of my heart? I haven't got an answer, but my thoughts revolved around this while doing the piece above.

I very much like the quote - Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror......

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Always Watching


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I created this quite a while ago, just trying to come up with contrasts, the way how I experience the world at the moment - colours vs. white..... nature vs. technical looking squares and circles.

The eyes just seemed so fitting, as I also feel that there is a lot of help everywhere, and someone, something, is always watching over me.... over everybody, actually.

Even though one tree is depleted of leaves, and the other is bending to the side - which are all parts of me - I feel very calm, balanced... and excitement (the yellow) is there too :-).

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Leave Your Footprint in the Clouds


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I have been contemplating 'being an artist', and why I am creating these photos and what I want to achieve.... and the more I spend time on this, the more I realise that I do it because I feel so good when I have completed a piece of art.

There is no consideration of other people liking it or not, of it being art or not.... good or bad..... it's the feeling of achievement within myself that makes me start the next one.

"Footprints on the sands of time is kind of like leaving your mark in this world or society"

In opposite to that - leaving my footprint in the clouds, where the sun and the moon will see them.... not worrying about them becoming a 'mark in this world'.

My pieces of art have touched myself... while making them, and after completion.... they have fulfilled their purpose.
If they touch someone else.... wonderful.

I hear the smell of Beauty
I see the speed of Wind
I taste the Rays of Sunshine
... and I leave my footprint in the Clouds....




And then Sebastian posted the following quote on facebook a few days ago:

“To be an artist it is not necessary to make a living from our creations. Nor is it necessary to have work hanging in fine museums or the praise of critics . . . To be an artist it is necessary to live with our eyes wide open, to breathe in the colors of mountain and sky, to know the sound of leaves rustling, the smell of snow, the texture of bark . . . To be an artist is to notice every beautiful and tragic thing, to cry freely, to collect experience and shape it into forms that others can share.” — Jan Phillips

Friday, November 8, 2013

Entitled to...


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I feel such a lot of joy, excitement, playfulness in my life and wish for everybody to have the same. Life is so wonderful in it's small and great occurrences and we really either can allow ourselves to see and experience the greatness... or not.

More joy for the world.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Dare to be Colourful


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Ah, I just wanted to be really messy without getting my hands dirty.... I loooove colours and it can't ever be too colourful. Brushes, splashes, textures, blending... and and and... lots of fun, for sure :-)

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Rose Buds


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Kiril's behaviour changes have upset me so much that I needed to use cat photos for a composition to calm down again.
Only after I had worked on the cats photos with the rose buds in between for quite a while, I realised how suitable the rose buds actually were..... So beautiful, but some thorns in between, ahhhh.......



Tuesday, November 5, 2013

evoL(o)ve


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I saw a short film that somehow showed for a second a photo of the word 'revolt' and how reading (r)evol(t) backwards it is "love".
This made me ponder about other worlds that have 'evol' in it..... like evolve and evolution.... and I just had to play around a bit with this in Photoshop. For no other reason than having fun.

The result shows a bit of 'evolution' in it - the winter tree without leaves on the left, the cracks on the left..... none of that on the right, but beautiful flowers. The butterflies flying from one side to the other are meant to show that there still is a connection... it's not one day this and next day that, there is a flow, with evolution as well as with love. Sometimes there is more change, sometimes less..... sometimes love shows itself clearly, and sometimes it's a bit hidden and has to be looked for or assumed.


The text on the back in from John Lennon:

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Translucent


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I found these flowers yesterday in the garden, hidden behind some large bushes and weeds. After I had trimmed everything away that was obstructing the view, the most beautiful flowers became visible..... (and invited themselves for some photoshop work :-)

Another attempt at the week 7 challenge, see previous post...

Miniature Garden - The Second


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These miniature gardens will become a calendar for my parents in 2015. So there will be 12 of them, or maybe 13, for a cover page.....

My mum and I had quite large differences in our opinions about the definition and treatment of weeds. Maybe she is going to change her mind once she's seen the new calendar :-) :-) :-)

This was done for the 7th weekly challenge of the photoshop artistry class.
We had to take one photo and just use small squares of it without showing the whole piece, but the small squares should still show the whole. And then each of the small pieces should get its own treatment... and the end result should still be pleasing....