Old Baker Farm Photos

My Flickr page has been updated again with new pictures from this past weekend. My coworker and I went to Old Baker Farm in Harpersville, Alabama over the weekend to attend their Fall Festival. It was fantastic! They had Civil War reenactments, old-timey shootouts, a hay ride, pumpkin patch, Native American Dancing, and arts and crafts. The weather was absolutely perfect: crystal clear blue skies and a high of around 70.

I ended up taking around 600 photos. I went through them all last night and deleted 400 of them, leaving me with 204 shots that I felt were worthy of keeping. I am fairly ruthless and relentless when it comes to my photo editing. I only want to keep pictures that mean something to me or that I think convey a certain spirit or feel. As far as editing them in Photoshop, I mostly stick to cropping and bumping up the color or correcting the color if I can. Nothing too major; just trying to recapture what I saw in person. Hopefully I will be able to get a killer DSLR soon which will open up lots more possibilities for me. I have a film SLR (a Nikon FM10, but I definitely want to invest in a digital SLR camera. Right now I'm using my trusty Panasonic FZ20 and Panasonic TZ5. I'm saving the Holga for other things at the moment.

I've provided a taste of my pictures above; please go to the Flickr page to see more! If we're friends on Facebook, you can see nearly 100 photos from this glorious day.

Flickr Updated!

I've updated my Flickr account with some new photos (an example of which is above), and I would love for you to click here to check them out! Last weekend I went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and took some of the best photos of my entire life with my little Panasonic TZ5 point-and-shoot. That small camera is an absolute marvel!

To be honest, I'm really doing a lot of thinking and ruminating over my photography. I've been using my Holga like mad (still waiting on my photos to come back from the lab) and I really want to do a series of the backroads of Alabama photos. I want to explore places one wouldn't usually see, and try to capture something about the place. I'm very, very excited at the possibilities, and I'm looking into investing in a DSLR by the end of the year. I also have a trip planned for New England over the Thanksgiving holiday and I hope to come away with some amazing images from there as well. Hopefully this is the start of me getting back into photography with a serious passion!

More Sketching

Another sketch from the new J. Crew catalog. Nothing much to say about this one, other than I'm super proud of that hand!

Quick Sketch

Drew the above last night fairly quickly. It was nice to get the colored pencils out again. The image is from the new J. Crew catalog, which I am presently lusting after.

Materials: 9 x 12 inch pastel paper, Prismacolor colored pencils

Blast from the Past

I went through some of my old sketchbooks this morning, looking for a drawing that I seem to have misplaced, when I came across these studies that I drew several years ago. I'm quite proud of them. Both were done in pen and ink (with a nice wash in the case of the nude studies). I think that it's important to look back to where you've been to see where you're going, so I figured I would share these with my readers.

Nancy Drew

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love Nancy Drew, to the point of obsession. I have all of the old, yellow-spine books (including two original first prints!), as well as the blue-spine reprints from Applewood. I have a Nancy Drew address book, a Nancy Drew cookbook, a biography about the creators of Nancy Drew; you name it, I have it (or I will soon). I could not overestimate what these books mean to me; they take me back to my childhood, sitting on the porch in summertime, the sun beating down upon my skin, and nothing more to do than read and have fun. I even made my own Nancy Drew paper dolls at one point, with outfits based on my favorite novels, and clues and settings also based on my favorite books. I guess I was feeling a bit nostalgic today, so I grabbed one of the books (#44, The Clue in the Crossword Cipher) and drew my own version of the cover, which was painted by Rudy Nappi. I had a lot of fun drawing this, and I may pull out some more books and give them a go as well!

Materials: 11 x 14 inch Windpower Vellum Bristol by Strathmore, colored pencils

Holga Pictures

A short time ago I bought a Holga medium-format camera. I went to downtown Birmingham on a Saturday, when it is basically a ghost town, and took two rolls of film, with 12 pictures to a roll. I clearly messed up, because I only got four usable pictures, and one entire roll was destroyed because I didn't wind it back up tightly enough, meaning that all of the pictures on that roll were exposed to light. Still, I really do like these four photos, and it was nice to shoot film again, and to have to actually WAIT (for nearly two weeks!) to see what my pictures looked like. I ordered some more 120mm film from Adorama this week, so once it comes in, I hope to get back out there and do some more shooting.

Nude Woman # 1

It took me nearly a week, but I finally got around to this painting. It is based on a study I did last year. I'm really quite happy with it. I sketched out the image over a week ago and it pretty much just sat around on my desk until this week. I ordered a bunch of new colors from Dick Blick that came in this week, so I got to open fresh new tubes of acrylic and paint with brand new brushes. So much fun.

This painting is now up in the shop if you'd like to see more pictures of it.

Materials: 8 x 10 x 1 inch canvas panel, acrylic paint

Reflection

By the time I finished the above painting yesterday, my fingers were absolutely cramped to the bone. The pain was worth it, though, as I'm very happy with the result. I think it's quiet and contemplative, and I'm pleased with how well the colors went together.

To see more pictures, or to purchase, please go to the shop! Update: SOLD!

Materials: 11 x 14 inch canvas, acrylic paint

Delighted

I am SO HAPPY with the above painting. I apologize for not having a good, straight-on picture, but the weather has been icky so I haven't had any decent natural light. Plus, I'm too lazy to get my tripod out and work with my indoor lighting.

The above painting was painted on a gallery-wrapped canvas. I had this canvas for a while, but I was too afraid to use it because it cost more than the typical canvas. I've always had a strange issue with not wanting to "mess up" nice canvases and papers. I've been known to buy cute notebooks and never write in them, for fear of soiling their beauty. I am glad that I took a chance on this canvas, though, because I just love the outcome. I think she's so chic and put together, and I'm really very proud of the subtlety in the facial shadows and highlights.

Although I may eventually add this to the shop, I want to enjoy it for myself for now.