You can now find me on deviantART by following this link: http://mkshaw.deviantart.com/gallery/
A few weeks ago I sent out this SOS call on Facebook, on another Blog I write, and on a forum I frequent:
My new goal is to conquer one of those “100 Top Books” lists. However, all the one’s I’ve found are heavy on things like… Vonnegut and Lord of the Flies… you know, books that have the power to make me feel tortured merely by remembering them. So – you are now charged with helping me create my own. Give me your top 5 [at least] favorite books…
I’m happy to say, that my list of 100 books recommended by my friends, family, and fellow bloggers is complete! I will be reading each f the books and blogging on them as I go. If anyone would like to take this epic journey along with me, feel free. I will be starting off with the #1 suggested book - Stephen King’s The Stand.
Many of the books I own, some of which I haven’t even read yet! This is organized by the number of votes a book received, then alphabetically within books that received the same recognition. I may not read them in order, as I’d like to read the ones I have first.
I will be re-reading books I have already read, as I would like to write about things as I come across them. I may have read the Mists of Avalon 8 times already, but that doesn’t mean I remember every page!
I will be blog about the books as I read them on my art/ literature blog [that seldom gets used!]:
I’m even happier to say that my two favorite books of all time are on this list! [The Mists of Avalon and Deerskin].
I’m less happy to report that the DaVinci Code made the list and I have to re-read it. Super. My brain can melt all over again.
And without further adieu…
I have about 1/3 of the photos from my Brother-in-Law and now Sister-in-Law’s Nikah up on webshots. The ceremonies will continue in May, so more photos will be taken then. Here are a couple of my favorite picture from the day… [I prefer high contrast B & White... so there are normally lit color pictures... but what fun are those?]
The rest of the pictures I have on webshots can be seen here:
I love layers.
I love dressing in layers.
If you find my in the middle of July, I’ll still have at least two shirts on. In December, it’s more like three or four.
I love eating in layers.
Watch me eat pizza – I never eat it all together. First I eat the toppings, then I eat the cheese, then I eat the sauce, then I eat the crust. I’ve never eaten an entire slice of pizza without dissecting it.
I love working in layers.
It doesn’t matter if its pastels or paint, I love building layers to achieve the effect I’m looking for.
This adoration of layers and the layering process also exhibits itself in my preferences for other artists. It should come as no surprise to those of you who know photography that my favorite photographer is Jerry Uelsmann. Uelsmann is the master of composite photography. Read the rest of this entry »
I am a firm believer in the thought that the medium we choose to work with has the ability to speak volumes about us. My favorite studio practices are photography and sculpture. My photographic preference is B & W Fiber Base paper. I like creating new images by layering old ones on top of one another. Most frequently I accomplish this by layer a FB print with a Ortho Litho print. I prefer analogue photography over digital photography because it’s a more hands on process and I feel like I have more control over it. I also feel that the process is part of the art.
My sculptural medium of choice is stone. It stubborn and cold, but once you start working with it warms up to you. Not much is left up to chance when it comes to stone, and most shaping is the result of careful planning and effort. Basically, it’s the perfect medium for a control freak.
Because basically, I am a control freak.
Much to my chagrin, some of the most amazing things I’ve created are attributed to a total lack of control.
[This is where I introduce my favorite mistake.]
My first experiences developing and printing on Ortho Litho film were disastrous. I was the photo lab manager and one of the stronger photo students so I could hardly admit I was doing something incorrectly. I blamed it on the chemicals, changed them all and tried again. Same result. So I then blamed it on the film being bad. I mean - come on – I had control of everything and I had not made a mistake. Right? Right. So I threw the print that wasn’t developing from the developer into the garbage can, and called it a day.
An hour later…
My friend comes running out of the Litho darkroom yelling at me to look at what I had thrown away. The picture, which was a portrait of my younger cousin, had started to develop as the developer sat on it in the garbage can. I just hadn’t waited long enough. [Insert karma slapping me in the face here.] Being in the trash can, and not the developing tray, the developer left on the film turned didn’t develop it all the way – it only developed the darkest shadows. It also left various deposits in shades of brown and amber while creating ridiculously awesome patterns and textures on the film. What you see above is a scan of the piece of film as it looked taken out of the trash.
After scanning it, I decided to use it as a contact negative in the color darkroom. I sandwiched the piece of film between two pieces of glass and placed it on top of color paper. I didn’t plan the color settings – I just turned knobs as I saw fit – and I got an array of various colored copies.
And because of this I found myself letting go of my need for control little by little. It led me to purposely let things get out of hand on occasion. I took this route with one of my other Ortho Litho projects and created one my favorite images. [This is an example of a layered FB & Litho image as well.]
As my need for total control lessens I find myself more willing to let other view or read my work, I’ve found that my writing has improved, and I’ve found that overall it makes the process of making art more of a hobby and less of a job or task.
And hey- isn’t that the point?
