This is the beach I pick my sea glass and yes, I have found red!
I have incorporated seaglass into my collages. When I look at my sea glass it reminds me of everytime my husband has taken me to Rockport in the fall, winter, spring and summer for the past 6 1/2 years.
Peek into places like my red barn, find how else you can take photos, what other locations to take pictures of the same item or building or person.
Think unequally, different, where would people not look to take a picture, and try to go there if it is legal of course:) Do not invade someones privacy please.
I need to learn more about glare with windows, (I had a camera that automatically got rid of glare from glass), but this camera does not do it. I was more interested in capturing what I could see through the window; the "idea" of the photo was my main interest not necessarily the quality of picture but that wouldn't hurt if I get how to set my camera right. I have the Canon Rebel (I can't think of the model) and I was playing with all of the settings yesterday. Upteen million it seems like.
Anyway, I love looking through doorways, windows, spaces between buildings, gates, fence openings…
Then I snap the picture.
When taking pictures of the red barn in Rockport, I found that the building was not conveniently placed for some of the shots I wanted. Perhaps I liked the color of the buildings, or the bushes and scenery around, but when I went to take the shot, the red barn was cut off. It would not have mattered if I had a different lense. I don't know what building was built first, the red barn or the house I was standing in front of. I tried anyway. It is fun to try.
I can always do a painting where I see the red barn in between the buildings just with the right proportions if I want to. It is my painting, right?:)
We as artists collectively need to keep our eyes opened, our intuition opened, our feelings opened, keep our perseptions open, and paint, drawing, sketch, collage, build, what is in our hearts. But, look closely at what you are going to work on.
What I realized this week when I was at Rockport, was all of the many textures, patterns, line, perspectives were right in front of me including color, the values, houses, whether they were complimentary or colors next to each other on the color wheel.
Look closely and see the texture of rope compared to cement, to wood, to metal, to glass, pavement, grass, flowers, animals, peoples skin. Imagine looking at all of this through a magnifier. There would be textures that were similar and textures that were different.
Work these ideas into your drawings and paintings. When working on a collage, think of texture when cutting out images from magazines, newspapers, books, pictures, and work those textures into the art piece.
As artists, we have every imagineable thing opened to us in the art world.
I noticed as I was taking some shots on my vacation in Rockport, were the repeated patterns I saw in store windows, on the side of buildings or just lobster traps piled on top of one another. Repeating patterns I somehow identify with. The objects carry my eyes from left to right, or right to left. If there is an object that repeats going off to the horizon line, that draws my eye away from the foreground to the background. Repeated patterns in art draw my eye to the movement of the pieces rather than necessarily knowing what the objects are. Then my eyes draw in closer to discuss what the objects are representing. In the window of Blue Lantern, the owner has various little fairies in each windowpane to show the customer the variety of sourvenirs, but my eye caught the colors and the number of these little dolls. There were more in other windows also.
The bright yellow lobsta traps attracted me for the brightness and value of color along with the texture of the metal and rust. Light was filtering through the holes of the traps.
The photo of the red barn is a bit faded please pardon that, but I wanted you to see the small buoeys hanging on the side of the building, repeating their primary colors and stripes.
The sea shell guy has his star fish as the focal point to his store front. I stole his idea and tacked my star fish with ribbon and fancy tacks into a window that I am hanging.
See if you can incorporate take an object, and repeat it in a collage, or painting.
i give the artist below alot of credit for doing an oil painting plein air. He had his jeep right next to his easel, and he did not seem to care that I was taking his picture. He seemed to be pretty concentrated.
His style work was impressionistic I thought. No, I did not talk to him. I was kind of quiet myself yesterday, and just wanted to shoot pictures. So I got him a few times.
This building is so popular.
I have wondered why certain places are like movie stars. They attract everyone. I have people from all countries visiting here. It is a small quaint town.
At Christmas time they have a wonderful live nativity scene and a parade of sorts, with Christmas music playing from the church nearby, and Mary, Joseph, baby, sheperds, and animals come strolling slowly up the street. People huddled up on the sidewalks watching this event are singing Christmas Carols. It was something I am so greatful to have experienced. Then in the summer, you have tons of tourists strolling, buying little gifts, bebopping in and out of the galleries.
I don't mean to bore you. The reason I took so many shots was because I wanted to show you how different this building can be far away, up close, on a cloudy day, blustery day. I so want to capture it during the dead of winter. I have the Nebble Light house in the winter storm months.
Before painting, or drawing, taking alot of pictures of what you want to work on. You may find that a different angle of something may make it the most interesting piece of art. Everyone usually takes this picture the same way. I found a couple of photographers sneaking and doing some photography in areas I have not seen people.
That is what I love about photography, trying to get somewhere, where no one has tried or gone to sneak the picture I love looking through windows, screens, porch rails, between houses to get a photo. None of these photos of the red barn between buildings came out well, but give you and myself a different perspective of one thing. So, if you are going to draw something with this unusual perspective, practice and make sure you have your horizontal line where you want it in your drawing. The placement of your main object has to be just right with the horizontal line. That is where we artists make our first mistakes.
I have gone to Rockport so often, that I thought I should get to really know it with the eye of the camera!
Yesterday, for vacation (we are doing day trips), we went to Rockport to sit on the beach, shop, and work on my photography. When we got to the beach, it was pretty much high tide, so my husband grabbed his chair with his Glen Beck book, I continued on to the shops with my kids and lost them along the way to a coffee shop and myself to the asian store. The stores in Rockport begin to have their fall sales and boy can you find great gifts for Christmas because everything is %50 off or better. The shops are not busy, no crowds and unique items.
As I was wondering from shop to shop, to see what the sales were, and if there was anything interesting and worth purchasing for a summer souvenier I worked my way on down to the dock. There, a man was working on what I believed to be an oil painting, and I snagged him in some pictures. He was painting the most beautiful place in photography. I would love to know how many amateur and professional photographers along with painters and drawers have done this. Sometimes, I just wish they would do an art show, and have people come that have pieces of their work on this building. People travel from all over the world to come here. Rockport along with Gloucester and Kennybunk are favorites for that real beach feel and to work it into your home decor if you like beachy type of nic nacs.
I did find a scarf, head band and hair clip in Blue Lantern. I have befriended the man and woman in the store. We do not speak much to each other because I do not speak their language, but they say hello, and I say thank you and that is about it, but I found a pair of earrings a couple of years ago that I have gotten many opinions about them and the Blue Lantern is where I bought them.
So I had a fun art day, working on my photography, and getting clothing ideas.
Wake up on that Saturday morning to your kids asking you "What are we going to do today mommy?"
Take them to an art gallery or someones studio.
My husband and I love going to Rockport in Massachusetts. There was a printmaking gallery there. I befriended the older woman and was able to set up an appointment with her to have my children come in one day and use her supplies, paints, and heavy press printer under her supervision. She spent three hours with them.
To pay her back because she was quite old, my husband and I did a few errands in the gallery with her.
There have been times when Dan and I have been driving somewhere, and saw interesting galleries. Stop, because most of the time, the artists, if not overly busy, love showing their work, their skills, and their techniques. We again, stopped a printmaking gallery in Connecticut.
I have made an appointment with a glass blowing gallery. My children have attended my town's art group meetings. Enjoying the time with each child is a memory.
Luke, my second oldest son, called me over a year ago. He was taking art in college and wanted to talk to me about his class and his ideas for the final project. We had to have been on the phone for at least 1 1/2 hours. The topic brought us really close and I couldn't believe I was talking to my son about art. Art was not his favorite subject in homeschooling even though he was a very good drawer. Most of my kids were like that even though I am so passionate about art. When they have had to do art in a college class, or have had to create a graphic design on the computer for family business, it is then that I realize everything I have taught them as their "art teacher" has been accomplished and I just sit there and boast in my mind. I don't say a word:)
Today, we were invited by a sister-in-law to go for a day vacation to Chatam Cape Cod. The Cape is so different from other beaches in Massachusetts. The feel of the ocean and the shingles of the homes are so different than like Rockport or Gloucester. All being the same Atlantic Ocean, but completely different feels to them. Rockport and especially Gloucester have the real fishermen, colonial home type feel. The Cape is like the Atlantic Ocean set before your eyes. Each home has a rustic beige or greyish look to them. Purplish blue hydrangeas are a main bush in front of their homes. I am told that it depends on the acidity of the ground that determines how purple, blue or pink they are.
The home we visited is at the end of a dead end road. The owner has 3-4 homes all kind of side by side in it's own lilttle neighborhood. We had the second to the best view out of all the homes; facing the wetlands and grasses and to the left the ocean. The best house faces the ocean.
Well, let me tell you about my day. First of all, we wanted to talk to our friends and family because we have not seen them for a couple of years so we had to catch up; until the teens wanted to head to the beach.
I couldn't find part of my bathing suit so I had to wear a tee shirt and shorts but that was ok. The tide was low so there were sand bars where the kids and my husband included swam over to to play and see a different aspect of the ocean. I was very happy with my camera and finding all of the beautifyl pearlescent yellow insides of shells. I am dying to someday make a curtain out of them and white shells. Forgetting a bucket, cup or bag, I had to fill my pockets with the shells and anything else that I found was important to me. I found a huge shell, the kind you listen to to hear the ocean; most of the top part was gone but I took it anyway. I will bleach it and maybe create a little scenery inside of it. Then I found a hermit crab in a shell. So I just had to poick them up and place some wet seaweed on top to keep him moist.
I have had hermit crabs before so I figured maybe I could put him in a little tank and keep him. I hope he makes it. He was quite far from the water's edge anyway and usually hermit crabs live on sand and just need a shell filled with water int he tank so tht they can crawl in and bathe or drink.
Well, anyway, as I was walking on the sand and rocks, I retwisted my injured knee and wasn't sure I would make it the rest of the way but I did; resting it when I got back tot he house.
In the meantime, not just shells did I pick, but plenty of rose hips. I am taking an herb class on herbmentor.com and I can make different things with the hips. They may not have been as ripe as I would have liked but hopefully I will get the vitamin C that I want from them for the winter time.
So, I left for home with a full belly, my family always feeds us good, a bit of a sunburn after resting in the 94 degree sun on the deck, a sore knee, but photos, shells, rose hips, dried hydrangeas, a hermit crab and last but not least, a bit of pottery from the man down the street that is not just a potterer but a gardner too.
This man's little black cat almost 17 years old layed out next to my husband in the back of the little cozy shack, snoozing while I looked at all the little pieces of pottery he makes. His store is on the edge of this little street and year after year, I pop in for a visit and never purchase anything even though I would have loved to. His prices ran so inexpensively and you could pick up a little starfish for $1.00 up to about $24.00 for a dish.
I found a wonderful little dish, with a bit of a dip in it as though it could be a very shallow bowl. Rough in texture, this bowl has a glossy shiny fish on top of it. I picked up a couple little starfish and placed them in the dish and I have it next to my sink. I put my home-made patchouli soap in it but not sure if that is where I'll keep it or what I'll keep in it. Ask my kids, I am always changing everything around.
Anyhow, the shack that I was in had glass pieces hanging int he window witht he reflection of light peeking through each piece; purple, blue, gold, green of different shades were these round recycled glass pieces with an imprint of something the middle of each circle. He creates angels with their hands lifted up in all different sizes, he makes sheep in different sizes and colors, lions, vases, baskets and he sells garden ornaments of different kinds. Fountains of water trickle in his tiny little yard with pacasandra and vines growing over the ground with pea stone and stepping stones to walk by. Bird houses and his pieces of pottery along the wall for you to purchase. I don't know how he makes money, I think he just likes living at the ocean and working in his other shack where the pottery is made piece by piece. To me it seemed like "What a Life"!
