Oh, ho, ho it’s MAGIC….

Happy Black Friday, friends! I trust you are all sufficiently stuffed to the gills with turkey and have enjoyed your first round of leftovers (breakfast pie is the best). Are you all donned in your favorite comfortable pajamas and ready to buck standard holiday shopping tradition by shopping everyone’s favorite online marketplace from home rather than elbowing your way through mall crowds and gnashing your teeth through traffic? I sure hope so because do I have some fabulous art to show you! Get a warm beverage of choice (spiked or not… we don’t judge here) and let the Magical Holiday Blog Hop begin!

To celebrate the kick off of our Magical Holiday Blog hop I am offering 10% off of your total purchase for my readers. Just enter coupon code “itsmagic” at checkout (offer good from Nov 25th – December 8th and does not include shipping fees). http://www.etsy.com/shop/KatieCahill.

We have 13 very talented and lovely ladies to admire during the blog hop and I am really excited to be the first in line to introduce them all. I created a special treasury highlighting my favorite items from each artist’s shop to share with all of you so I will just jump into this in the order you will see them down there as soon as I introduce you to our first featured artist on the tour.

Today’s artist is Wini Dougall. I love color! And Wini knows color! Wini studied and received a degree in textile design from RMIT University; her experience and skill shine through her art as does the joy she takes in her craft. She worked as a weave designer in the commercial furnishing industry for nine years and now lets her love of nature; flowers, and color lead her in her artistic endeavors. Wini favors acrylic paints in her work but also uses digital art and other media. Her “Lotus Bloom” art print is gorgeous and is in my treasury list below. Wini is the next stop on our Magical Holiday Blog Hop so remember to stop by and visit her blog tomorrow where you will see all of her favorite Esty shop items, learn a little more about her and tomorrow’s featured artist, Nolwenn Petibois.

 

Have a look around my treasury and browse the wonderful shops in search of your favorite things!

‘Magically Mixed Media Shop Hop ‘ by KatieCahill

My favorite items from the Magically Mixed Media art group shop hop.

Raven clock bottle cap golde…  AlicesSecretDo… $22.00	He Bought the Romantic Farm …  RubyShea $30.00	Folk Original Painting Funky…  MyArtistWithin $50.00	Let Love Reign- Strength …  sunblewis $22.00
The mAgiC Box – mixed media …  eltsamp $50.00	July, the daring — Art Prin…  InnerWorlds $16.00	Bird Cage, limited edition a…  digit13 $23.00	vibrant print of original pa…  CasaCantamar $19.00
No Place Like Home  BKDesignStudio $18.95	OOAK Art Doll Paper Clay Dra…  nancyperennec $425.00	Mixed Media Print of the Ori…  AngelaDiGiovan… $22.00	Lotus Bloom Art Print, 7 x 1…  artlovejoy $15.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

I was immediately drawn to the haunting piece “He Bought the Romantic Farm” in Emily Cline’s shop. This is a print of an original collage she did and the melancholy that the piece stirs really speaks to my soul.

Jennifer McGee Urbanek’s charming “funky lighthouse at night” painting made me smile as soon as I saw it. I lived at the New Dungeness lighthouse as a small child and this painting makes me recall the whimsy of living in such a wonderful place.

Oh! More delightful jewelery! Sun B Lewis’s “Let Love Reign” pendant is an absolutely lovely piece. Made from paintings that she created, this rectangular pendant is a piece that I would be proud to wear.

I have been daydreaming about all of the lovely things that I could stash in the “Magic Box” that El Tsamp has listed in her shop since I saw it. She has adorned this wooden box with three pretty little witches to safeguard your treasures.

Amongst the delightfully colorful paintings of Nolwenn Petibois I saw the sweetest little face peering at me and when I looked more closely I discovered “July, the daring”. I think July and I are kindred spirits and I love the sassy and challenging look she has about her.

I have long been drooling over the limited edition, hand signed “Bird Cage” print in Alicia Caudle’s shop. I love all of her work but this one has always grabbed my attention and I may have to grab it for myself if you don’t get to it first!

I have become quite a fan of the vibrant and lively work of artist Tracy Verdugo and this print of her painting “Breathe Love” is no exception to my admiration. The colors are so rich and wonderful that I want to reach out and touch it.

Being a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz, Kristi Parker VanDoren’s “No Place Like Home” frame jumped right off the screen at me. I especially enjoy the effect of the black and white vintage papers and how it gives the frame a very timeless look.

I love all things supernatural, mystical, and mythical and Nancy Perennec’s art doll “Dragon Girl” is right up my alley! Nancy does amazing work but I have to say that I am feeling particularly attached to this one.

The print of Angela DiGiovanni’s origional mixed media piece “Mother Needs Baby…” has a very classic and peaceful look to it. When I saw this it made me think of a good friend of mine who is a new mommy (and it made me miss my teenage son being a baby). It is quite a soulful piece of work.

I hope you all enjoyed my tour through these shop and I do hope you all go check them out for yourselves! You might just find that one of a kind and special thing you have been looking for

 

 

The image used in this post was used with the generous permission of the George Eastman House Collection in the spirit of the creative commons and was obtained from Flickr Commons. This image has no known copyright restrictions.

Magical Holiday Blog Hop

If you are anything like me you have a difficult time dealing with holiday shopping crowds. Well, if you are anything like me you have a lot more problems than that (I have the number for a good therapist if you need it), but crowds easily overwhelm you. I just can’t take it! I always start out with good intentions. I never go shopping without researching first and calling stores ahead to make sure what I want is in stock and having them hold it aside for me if at all possible but even then holiday shopping is an ordeal at best.

My husband keeps a rather lengthy mental list of my crimes against humanity and I would be willing to bet that a good 75% of those crimes were committed in a panic to get out of a crowded store during the holidays. It is way too overwhelming for me. The artificial lighting, the smells, the noise… oh the noise! Small children shrieking… people talking on their cell phones about potential gift sizes and colors just a little too loudly… piped in holiday music meant to bring cheer that really only makes you want to find and shoot the device responsible for you having to suffer through listening to thirty versions of “Silver Bells” in one day… rude people… bad service… it is all just too much and eventually something in me just snaps. One minute I will be causally browsing and the next I am tripping a small child with my cane or ramming an old woman with my cart! Anyone between me and that door when the fight or flight kicks in is considered collateral damage in that moment.

Of course this can all be avoided by shopping on line, which I do. The only problem with that is the fact that I would much rather shop with small businesses than give the giant chain stores my money. Also, being a “starving artist” myself, I really love shopping the holiday arts and crafts markets for unique gifts while giving my financial support to my fellow artists. If only it were possible to accomplish this while sitting at home in my favorite pink jammies with a cup of coffee in hand and a purring kitty in my lap. Wait! Unlike most situations in life, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too where this is concerned. Etsy!

Yes, you can shop small business and support your favorite artists all from the comfort of your own home! As I am sure you know, Etsy is an online handmade marketplace where artist and craftspeople can sell their wonderful creations and where you the consumer can go to shop for virtually anything under the sun; the possibilities are endless.

In an effort to promote the idea of shopping small businesses and supporting artists and craftspeople (and having a little fun) I have invited a group of my artist friends from the Magically Mixed Art Community group on Facebook to participate in the first annual “Magical Holiday Blog Hop”. This event will run from Friday, November, 25^th through Thursday, December, 8^th; every day you will see a selection of our favorite items from each other’s Etsy shops… you might win prizes or get cool some cool deals and have tons of fun in the process!

During the Magical Holiday Blog Hop you will get 13 days packed with holiday shopping ideas, prizes, and discounts, plus that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting small businesses run by artists and everyday people you might see in your own community (and shopping in your pajamas)! You will find the schedule below. Each day will hold new discoveries and goodies so make sure to drop in for all of them. You don’t want to miss out on any of the fun, do you? I will be kicking off the festivities on “Black Friday” turkey coma or not so I will see you all then!

Magical Holiday Blog Hop Schedule

November 25^th – Katie Cahill 

Blog:http://katiecahillart.wordpress.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KatieCahill

 

November 26^th – Wini Dougall

Blog: http://www.artloveandjoy.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/artlovejoy

November 27^th – Nolwenn Petibois

Blog: http://www.inner-voices.net/

Etsy Shop: http://InnerWorlds.etsy.com/

November 28^th – Kristi Parker VanDoren

Blog: http://kristiscreativecafe.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BKDesignStudio

November 29^th – Emily Cline

Blog: www.emilyclineart.com

Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/RubyShea

November 30^th – Jennifer McGee Urbanek

Blog: http://urbanekdesign.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyArtistWithin

December 1^st – Alicia Caudle

Blog: http://alteredbits.wordpress.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/digit13

December 2^nd – Tracey Verdugo

Blog: http://artoftracyverdugo.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CasaCantamar

December 3^rd – Nancy Perennec

 Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nancyperennec

Blog: http://littlebitwired.blogspot.com

December 4^th – Sun B Lewis

Blog: www.sunshinebarlowe.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sunblewis

December 5^th – Angela DiGiovanni Kemp

Blog: http://AngelaDiGiovanni.com/

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AngelaDiGiovanni

December 6^th – Sharon Rowland

Blog: www.alicessecretdoor.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlicesSecretDoor

December 7^th – El Tsamp 

Blog: http://apinkdreamer.blogspot.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/eltsamp

December 8^th – Katie Cahill

Blog: http://katiecahillart.wordpress.com/

Lumpy Backsides and All

Tags

cameo, cameos, epoxy resin clay, jewelry, mixed-media art, necklace, skull, skull cameos, wearable art

Once again my husband has lovingly informed me that I am “eight pounds of creepy in a five-pound bag”. He just doesn’t get my obsession with the skeletal structure and anatomy of the human body. Frankly, there is a lot about me that he doesn’t get and his weird little nick-names and descriptive phrases are just his way of telling me that he loves me despite the fact that I regularly creep the hell out of him.

His latest bout of the heebie-jeebies was brought on by me presenting him with a small handful of finished skull cameos. Yes! Your eyes were not tricking you! I have finally finished the skull cameos! I ran into several issues at the end of the project because I was unable to find an adhesive that could permanently attach the bails to the back of them. After about four or five attempts I was forced to use my trusty epoxy resin clay and because this was added after the fact the cameos all have a big lump on their backsides.

I was feeling a bit dejected about this a first but when my teenage son and his friends came tromping into my office this afternoon and I saw their reactions to my skull cameos it made me feel like a little lump of resin clay wasn’t quite the end of the world. I will be charging $35 for the skull cameos in the future but because these have this slight imperfection I am only charging $19.99 for the first run of ten. I figured out how I am going to go about attaching the bails for the next run so this won’t be an issue from here on out.

I have mentioned the skull cameos in past entries here but just to refresh your memories, the cameos measure 2 ¼” X 1 ¾” (measurement does not include bail), are made from epoxy resin clay, and come from the mold of one painstakingly hand sculpted master cameo.

Cameos are produced in small runs of 10 with five colors in each run (two of each color available per run). Paint colors are individually mixed with each run and every skull cameo is individually hand textured and painted by yours truly so no two cameos are ever identical. The cameo settings are hand painted in a faux antiqued silver finish on the front and are black on the back. Settings are made from epoxy resin clay as well and sealed with a clear topcoat.  The colors I mixed for this run include “Burnt Crimson” (reddish), “Envious” (greenish), “Bruised” (bluish), “Poison Plum” (deep violet-ish), and “Rotting Fig” (reddish-purplish-brownish).

The skull cameos are now up for sale in my Etsy Shop which you can link to through my store page here at Katie Cahill Art. Keep your eyes open because in the coming days and weeks I will be adding a few art pieces to my shop just in time for the holidays as well!

Art and the Snobs Who Judge It

A friend from a mixed media art group I belong to told a story last night that really irritated me. It irritated me so much that I stewed on it all night last night and started stewing again as soon as my feet hit the floor this morning. In short, she was told that she isn’t an artist and that “there is no such thing as a self-taught artist and basically, unless you go to school you’re wasting your time on craft”. The person telling her this went on to say that “offering classes on collage work was just to pay the bills and if people wanted to learn to go to real artists who taught real life human form and composition”. Clearly whoever said these things is incredibly rude but beyond that, this begs a question that has haunted me for longer than I can remember and one that I think weighs in the minds of other artists.

I went through a lot of phases as a child and each phase that I went through was accompanied by a new “what I want to be when I grow up” (I was a little eccentric… imagine that).  When I was really young I wanted to be a doctor when I was going through my obsession with anatomy that was driven by grandparent’s ancient encyclopedia set. I wanted to be an astronomer or astronaut when my parents got the Time Life Books on the universe. I went through a marine biologist phase every summer when we started spending time at the beach, and the year Mary Lou Retton rocked the Olympic gymnastics world I of course wanted to be a gymnast (this dream was cut short by the broken arm I received when falling off the high bar in gym class).

Of all of those dreams the only ones that I can remember being a constant were to be an artist and writer. In fact, all of the above listed occupations included artist and writer. When withered old relatives who I only saw on holidays asked “what do you want to be when you grow up, dear?” the answer was always “I want to be a [insert childhood obsession of the moment here], and an artist, and a writer”. Said elderly relative always clucked some term of endearment while patting my on the head and trying to stuff a stale piece of candy in my face. They all thought I was cute and laughed but this is what I grew up to become and it took me a lot of years to start calling myself an artist and writer.

Why did it take so long to be comfortable with these titles? Because the world is full of “experts” (aka people with strong opinions) on creative occupations and endeavors.   One would think that going to graphic design school is what finally made me comfortable with calling myself an artist but even that wasn’t enough. To be honest, I don’t think I started calling myself and artist until other people started calling me an artist and I think that has more to do with the fact that I finally started putting my art out in the world so others could see it than it has to do with going to art school.

The question here is, “what makes an artist an artist”? I have been producing art in various forms since childhood. My walls have been decorated with my own artwork all of my adult life but by the person who so rudely informed my art group friend that she isn’t an artist standards I am not an artist. I would assume that I wouldn’t officially be an artist in her eyes until I hold my finished bachelors degree in my hands. But would I really be an artist then? My degree program is graphic design so I am sure she would probably call me a graphic designer and not an artist despite the art I produce and have been producing since I was a lowly self-taught artist.

Before getting to the point I am going to make I thought I would present a few things to you for the sake of argument. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “artist” as follows: 1) One skilled or versed in learned arts b archaic: physician c archaic: artisan. 2) One who professes and practices an imaginative art b : a person skilled in one of the fine arts. 3) Skilled performer. 4) One who is adept at something <con artist> <strikeout artist>. Nowhere in any of those examples of what an artist is did it mention anything about having an art degree. The Encarta Dictionary defines an artist as a “creator of art: someone who creates art, especially paintings or sculptures”. There is nothing in any official definition about having to attend art school to become an artist.

I could quote all of the resource texts in the world and dredge up hundreds of examples of successful self-taught artist, which I thought about doing, but that would not serve the purpose of this article. I don’t care to argue with the art snobs of the world. For me this boils down to common sense. How many musicians do we know of that make millions and millions in record sales each year? Now how many of those recording artist (and they are called recording artists) are classically trained musicians or singers? I am sure there is a small handful but by and large these people started in their garages and paid their dues playing in shitty clubs and dive bars. Do we think of them as anything less than the artist they are because they didn’t study at a big fancy arts school? How many movie stars actually attend acting school? Do we consider the ones who didn’t to be lesser performing artists than we consider the ones who did?

What really stuck in my craw about this and what fueled this article is that fact that when this person told my art group cohort she wasn’t an artist what she was really saying is “I don’t think your work qualifies as art”. Beyond being cruel, that is a completely subjective statement. It was that person’s opinion, not an educated assessment. The very nature of art is subjective. I see plenty of art that I dislike, and if I am being honesty I see a lot of art I can’t stand, but just because I don’t find it appealing doesn’t mean that it isn’t art and that its creators aren’t artists.

The snobbery in the art world is truly atrocious and it comes from the very basic but odd human need to categorize things. We define things by naming them and then further define them by putting them in categories. Our need to describe things and processes is what gives us different art genres but here is the big thing that no one wants to admit. A painting is a painting no matter what style it is painted in and no matter what surface it is painted on. A sculpture is a sculpture, be it chisels in stone or made from found objects and wire. Is a beautifully woven basket any less a piece of art than a portrait? Is mixed media art less artfully executed than art using one traditional medium? I don’t think so. The kind of people who need to define a difference between art and craft are the kind of people who only sat at the “cool kids” table in the lunch room. And the kind of person who would tell someone they are not an artist is the kind of person who dished out wedgies and swirlies in the halls. They are adult bullies and you shouldn’t pay any more attention to them than you did when you were a kid.

Art snobbery is insecurity driven self importance and nothing more. These are the people who NEED others to think they are smart. They cannot peacefully exists unless someone, somewhere thinks they are important but more than anything, these are people who do not know the true joy in creating something beautiful with your own hands (unless they are bitter artist who spent thousands to go to art school and have not yet fulfilled their dreams of being a famous artist). I will leave you with this… “Art: 1) The creation of beautiful or thought provoking-provoking works, e.g. in painting, music, or writing. 2) Beautiful or though provoking works produced through creative activity”; and that is the official definition of art, friends. It only seems logical that if you create art by these standards then you are in fact an artist.

So to my mixed media art group friend and to anyone else who has suffered the feeling of having your creative rug jerked right out from under your feet I say this: Don’t let one turd in the sandbox ruin the experience of putting your toes in the sand. Just scoop it out, toss it aside, and pretend it was never there.

Send in the Clowns

2012 was nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh, it happened but not with the big, cataclysmic thunderclap that all those granola munching, self-important, pothead, conspiracy theorists claimed it would. The world as we know it ended on my fortieth birthday alright, December, twenty-first, two-thousand and twelve. But it had been coming since the turn of the 16^th century. It crept up on us so slowly that only a few felt the brush of its white gloved hand.

We have always been persecuted, for centuries those of us who didn’t fall for the conspiracies and distraction tactics have been burned at steaks, drown, hung by our necks from ropes, taken away to detention facilities, and tucked away in padded cells. They have fed us all the pills in the world… crazy… criminals… witches… they have called us many things but now they seek us out, worship us as oracles. Some have packed up their bitterness and retreated so far underground they will never be found again. The rest of us, the ones who have something to loose, we take what we can in trade from you fools so that we can survive. Don’t even make the mistake of believing that any of us do it because we care about those who shunned and mistreated us.  We only want what the rest of you do; to live out the rest of our days warm and with full bellies.

I have survived forty years like this and am an old woman now. I did this for my children and grand children. When I am gone I don’t know what will happen but I have trained those who also see well and this is all I could have done to ensure the family’s safety. I have contracts signed in blood, this in exchange for my services, contracts that promise their protection… but in the end these are just words on paper.

Sometimes I laugh at you all. I laugh until my weary old bladder gives way and I have to change my clothes. Not an easy task with a full body cackle wracking my arthritic joints. You all see what has happened now. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful invention? Now that the aliens, who tried to help and warn us for decades, openly deliver what news we still get in their true forms rather than disguising themselves as humans… now that the Olympic athletes compete freely with their gears agleam and wires aglow in a state of pre-programmed pride… now that all of the politics have been decided for us… Now you can see what puppets we have been, but what good does it do you? If only you would have listened instead of ridiculing and making jokes. If you hadn’t been such fools we wouldn’t have to live in a world like this.

It was all distraction. All the wars, the political debate, the religion… all of it was just a way to busy your pathetic little minds. All of it fabricated and presented to us as acts in one long comedy of errors. But none of you listened, did you? If my survival didn’t depend on your pathetic need for guidance I would delight in watching your demise just as I did in the beginning.

How did none of you see it? The politicians spewing their rhetoric only to be exposed doing the very things that they so easily convinced you that you shouldn’t be doing by the aliens. None of them cared what you thought. You were a joke to them. How could you see them for anything other than clowns without their makeup? Oh yes, they freely wear that pancake garbage now. Their faces painted white around dead eyes, false smiles drawn around mouths full of fangs they no longer file down, baggy Technicolor trousers protecting those barbed tails, and over sized shoes and gloves housing razor sharp talons the size of magic markers. Now you see the daemon clowns for who they really are because they let you. And they let you because you fear them as you should have all along. But you wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t listen to me or anyone else who knew what they were.

You labeled us, made up names for our “condition”! Coulrophobia! Ha! Such fools you all are! My suffering is over. Now that you all see them for what they really are, now that you all cower in fear and run away, smothered in your hysteria at their sight, I can rest easy. I now understand that my fear was never of clowns but of what the rest of you didn’t’ see. I wasn’t frightened for myself or of what they would do to me; I was frightened by what you people were going to let them do to this world and now that is has happened I no longer have anything to fear.

You are their slaves. You work for scraps and what shelter they allow you to have, when they allow you to have it. Those of you brave or stupid enough to lodge a complaint when you are mistreated in an out of the ordinary way, those of you who dare seek medical care or make requests for aid suffer through the agonizingly ridiculous task of communicating with mimes and every last one of you leave in defeat if you leave with your lives.

I don’t’ know how much time I have left here; it could be five years or another twenty, although I do hope that I don’t live to be a hundred-years-old. I do know that I will not make it to see the uprising. The plans are in motion and I know this because I have been involved from the beginning but we are decades away from being organized enough to take them on and succeed. I will do my work until my last breath fails to fill my lungs but understand that I do not do it for you who let this happen. I do it for mine and mine alone.

The only satisfaction that I have is knowing that one day the revolution will come and that those of my children’s, children’s, children’s, children who survive will live in a world free of clowns. This thought brings me peace on most days. And the days when I am so wracked with despair I feel I will never move from my bed again the thought of your faces lifts me from my tattered bedding.

Forcing myself to recall my fortieth birthday, that crisp cold winter solstice night as we exited Mary’s Club to hail a cab, the night we first heard that damned bastardized, Wagneresque rendition of Judy Collins’ “Send in the Clowns” blaring from every rooftop of every building in every city of every nation… the night the clowns revealed themselves for who they really are in mass… it is the looks of confusion and terror on your ridiculously naïve faces that are my driving force when I can find nothing else to fuel my soul; for I am a bitter old woman and it will soon be my time to go.

©Katie Cahill

Class-y Photography

Tags

digital art, digital image manipulation, graphic design, photo editing, Photography

OK, I was going to come up with a witty title using song lyrics about photography for this but I realized that there are a lot of really depressing and/or cheesy songs that make reference to photography/pictures! BLAH! I just don’t have that in me today so let’s get on with it.

Today is the last day of my photography class. It was a huge challenge for a couple of reasons. Anyone who has followed this blog for more than a day knows that I am not the best photographer but I have learned a lot in the last several weeks and am thrilled by the prospect of getting better images of my work to you.

I do feel a little better about past photographic sins after learning to use a camera that has full manual settings. The only camera I have had prior to this is my little Nikon “point and shoot” and I now know how many limitations these cameras have! My biggest issue in the past has been lighting and with a fancier camera you have so many options in compensating for your lighting situation that it is difficult to take a bad photo once you get the hang of the controls. That is not to say that I can magically take beautiful photographs on a regular basis but I would say that two or three of each twenty photos I shoot work well and look good with retouching in Photoshop. That is good enough for me!

My final assignment for this class was to reshoot the self-portrait I took on the first day applying the knowledge I gained during class. The first picture you see in this post is my self-portrait. I took a more artistic approach to this assignment because I don’t really enjoy having my picture taken and I am just too lazy to get all dolled up in the middle of the day for a photo shoot (plus, I have a weird rash on my face at the moment and vanity weights very heavily in situations like this).

Here are a few highlights from my class…

These were the result of experimenting with depth of field through the use of aperture settings and were the first photos I took in class that I was really excited about and that my professor gave me big complements for (he asked to use them as an example in future classes!).

This is one of my favorites. We were doing photos in natural light and I took this of my cute little garden fairy that lives under the birdfeeder in our flower bed. We also had several lessons in editing and touching up photos with Photoshop that week so I was able to really bring out the features and beauty in this little statue.

The next three are from the week we worked on photographing 3-D objects (we had taken photos of 2-D objects the week before, which is what really applies here when I am posting pictures of my artwork). I was getting a lot more comfortable with the settings on my camera and how to make them do what I want them to do.

Last week we studied a famous photographer of our choice and then after doing a research paper about the person we were to take photographs emulating their style. My choice was Linda McCartney. I love her work, especially her black and white photography. I also love how intimate her photos are and how they tend to generate the feeling that you are seeing something that you were never intended to see. It is as if you have snuck into the room and get to watch an interaction that no one knows you are seeing.

I don’t know that I was able to emulate her style exactly but I really love the way these photos turned out. I think I am going to have the ones of my son printed and framed.

Over all I must admit that I am very proud of my work in this class. I have learned so much! I think I am most definitely a better photographer for my experience and as ridiculous as it seems, I believe I have gained yet another hobby (as if I have time for that)!