Over Three Months Without a Single Post? WTF?

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

48″ x 48″ Acrylic on Canvas

I do have a bit of a habit to go into hibernation during the Winter months!  I can honestly say that I am ready for the approach of Spring!  I can not complain, even though this Winter had its sporadic cold weeks, it really has not been too bad.  I took advantage of the cold weather this year to spend more time in my painting studio.  I did manage to get out to do some snow camping a couple of times, do some cold weather photography, and enjoy the magnificent sunsets that occur this time of year. But my most productive time was spent in front of the easel.  I share with you all today a series I recently completed of the four seasons.  These abstract, interpretive landscapes were simply a wonderful joy to create.  I love painting large and I love color!

Mini Rasta Painting Show!

What a great First Friday we had for May at Liberty Town Arts Workshop! It was the opening of the Patrons Show, and in Studio 26 it was a one night mini show of the Red, Green and Yellow. On display were four 8″ x 8″ acrylic on canvases, four 4″x 6″ acrylic on photo paper, and four acrylic on canvas 24″ x 48″ paintings. While the smaller works were complete and ready for purchase, what most people did not realize is that the larger canvases were a work in progress. What you see in this photo, is what the work looks like before the finishing layers are applied. The colors that “show through” on my paintings are the first three to four layers of paint, which is what was displayed on Friday night. I will post the finished work soon, and you will see exactly what I am talking about!

Departure

Where is it that we find peace?
Do we often recognize it when we do?
If so, then how do we know?
Do we accept it or let it go?

Perhaps Peace is nowhere to be found,
a symbolic harvest that is grown with no ground.
It’s breath is given, such as yours and I,
without worldly constraint, no water and no sky.

What appears before us, most likely we see.
For our senses we most often use blindedly.
Our reflection in a mirror we accept is not real,
what stands before it, we believe is what feels.

To grow a garden, we use the elements as such.
But to cultivate peace, maybe not so much.
So then, where is it that we may find Peace?
We simply accept and allow it, and of course Let It Go!

Dancing Jewels and Outer Space (Photographic Delight)

I am not sure what the world looks like when one is not looking, but I sure do like to go hunting for surprises!  I have been shooting some video here and there with the goal of accumulating some good footage that I can later use to produce a self promotion video of my work.  I have several ideas for different segments of the footage, but some times I stumble upon the best footage by just being out shooting my work.

I headed to the river early this morning to shoot the sun rising above the water.  I have scouted two great locations and have been waiting for the weather to provide a desirable balance of clouds.  This, I feel, is really just a way to practice patience!  There were no clouds this morning, but there was something magical right there in front of me.  The sunlight was dancing upon the water, just as happy as it could be.  I thought that the motion would make for a great clip in my video, but then I saw something else.

As I watched water glisten, I could see that the foreground (bottom) was darker than the background (top) of the frame.  This was due to the trees and the river bank casting shadows onto the water.  The sun illuminated the river in the background giving the water a translucent quality.  I envisioned the sun on the water as stars bouncing here and there.  I envisioned the river being much bigger that it really was, like a sea.  I then imagined the stars dancing on the water, then leaping off the edge of the world into the night sky.

In order to capture my vision through the lens, I had to make a few adjustments.  I shot using a polarizing filter to accentuate the brightest part of the light, creating a star effect.  The polarizer also allowed me to control the reflection of the ambient light on the surface of the water.  I decided to use a very narrow aperture setting (F/22) to reduce the light entering the camera because I wanted to use a longer exposure (1/60 sec.) to enhance the translucent quality of the river in the background.  A 1/60 sec. shutter speed may not really qualify as a long exposure 99% of the time, but given the fact that I was actually shooting the sun as it was reflected by water, I consider it to be long in this case.  In order to darken the foreground even more I used a graduated neutral density filter to stop the light even more at the bottom of the frame while leaving the top of the frame unaffected.  This created the “outer space” part of the shot.

I would say that the morning was quite enjoyable.  I watched the sun come up, got some great footage, and found a great surprise along the way!  If you like this photograph, please come visit my galleries at www.christopherthomaslimbrick.com or like my Facebook page!

 

 

A Fine Artist’s Color Palette

“A Winter Solace”  The Departure Collection Elemental, Volume II

There is just nothing quite like the exquisite color palette provided by Mother Nature.  I am a photographer for the most part.  The only thing that means is that the visual images that I create begin with a set of colors that are captured using a camera body and a lens.  Sometimes I am a painter.  The only thing that means is that I may introduce a few other tools with which I use to craft the image.  While I primarily work with digital media in my workflow, I sometimes will actually use paint on canvas, paper, or some other substrate.  No matter what I may create, no matter the tools used, with no matter paid to really anything at all I am simply awed by Mother Nature’s colors.

The image above began life with the press of the shutter button while I was standing in a farmer’s field as the winter wind blew over the dormant earth.  Landscape photographers know that Winter is a great time of year for breathtaking sunsets.   The air is clear this time of year and our relative position to the sun offers something that is just magical when mixing up a palette of color across a canvas sky.  I often work with strongly intentioned blurred images that are most of the time infused with camera motion.  These methods are employed in each series of my “Departure Collection” of fine art photography.  In each and every one of these art pieces, Mother Nature has provided the entire color palette from which I work.

There is no rhyme or reason to my workflows.  I really have no idea where I am going with an image during its creation.  I usually have a general idea of what the final image may end up looking like, but I work with a spiritual mindset and really try to practice not controlling the image.  I try to let my natural wants about how I may think the image should be subside to make room for how the image is just going to be.  Life on Earth is just a journey through phenomena.  Hopefully the journey is a beneficial one where we learn along the way the lessons that will gain us the wisdom that unlocks the simplicity of happiness for everyone.   I see the creation of the art that I produce as such a journey.  One of the most wonderful things about this journey is that is always a down right colorful one!

To see more of The Departure Collection, please visit my official website www.christopherthomaslimbrick.com and click on the Gallery link.

 

Cold Mountain and Fine Art

 

I still shiver from the cold when I look at this photograph.  The photograph itself is cold.  Perhaps I still remember with clarity my experience on the mountain that night.  I remember how my body witnessed the rapidly falling temperature that started below freezing as the sun set below the horizon and the wind whipping up the mountain side over forty miles per hour.  I remember the solitary grays and blues of the landscape as the earth traded the warm glow of the sun for the cold white light of the moon.  I sought refuge from the wind behind boulders of granite as I watched Mother Nature paint the sky for the final time that day.  Perhaps it is the power of the art that now conveys such an experience.

The earth provides us with an abundance of entertainment.  At any given moment in any given place, the ball of rock that we walk upon generates countless channels of quality programming.  I am not a connoisseur of television.  I spend a considerable amount of time “staring into space”, so to speak.  Much of this time I am simply enjoying the show.  My practice as a landscape photographer runs congruent with my spiritual practice.  Both lead me to the moment.  Sometimes that moment is pretty damn cold.

I do not shoot what I see.  I shoot what I feel.  I shoot what I perceive.  What ends up framed in white mat board and hanging on the wall above the sofa is not a capture of what I saw, it is not the result of a place in time, nor is it a documentary tale.  It is simply an experience, one that continues indefinitely.  Fine art is powerful because it moves us.  It makes us feel.  It reflects us, it makes us think, and it sometimes disturbs us or makes us feel uncomfortable.  When I venture to a location that I want to shoot, I generally have a pretty good idea about what I am after.  In most cases, I have been there before.  What I never know though is what I am going to feel.  I do not know anything exactly.  When I get there I sit.

Before I set up my camera gear, measure the light, look for a composition, or anything else photographic for that matter, I just sit.  I watch, I listen, I feel, I smell everything around me.  After some time the photograph begins to build, inside me.  It is the experience that is the powerful component.  While it can not be captured, it can be conveyed.  Just like a story, once learned, can be retold, it is the experience that I aim to convey when I press the shutter button.