pixels, light and hot wax

I love the new collections feature on Artfire  (sort of kind of like Etsy treasuries), which feels like a combination of treasure hunting and going on a buying spree without actually spending any money (since I don’t have any at the moment.)

I’ve made two so far, with more definitely on the way:

When I first got this weeks Photo Friday prompt “photoshop skills” I wasn’t really sure which set of skills would be most appropriate, but I couldn’t really pass up this topic, now could I?

I haven’t figured out a really spiffy way yet to do before-and-after retouching display, so you are getting a photoillustration instead; the final version of Space Koi:

Space Koi, 2010. Photoillustration

It’s not the most photoshop intensive of my photoillustrations (that would be probably be one of the fantasy/goddess photoillustrations) but it is the one that I hadn’t yet posted the finished version of to my blog or website. (oops)

I have a 12×12 sheer metalprint of this in my shop, and it’s just yummy and sparkly.

The next leg of the abstract flower tour will be a stopover this August much closer to my own neighborhood: at the PizzaWorks in Bothell. This will be a subset of the work from the Fremont show, with a few new pieces mixed in.

Pizzaworks is unique, in my experience of local pizzerias, for offering not only vegetarian, but also vegan, wheat-free, and gluten-free options.

(and I thank them not only for the opportunity to show, but also for another reprieve in figuring out where to store all these large framed prints.

I’m hanging today (the 2nd) so stop in between the 3rd and the 31st for a slice or a grinder, eh?

2 new photographs and one old one (and the first not-a-flower) will be making their framed debut tonight, assuming there isn’t some horrible mishap with the drill:

(Edited to add: while there were no power tool mishaps, there was an epic tantrum. So these three did *not* get framed in time, alas.)

Cherry Blossom #98 (from my Lapin cherry tree)

Queen of the Night Tulip

Anemones in Pink and Green

My Sofobomo project is done, and ready to look at

20 Steps, a book of lumen prints by Jeliza Patterson

(and take the time to check out some of the other books. A couple standouts for me were Toshizaku Fujiwara’s 88 Temple Pilgrimage and Lucy Aboytes’ Urban Flux)

I will definitely do it again next year, though next year, I’m using a camera. (Not that I’m stopping with the lumen prints, but next year I want to really tell a story and design a book around it; this is more of a portfolio. I will be getting a physical copy printed, though, because I want to check out a potential new printer for A la Carte, so it will be a 5×7, hard-bound book with a linen cover, in my hands by late August.)

The most recent lumen print, which I am totally crazy about:

Lumen Print, Ilford Multigrade RC, English Ivy

And this love is good, because if I’m going to continue, I need to open the box of fiber paper, which is oddly scary, even though I know it is no longer darkroom-capable. I think the nice, thick leaves of the English Ivy — which trap the condensation underneath themselves, on the paper, rather than evaporating out — are definitely a pointer to where I should be focusing the rest of my printing.

words when I have more brain. for now, a few of my favorites from this weeks experiments:

Dandelions. Lumen Print. 8×10 on Ilford Multigrade RC.

Wilting Calla Lilies. Lumen Print. 5×7 on Ilford Multigrade Cooltone RC.

Japanese Maple, partially pressed. 5×7. Ilford Multigrade Cooltone RC.

My entry is here (which is my usual “your choice of print”). Bidding is from July 15 until July 30.

Information about the recipient are here. Information about bidding and offering is here.

Since my only digital camera is currently dormant and awaiting the delivery of a new battery charger *sigh* I had to go a little more … old school for this Photo Friday (but how could I miss Bloom, really? I should practically put flower photographer on my business cards…)

So, today, little Miss Elisabeth, age 5, and I made a quickie contact printer out of a piece of plexi and some cardboard, grabbed a box of Ilford Multigrade Cooltone RC 5×7 paper that is older than she is, and made some lumen prints. (quick version: photograms made by catastrophic overexposure of otherwise normal b/w photo paper. Alternative Photography.com has more concrete info.)

The colors are unaltered.

This one is probably my favorite, and yes, it was done by the 5 year old.

Dandelions, by Elisabeth

Fern and Clover Bud, Lumen print

These are using a really adorable yellow-flowered weed I have not been able to identify; I thought it was odd that the stems disappeared entirely.

Mysterious yellow flowers, lumen print

Dandelion and Leaf, Lumen Print

Fern, my first lumen print

2 Leaves, by Elisabeth, Lumen Print

I didn’t actually have any fixer on hand, so I scanned them immediately and stuck them in a dark drawer; we will see if there is any image left on them by next week. I also tried to contact print some color 120 negatives, but that was pretty much a train wreck.

I am, however, delighted to have something to do, on very sunny days at least, with the many boxes of not-refrigerated photo paper I have left over from my darkroom days.

I am tickled pink that a short story inspired by a piece of mine is appearing this week in one of my favorite spec-fic magazines: Red Bride, by Samantha Henderson, at Strange Horizons

You should go read it. I’ll wait.

…

…

I must say that I am pleased not only that a story which touched one of my pieces was published, but that it is such a good story; it snuck quietly under my skin and then sent prickles skittering along my shoulderblades when I realized where it was headed. I like the story a LOT.

Oh, you wanted to see the piece? It looks like this:

And to celebrate, use the coupon code REDBRIDE in my online shop at artfire and shipping is free!

(And, uh, by Tuesday night many more pieces will have been added to the shop. Making art is fun. Remembering to try and sell it, much less so. Also, thanks to AnthologyBuilder for sponsoring the initial Match-that-Artwork contest, and for giving me the great pleasure of knowing books exist out there with my art on the covers, even if only in very small doses.

Unrequited has been accepted into the gallery for this month’s EMG-Zine on the theme Familiars.

(And despite the fact that I’ve been showing it for two years, I apparently never added it to the website. Oops.)