Evanescence

The first series that I created this year is "This is it" which is a series of abstracts created from images of my visit to Southern Africa last October.

The rest of the series can be seen by viewing the gallery.

I actually took far more realistic images, than abstracts images while I was there. Many of them I posted on my Facebook account as well as the motorcycle touring company wrote a short article about me using some of these images. You can read it here.

The next series that I worked on is Kyoto leaves. As time allows, I'm sure I will add more images to this series.

And the last series that I have completed is Musically Blue, which can be seen in this gallery.

This series is created from multiple exposure images of the entrance to our local YMCA building.

As always, i would be interested in knowing what you think.

London Lights

Last spring, the Art Consultant for the new Earls Southcentre restaurant in SE Calgary contacted me and purchased this image for the restaurant. All of the art work in this space is from Calgary artists. To say the least, I was very impressed that a restaurant would purchase original local art.

Downtown View

At the moment, this is my favorite image of the year. It is a multiple exposure, composite of the grain elevators in Nanton AB.

Prairie Cathedral

Kolmanskop

Throughout the buildings, the worn textured walls really appealed to me. It was a lot of fun to create multiple exposure images that only my camera could see.

Another area in Namibia that we visited was Deadvlei. The white clay pan with the dead black trees that are surrounded by the towering sand dunes are visited by hundreds of tourists every day. 

Desert Skeltons

Creating multiple exposure images of the fall leaves has also had my attention recently.

Through the end of February, I am participating in 2 different shows in Alberta :

Voices in Abstraction with Sharon Thompson at the Kiwanis Gallery in Red Deer 

December 5, 2023 - February 11, 2024

Official Opening with artists in attendance: January 5, 2024 5:30 -7:30 pm

4818 49th St. Red Deer, inside the Red Deer Public Library

As part of the Exposure Photography Festival I will have 2 images in The Artist’s Lens 2024: Body

January 5, 2024 - February 24, 2024

ASA Gallery in Calgary

Kolmanskop Ghosts

If you have read this far, I would love to know what you think of any of these new images.

Happy Holidays

I took these images in the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.  The museum is carved out of the monumental concrete structure of the historic Grain Silo Complex. Of course I would be attracted to a grain elevator. The interior of the 9 story lobby is beautiful. 

The following are a combination of multiple exposure images that are of the building itself, African fabrics and human shapes that were on exhibit at the museum.

Reviewing the rest of the images will be my winter project.  

Dancing in Cape Town

During the first 3 weeks of May we rented a car and drove around the Republic of Ireland. One of the mementos that I like to create is a photo book of our holiday. I have just finished a 100 page book with over 250 images in it. I thought I would share a small slice of what we saw while we were there.

In Dublin we visited 14 Henrietta Street. The lifespan of this address started as an elaborate Georgian Mansion for one family and finished as a tenement house with over 100 people living there. The Dublin City council restored the building and turned it into a fascinating museum to learn about life in the city during that time period.

14 Henrietta Street

After leaving Dublin, we visited Powerscourt Estate, which has one of the best gardens in the world. As it was early May, only the tulips were in full bloom. It must be a stunning place to visit during the summer.

Powerscourt Estate

One of the few ICM images that I took in Ireland- Ladies View near Killarney

Ladies View

The Rhododendrons and Common Gorse were in full bloom everywhere.

At some point in history, someone lived here

With a beautiful view of the Crohy Head Sea Arch

Crohy Head Sea Arch

Beautiful reflections on the River Erne

River Erne

Have a wonderful fall - This was taken near the University of Calgary

Fall colours

The image on the left is my favorite from a colour and abstract point of view and the image on the right is a favorite because the stars aligned and it just happened and I was lucky enough to capture it.

I have mentioned the Hintology magazine before. They have started a Voxpop series interviewing nine different abstract photographers in each on line issue. I had the honor of being asked to be part of Voxpop #5: "On Metaphors". Please have a read if you are interested in being introduced to other abstract photographers or why I do what I do.

Alberta Culture Days are celebrated in September with multiple events around the province. If you live in the Calgary, the Alberta Society of Artists is holding their Artist's Choice Show from Sept. 7 - Oct. 28th. The opening will be on Sept. 22 from 4-7pm. Also they used my image for the poster this year. Hopefully I will see you at the opening.

On Sept. 21 the Earls restaurant chain will open a new location in Calgary at South Centre. This new location will include art from about 50 artists living in the city. I have to say that I very impressed that a restaurant would buy that much original art to fill this new space and very honoured that they included me. They chose this image of downtown Calgary.

Downtown View

For the month of October I will be trying something new. As a member of Abstract's Art Collective we will be having our first online exhibition in collaboration with ARTWRK. During this month, curated works from 14 members will be on display. Starting Oct. 1 you will be able to see the work that is for sale at ARTWRK.

My Garden

petroglyph

The landscape of this area is unique in that it has quite a few sandstone outcrops called Hoodoos. It is beautiful to see how they have eroded since the ice age. HoodoosHoodoos

And the biggest surprise of all - I didn't take one abstract image while we were there!

On two separate occasions we drove through the town of Nanton where I stopped to photograph the Grain elevators. I have quite a large series of images that are in this gallery, from my Canon camera, but this time I had my Fuji. These first two images were taken with the multiple exposure technique and are straight out of the camera. The other three have my creative input applied. I'm really enjoying the colour pallet that the Fuji uses. Grain elevatorsGrain elevators

Eternity DisruptedEternity Disrupted

OverlookedOverlooked

Transfigured Transfigured

If you are interested in what other abstract photographers are creating, I wanted to let you know that two of my images have been selected to be included in a new abstract magazine that is being published by Hintology. This edition has over 150 images from 50 artists in 17 different countries. This is where to find the ordering information.

Let me know what you think of these new images from the grain elevators, also known as Prairie Sentinels.

A few weeks back we took a short trip to the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta. While we were there we visited the historic Medalta Pottery which operated from 1916 to 1954. One of the rooms had slats in the wooden floors to allow steam to rise from the basement to dry the clay. We took a walk through the basement and the shadows of light coming from the floor slats was the start of this image that I call My Garden as it reminds me of tulips.

My Garden

Sometimes it feels that everyone in the world has heard of the Calgary Stampede but it you haven't, click on the red link. I went with a friend this year who wanted to photograph the midway. I chose to focus on the brightly coloured structures of the midway.

I hope you are enjoying your summer. I would love to know what you think about any of these different groups of images.

One afternoon we visited the Riverside Museum which focuses on Glasgow's transport and technology collections. I was fascinated by the kites hanging from the ceiling. Unlike any other museum that I have been in, all of the walls and ceiling in the museum are painted a medium green.

Up Above

Time was also spent in the Museum of Modern Art

Morning Light

But most of my time was spent visiting different buildings designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I have made a gallery of 14 images that you can view by clicking on this image below and then scrolling through the thumbnails. To continue reading the blog, please use your back button.

Follow your own Path

Over the summer I will have my work shown in S.W. Calgary at the City & Country Winery which is open Friday 3pm - 9pm and
Saturday 1pm - 9pm only. On Thursday evening, June 22, from 7-9 pm we will be holding an opening. It would be wonderful to see you there.

I will be participating in Connection 2023 Group Show in Calgary at the Ruberto Ostberg Gallery from June 16th to August 18th.

Storm

Soft Resignation

I would be very interested to know what you think of the images in the Glasgow Gallery. Do you have a favorite?

Another of my other favourite places to visit in Glasgow is the Burrell Collection 

There are far too many images that I haven’t looked closely yet, but given time, I’m sure I will have a gallery of images on my website. 

Looking East

Hidden within

The Scream

Alone

The point of learning new ways to work is to experiment with the techniques and then make it your own. None of the above images felt like "my work" because they had a figure. It was time to take these new techniques and create new work.

Into Oblivion Blue Vase

Faded Separation / Effervescent

Lastly, this is an image I have been thinking about since I was in London. A little bit of William Morris with a little bit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which is a big hint to what next months blog will be about.

Ode to WM & CRM

'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful' - William Morris

It may take me awhile to warm up to the idea of using figures in my work, but I would still love to know what you think about this new work.

If you know anyone who will be in the New Your City area at the beginning of the month, invite them to visit Soho Photo Gallery. If you are unable to visit in person, please visit the web site to see some of the amazing work of the participants.

Rhythm of the Unseen

I started the morning using a Lensbaby Sol45 lens on my camera.

Looking through the Veil

But it is the ceiling of the building that I love to capture.

A view looking west out the window Daydreaming

A few days ago as I was driving by my favorite camera store, an idea that I had been thinking about for the past year actually came to fruition.

If you haven't figured out by now that I am a sucker for colour, I'll just say it is absolutely true. Different brands of cameras have the ability to take images in different colour spaces also known as changing the white balance. Fuji makes a camera that has very different white balance abilities than my Canon and a used Fuji followed me home. That meant that I had to return to the library to see if the "sales pitch" of how different it would be from my Canon was true. I started with views out the window.

And then started to look up the walls towards the ceiling

And then came this----Which is the same light fixture as the image above that is oranges and yellows.

All of the above images are straight out of camera with minimal editing. I guess the "sales pitch" is true.

However, I needed to see some rusty orange.

Between Two Worlds

Someone in this house is wondering which camera is going to fit in my camera bag when we are traveling. I'm sure that I can make both fit.

If you are wondering what the Library actually looks like -

If anyone happens to be near NYC in May, please visit this gallery for another amazing exhibition. The website is now live.

Cleveland

Back to my desire for random editing and this was the next image created a few days later.

The Arrival of Spring

A few days later I realized that I had used the same base layer in the first two images and all of a sudden I had a theme for the month. I would continue to use that same base image, that I really don't like, and see what else could be created.

After the above 2 images ended up as Urban City Scapes, I thought it was time to try something very different again.

Valentines Day Fall

Maybe you are wondering what that base layer looked like - just don't ask me what I took a photo of as I actually have no idea. My best guess is that I was attracted to the colours and took a multiple exposure image of whatever it was.

My favorite keeps changing as I scroll through this group. I would love to know what you think.

As we traveled around the city, I took the opportunity to expand my series of Urban City Scapes

London Lights Londinium London is calling Canary Wharf

In the Canary Wharf area, the building reflections on the dark waters were a never ending source of entertainment, at least to me. 

Eventually, our visit to the city ended and we returned to Whitstable on the train.

Sunset

Some of you may know, that until the end of February is the Exposure Photography Festival in Alberta.

This year I have the honor of participating in two exhibitions during the Festival. Between now and February 25th, Sharon Thompson & I have an exhibit at the Alberta Society of Artists Gallery - Voices of Abstraction  and at the same gallery, during the same time frame, is the group show The Artist's Lens: Manifesting the Hidden

On January 21st, at 2:00pm, Sharon & I will give a free talk at the gallery. Further information can be found here.

On February 4th, from 1-4pm there will be a gallery opening for both of the shows. Further information can be found here.

As always, I am interested in knowing what you think of these new images as well if any of you are Charles Rennie Mackintosh fans.

Whitstable

The first images that I thought I would look at are those that I took in Whitstable, which is a very popular summer beach town. The many colours of the beach huts along the water just had to be photographed.

Sea Views

Looking across the bay

In the harbour Harbour Seagull

The complete gallery of 15 images images can be found here.

Both the imagery and the colours are very different for me. I would love to know what you think.

Thank you for following along the blog this year. Wishing each of you Seasonal Greetings and the Best in 2023. This image is from the Christmas Light Display in Kew Gardens, London. By next month I will have had time to look at the remaining images from London and I will share a gallery from our time there.

Kew Gardens

Wishing you are Very Happy & Healthy New Year. Can you see the martini glass, as noticed by a guest at a recent exhibition?

Mountain Views

Wonderland

Atmospheric Vibrance

Under the blue ice
 

Lusk, Wyoming During the many hours of driving across the prairies, I started to play with the Slow Shutter Cam app on my phone.  The images that I took out the car window at 100 km/ hour have a very different look and feel to them, than if I was out of the car and standing still. What do you think?

Early Morning

The Prairies

Indiana

But my favorites continue to be the cityscape images

Looking in

New York Blues Bean in Chicago Times Square Brooklyn Bridge

If by chance you are going to be anywhere near Whitstable UK from the 16-28th of November, please visit the Abstract Rhythm & Blue Notes  exhibition. This is one of the six images that I will have in the show. I will also be giving a presentation on my work the morning of November 18th. Seabirds

Chicago Streets

I Love NY

NYC Boston Mist

If you are near Calgary, take a look at this link for Calgary Art Sip & Stroll on October 2nd that will take place in the distillery district. I hope to see you there. Below are a few of my images that will be on display.

Summer Storm

Remixed Reality

As I mentioned last month, in November I will be giving a talk In Whitstable, UK. November may seem far away, but I decided it was time to think about what images were going to be in my presentation and what I was going to say. What I realized, was that my images of the Alberta landscape over the past few years have been focused on the prairies. In fact, I discovered that I didn't have any mountain related abstract images. I guess this is the good part in starting to think about the talk in August. Fortunately, I was in the mountains in June and was able to create new work while I was there. Click on either of the 2 images below and you will go to the gallery with the new mountain images. I'm not sure why the landscape is red, maybe it is the influence of all of the heat warnings over the past few weeks.

I am also getting ready for Art Sip & Stroll. Did you know that Calgary has a craft beer / distillery area called the Manchester Brewing District which includes the 2021 Canadian Brewery of the Year? Sunday Oct. 2 is the day to explore this part of town and discover fabulous art from the Abstract'd Art Collective at each of the different locations! I'll have more details next month. This is a sampling of my images that will be available for purchase.

Departure

Crimson in the Skies

It is time to return to working on my presentation. Enjoy the remaining days of summer.

As always, the idea started to evolve after I was looking at some Japanese woodblock prints and wondering how could I

incorporate images I took in Sicily of Italian tiles.

Reminiscence

In November I will be traveling to Whitstable UK to participate in a group show with an amazingly talented group of artists

at the Horsebridge Arts Centre. 

One morning, during the exhibition I will be giving a talk about my work - The Diverse Views of the Alberta Landscape -

This mountain image that I took near Canmore, Alberta will be part of my talk. Maybe I will see you there.

Mountain Views

And if you were wondering what the wall looked like as a "normal" photo -

Abstract Landscape PhotographyI captured these images in Prince Edward Island of the landscape that includes the sea

Last month I shared a few images that I took of the retired Royal Canadian Air Force De Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo CC-115 . Here are a few new versions that I created this month.

Abstract Photos of airplaneabstract graphical airplane images from Summerside PEI

During our travels around the island, we stopped at a few different lighthouses. If I had to pick a favorite it would be West Point.

The clapboard wood siding created several new and different shapes.

abstract photo of lighthouse in PEIIn camera multiple exposure image of a lighthouse

And finally, one day I used my phone to see what kind of images could be created from the metal quonset hut that was in the yard of our host.

iPhone photography of a metal quonset hut metal quonset hut in Prince Edward Island I would like to thank those who came to one of my exhibitions over the past month. It was so enjoyable to talk about my work in person with others.

Airplane Views

There are hundreds of images from the week on my SD cards, so I can't wait to start reviewing them and see what new images will be created over the coming months. If you would like to see the drone video that our host created of the lighthouses that we visited, click on this link.

An indicator events are starting to take place again is my participation in 3 different art shows this month.

This Sunday, May 15th, from 1-4, will be the opening of a show with Julia Hirst & Patricia Langevin, both members of the Abstract'd Art Collective at City & Country Wine at 544 38a Ave SE, Calgary. The 3 of us will be there and the tasting room will be open. It would be wonderful if you could join us.

The show will be available until June 1 during City & Country Wine open hours

Sunset Artfest in Edmonton

As a member of the Abstract'd Art Collective, a group of us will be collaborating with Bay 1 Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta.

Please join us on Saturday, June 4, 2022 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is the link to let us know that you will be joining us.

Little Treasures

This group exhibit will be at Galleria de Marchi in Bologna, Italy

From May 28 - June 8th

It will have images from my Silence Series

I'm sure that next month's blog will be filled with my view of our wonderful visit to Prince Edward Island

Last months blog was about a series I did on Silence. Soon after publishing that blog, the curator of an exhibition in Bologna, Italy contacted me and asked me to submit 4 images. However, all of the images in the exhibit are in a square format, instead of the original rectangular format. While I was sleeping, my brain figured out a way to re-edit the images that did not involve cropping. These 4 are now in Bologna awaiting the opening on May 28th.

For some reason I had never thought much about creating square images, but to be honest, this experience flipped an aesthetic switch and I just love square images now.  Yesterday I picked up this image, Emerging Spring, from the printer and I love how it looks.

Emerging Spring

Towards the end of the month, I applied to and was accepted into the Abstract'd Art Collective. Next week I will be hanging images in a group exhibition. I will send out the May opening information when I have the details.

There was more work done on the planning of other future exhibits, but I will save that information for when the work goes up on the walls. Now, I think I would like to return to the quite life of creating new work. Here is a new series I recently put together.

Have a wonderful Holiday Weekend.

easter card design - wreath 12x12in

On a recent outing one evening I walked by the Knox United Church with it's grand wooden doors dating back to 1912. After a few ICM images of the door and it's handle, we carried on to our intended destination of the evening. Interestingly, I find that often my reason or destination for going out to shoot are never my favorite images to edit. Over time, I've learned to leave my expectations at home and enjoy what I see in front of me. One of those ICM Images of the door handle that I took that evening has turned into the core of this series on the many interpretations of Silence.

As the Ice Melts - 2

Back to the circle fascination. A few recent images -

Below is new image that was added to the Constructed Landscape series today. It reminded me of the landscape where my husband grew up, so I have titled it Golden Prairie after the town of his childhood.

Golden Prairie

Here is another series of work that seems to be appearing that I find unusual because of both the colour palette and the imagery. Since when do I use such vivid colours? I would love to know what you think.

And my compulsion to create images with circles started.

Many of the images in my Constructed Landscape series utilize circles.

Since Christmas, I've started to see images from the Yayoi Kusama show at the Tate Modern in London and her use of circles set me off to investigate her larger body of work. This inspiration, in combination with the bitterly cold weather we have been having the past few weeks, has seen me sitting in front of my computer starting a new series of images. I will admit that I have had a life long love of polka dots since junior high school when I made myself a navy blue swiss dotted dress.

Which evolved to these

Each time I sit down at my computer, everything changes. To be further explored over the next month.....

In 2020, a friend suggested that I apply to be a juried member of the Alberta Society of Artists. After I realized that they did accept photographers as members, I applied earlier this year and was accepted. ASA will provide an opportunity to exhibit my work in Alberta, which is goal of every artist.

Before I was a member, I was accepted into an open call provincial traveling exhibition – Into the Light . There were many delays of exhibit dates and a gallery cancellation, before it finally went to the Western GM Drumheller Gallery & the Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery from October to December 2021. This is my image that was in the show, Edge & Conclusion.

Last week I attended the opening of the 90^th Anniversary Members Show. It is a wonderful collection of work from 48 of the members. If you are interested in attending it will be up until February 19^th at the Crossroads Arts Centre in Calgary where you will see my image, Kurkuma.

Kurkuma

Wishing everyone Seasonal Greetings

2021 Christmas Card

Brooding Skies

As I venture further into the world of Abstract Impressionist Photography, I thought I would start to share what I find so inspiring about this type of art. My hope is to publish my thoughts monthly along with what I have been working on recently.

Last February I was reading a book on Marion Nicholl, an Alberta abstract painter, where she talked about doing daily sketches. The idea appealed to me and I started my own version of a sketchbook of the images that I have created every three months. These books weren't meant to be just the stellar images, but everything. It was a wonderful way for me to take the images off of the computer and have them printed. This past week I finished I finished putting 89 images that were created during August to October into another book to send off to the printer.

In mid August, I went to see the Beyond Van Gogh show and this was an image I created from his famous painting.

If you would like to know more click here