Out of Mind Abstracts

Cold Snap

2009-12-17T14:36:00.011-05:00

Blue Haired Grannies

Zoe

Japanese Princess Stargazing

The first cold snap of the winter season finally hit the city this past week allowing me to complete my first ice-painting project of the season. Above are a few initial photographs from the first project. More will follow later next week.

Slow days on the Photography Front

2009-10-28T13:50:00.002-04:00

Devil in the Details

Hide and Seek

Things are a bit on the slow side for new photography. It seems as though all I have been doing over the past few weeks is playing on photoshop with my older photographs. Hopefully, in the next few days I will remedy that situation by going out and finding some interesting fall colour water reflections to photograph.

Colourful Dreams

2009-10-06T11:15:00.008-04:00

Untitled

Liquid Heaven and Earth

Autumn Dream

Liquid Dream

With the autumn colours fast approaching peak levels I have found that my dreams and recent work has taken on a more colourful light. Too say that autumn is one of my favourite seasons would be an understatement. There is something magical about how nature brings forth one last burst of vibrant colour before giving way to the long dark evenings of winter.

As a way of expressing a final creative burst before the approaching winter months here is a haiku I wrote recently.

Timsah on my mind
Basking in the midday sun
Ravenous beauty

More Fun With Photoshop

2009-09-28T15:43:00.005-04:00

Pastel Dreamer

Wind Walker

Green Man

I am slowly starting to get a handle on what I can accomplish with certain aspects of photoshop. Shown above are the latest results of my ongoing experimentation with photoshop. All this playing around with photoshop has me feeling like a kid with pockets full of money in candy store.

Fun With Photoshop

2009-09-11T12:03:00.005-04:00

Praying Monk

Well, after much humming and hawing I finally broke down and began to use photoshop on my photographs that don't quite meet my standard of quality. Above is the result of my first foray into what for me is an overwhelmingly detailed and comprehensive software package. My preference will still remain with sticking mainly to what I can accomplish with my digital camera alone.

The Art of Play

2009-07-30T13:43:00.007-04:00

Animus
40.6 cm x 50.8 cm
Acrylic on Canvas

The painting Animus was originally intended to be an experimental painting involving the use of diluted acrylic paint frozen into cubes which would slowly melt and slide down the canvas. Unfortunately, the idea was quickly thrown out the window because the diluted acrylic paint did not freeze properly.

With the original plan out the window, I initially began to use my hands to move the ice cubes around the canvas, but gave up on that and settled on using my hands and fingers as a paintbrush with no objective in mind; a method that transported me back to my days as a child playing around with finger paints.

Geometric Sun

2009-07-27T14:04:00.005-04:00

Geometric Sun

Acrylic on Canvas

It is hard to believe that I have not posted anything since late May. Time certainly flies by when one is wrapped up in many different projects. For the most part I have been focusing on painting, hiking, and arranging a new location to show my ice-painting quartet photographs.

The above painting is one of several that I have worked on over the past two months. More will follow over the next week or two as time permits.

The idea for this painting comes from a suggestion by my cousin to create a summer themed painting. Geometric Sun is essentially my perception of summer based on what comes to my mind when I think of summer: red, yellow, orange, sun, and sunrays.

Long Weekend Reflections

2009-05-21T10:44:00.009-04:00

Lavender Pearled Buddha Tree

Reflection 1

Reflection 2

Here are a few reflections, written (variant haiku) and photographic from a wonderful long weekend of hiking and photography at Komoka and the Pinery in the company of a most enchanting friend.

Forest breathes
The sound of waves
From a distant sea

Two ripples Intersect
Together briefly
Forever changed

Crocodile
Takes your breath away
Drowned in beauty

Ice-Painting Quartet Video Part 1 and 2

2009-05-08T09:35:00.007-04:00

Above is a video presentation of the Ice Painting Quartet display for those unable to make it to the Spencer Gallery to view the photographs.

Ice-Painting Quartet Display pt. 1

2009-05-06T11:19:00.008-04:00

First Story

Intergalactic Observer, the multi-faced being whose gaze sees all, gives rise to Fragmentation, in the end leaving us nothing more than a Spectre.

Ice-Painting Quartet Display pt. 2

2009-05-06T11:16:00.009-04:00

Second Story

A beautiful Moon Flower basks in the moonlight. Its fragrance is so intoxicating we find ourselves pulled Behind the Curtain where we dance and revel until the Rusty Sun rises.

Ice-Painting Quartet Display pt. 3

2009-05-06T11:04:00.011-04:00

Third Story

A Butterfly flutters here and there. Be careful not to follow too close lest the butterfly is a faerie and you find yourself transported to the enchanted lands where The Pigtailed Girl Plays with Lipstick and the Irish Brawler battles the green faced man.

Ice-Painting Quartet Display pt. 4

2009-05-04T13:16:00.016-04:00

Fourth Story

Behold, The Painted Man as he prepares himself for a spiritual journey of Deconstruction, Along the Orange String Road.

It is hard to believe that a month has gone by since I last posted anything on the blog. This past month has been a very eventful one to say the least. What originally began as a month that would see me get to relax and enjoy a two-week family reunion around Easter time, turned into a three-week crash course in putting together my first show.

Needless too say, I survived the process and managed to get my first show off the ground with the help of my two cousins and some close friends. Therefore, a special thank you too all of you for your help.

Shown above and in the succeeding posts are the photographs selected for my series entitled, Ice-Painting Quartet. The show will run from May through June at the Spencer Gallery in the D. B. Weldon library at the University of Western Ontario.

For inquiries please email: christo63@gmail.com

Ice Embers

2009-03-05T14:15:00.008-05:00

Nothing ever seems to be what it appears to be ... at least on the surface. Taken at face value one would think the above photographs were of fire embers, whereas in actuality they are photographs from my third ice painting series.

Ice Painting Abstract Project #2

2009-02-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

With spring just around the corner, I thought I would post one of the sunnier ice painting abstracts from the second project. Enjoy.

Fragmentation

2009-02-12T15:18:00.010-05:00

Fragmentation: the disintegration, collapse, or breakdown of norms of thought, behaviour, or social relationship.

Given the state of the World, in general these days and how everything all around is beginning to break down and fragment, I thought I would present my perspective on what is going on. Most I believe, thanks in large part to the Media, focus on the negative; increased domestic violence and crime, financial collapse, wars, etc. ... The moment we turn on the television, look at a Newspaper, or log on to an online news site they inundate us with negativity upon negativity with no let up in site.

My solution is fairly simple and straightforward. I have tuned out the mainstream media, directed my attention to the positive in the World, and begun to rely on direct experience to guide my journey. Life is transient and all things must inevitably end. There is beauty everywhere we look, including in decay. It is only a matter of opening our eyes to see it.

The Great Wheel turns and every ending is a new beginning.

Water Elemental

2009-02-01T12:48:00.003-05:00

Over the past week, my mind has been preoccupied with the nature of the creative process. How does it work? Where does it come from? To help facilitate some kind of answer I have looked through some literature from many different fields and contemplated upon some of my work and I still have no clear idea or view on the nature of the creative process.

Take the photograph Water Elemental (shown above). This photograph was the last of probably a dozen photographs I took of the water flows over one spot in the Medway Creek. Each photograph was different due to the way the water was flowing yet, it was not until this final photograph that this face appeared seemingly out of nowhere to create a finished product.

Did I create this face? Did the creative process initiate from within me, outside of me, or was I merely a conduit for this image to appear and express itself to me? Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

Painting in Ice - Layer Three

2009-01-22T14:46:00.009-05:00

This is the third and final layer in the Ice Painting Abstracts experiment. These photographs were taken after allowing the ice block to remain outdoors on my balcony for three days, thereby allowing the colours of the second layer to slowly interact with those on the third layer as the sun slowly melted the ice block during the daylight hours and it refroze during the evenings.

All photographs are done on macro.

Painting in Ice - Layer Two

2009-01-22T14:39:00.009-05:00

The Layer Two photographs mark a shift in how I applied the paint from that of Layer One. Whereas in Layer One I injected paint into water with syringes and eyedroppers, in Layer Two I diluted different colours of paint in small amounts of water and then poured them strategically onto the ice one at a time, slowly building up the ice block as each colour froze.

Painting in Ice - Layer One

2009-01-19T15:44:00.014-05:00

Painting in Ice is the outcome of a weeklong experiment in using water and ice as a canvas for painting. The idea and inspiration for spawning this project stems from a post entitled, Ice Man from the blog Independentista that I follow on a regular basis. Therefore, a special thank you to Philip for providing the seeds of inspiration for this project and for getting me back into using a medium I have not worked in for many many years.

Dreaming Sleeper

2009-01-12T14:10:00.003-05:00

I am
A thought
Floating Up
From a deep well
of nothingness
A dream

Attitude

2009-01-08T18:16:00.001-05:00

Work in a public service oriented environment long enough and inevitably you will come across attitude in all its many splendored forms. Bearing that in mind I decided to share this water abstract photograph I took last fall while hiking the Medway Valley Heritage Trail.

Bird Man

2009-01-07T11:25:00.005-05:00

Bird Man is photograph I took one sunny day on an early spring morning in knee deep snow at Komoka Provincial Park. I had gotten off the main trails in the park and was following the course of a creek into a secluded valley hidden amongst the pine trees when I came across a section of the creek where new spring growth was coming up in crystal clear water. Taking advantage of the crystal-like clearness of the water I set my focus to the surface in order to use it as an extra lens. After a series of shots in which the image continually changed and evolved due to the water flow, Bird Man emerged.

I find it fascinating how magical water can be when used as an artistic medium. Water not only reflects it also appears to retain a long-term memory of what it has reflected and at any given moment too recall it under the proper conditions. It's almost as if water absorbs a piece or essence of whatever it has observed and reproduces those reflections as a form of communication for future viewers who are observant enough to notice.

Holy Mountain

2009-01-06T14:54:00.003-05:00

Holy Mountain is the photograph that initiated my in depth exploration and love of water abstract photography. I was out on a hiking one of my favourite trails with a brand new digital camera in tow two autumns ago when I came across a section of Medway Creek that exhibited the most interesting colours. At this point I stopped, pulled out the new digital camera, and began putting it through the paces exploring all the different settings and features.

Needless to say, it was while playing around with the zoom settings on macro under differing light conditions and colour filters that I came across a method for creating water abstract photographs that have have the feel of paintings like the photograph, Holy Mountain.

It took me almost two years to come up with the title, Holy Mountain for this photograph. There was so much depth to this photograph that each time I looked at it something new would grab my attention. It wasn't until recently that I realized the one constant throughout my many contemplative observations of this photograph that there was always a golden haloed mountain ever present in the background, hence the title Holy Mountain.

Mask

2009-01-05T16:46:00.010-05:00

Mask is the end result of some experimentation at home one evening with the shutter speed and exposure length settings on my digital camera. The source object for Mask is an end table lamp.

Unlike most of my abstract photographs which take anywhere from days to months for a title to present itself too me, the title Mask came very quickly to me for this photograph. I imagine the reason for this lies in the fact that it made me think of a poem I wrote a very long time ago in my youth called The Chameleon which reflects the essence of Mask.

The Chameleon

I have no identity of my own.
I am your creation.

I don the clothes of your perception,
Living the life you have made for me.

I have no history but, what you have given me.
I mirror your dreams.

I remain the same until someone creates me anew,
Leaving you with the memory of your own creation.