Exhibit at the Radix Tavern Opening
I was invited to to share some of my abstract work in the Radix Restaurant Gallery for their opening exhibit, located in Eastown (Grand Rapids, Mi) So if your in the mood, swing on in, enjoy the exhibit, have a nice meal, or have a few drinks.
The Radix Tavern is located at 1420 Lake Dr, Grand Rapids, Mi (Where the Queen’s Pub used to reside)
The pieces being shown are:
A Framed 24×12 print of Desire
A Framed 24×12 Print of A Pinch of Blue
A Framed 12×24 Print of Pale Perception
And a Framed 12×24 Print of Preconceived Illusions
All four prints will be on display over the next couple months, and are available for purchase at $200 a piece after the exhibit is over.
Gone
I spent Sunday afternoon driving around, exploring, looking for that perfect picture to capture with my camera. I haven’t been out since last fall, and I didn’t know where to go. So I just hopped in the car and drove. I wanted to rejuvenate my love for photographing old run down abandoned houses, or that barn up on the hill, so I headed north, out into to a more rural setting.
I drove for hours, only stopping twice to take one or two pictures! What’s wrong with me? I drove by several abandoned houses, falling down buildings, probably hundreds of barns. Have I lost my edge? Is photography not doing it for me anymore? All I could think about was how much gas I was wasting! It’s sad really.
Before I headed out, I was skimming through some of my past images. To me, I feel like I have lost something in the past couple years. Originally I blamed it on the loss of my old tablet PC. I started out with an older Toshiba Satellite Tablet laptop, with which I could just flip the screen over, and use the stylus right on the screen. I LOVED that comp. Not to mention what I saw on the screen was EXACTLY what the print looked like. This new laptop makes everything much lighter, and no matter how much I play with the display settings, it doesn’t help.
When my tablet PC kicked the bucket one last time, I stopped playing with images for quite a while. I stopped taking pictures, I stopped making abstracts, and photomanipulations? No way! But gradually I got used to using the mouse again (lefty using a right handed mouse here!), and gradually I started working my way back into my creative outlet. Looking around my blog now days, you see I’ve been doing mostly photomanipulated book covers, and recently I purchased a Wacom tablet, still trying to grasp what I had with my tablet pc. (Though I tend to go for the mouse more still lol) And with that attempted grasp, I was looking to grab onto my older style in photography/editing.
Which brings me to my original point of this post. Some days you just get sidetracked…..
After driving around for about 4hrs, I stop and get something to eat (driving makes you hungry!), sit down, pull out my map to figure out where I’m going next. Because this aimless driving, wasn’t getting me anywhere. And then I had a thought. Why don’t I go revisit some of the places I photographed before? I mean, 4-5 yrs have passed, they might be even more dilapidated! So I pack up, head an hour west, all excited that I KNOW WHERE TO GO!
To this day, my favorite image in my portfolio is “Abandoned” It just speaks to me on sooo many levels. I weave my way through all these back country roads, spitting up rocks as I fly down the dirt roads, my destination for once completely clear to me. As I start to pass the adjoining apple orchard, I slow, eyes peeled, music blaring on the radio, fingers tapping with the rhythm, sitting forward in my seat leaning over the steering wheel, so excited. The clearing approaches, I pass by an old trailer, then a massive stack of apple crates, then more orchard. Wait, more orchard? I throw it in reverse. Stop in front of that pile of apple crates. Note the shrubbery surrounding them is familure, then notice the cement foundation they are stack upon. My heart sinks. It’s gone! Gone!
I’m not sure how long I sat there staring at these stacks of apple crates, but it was a while. I reached for the camera at one point, intending to “document” the loss, but couldn’t bring myself to actually take the picture. It seems so silly to be upset about the loss. It was a falling down, abandoned house, no “historical” importance, a safety hazard! But still, I felt the loss so deeply. I can’t explain it.
I suck it up, thankful I found it when I did 4 yrs ago to take that amazing picture, then decided to revisit a few more spots in the area that are prominent in my portfolio. (There were quite a few in this area) I head down the road to where I took “Quiet Barn”. I slow as I come up to it, very familure with it’s exact location, since when I lived out there I drove by it almost daily.
Nothing! Nothing but and open field! You’d think after the house, I’d somewhat expect it. But this barn was still in use last time I drove by it! 
I keep going, now looking for places I photographed, desperately needing to know if they are still there.
GONE.
GONE.
GONE.
GONE.
I stopped looking, and just went home. It just goes to show, you never know how long something will still be there.
New Art
I’ve been doing all these book covers lately, but haven’t done anything for me in a long time. With the cold weather, and well just life, I haven’t been able to get out with my camera in a LONG time. Something I hope to remedy soon with all this summer like weather. But in the mean time I started working on a photomanipulation in between cover works. Honestly, I think it started out as a pre-made cover (the dimensions are right for it lol), but I didn’t slap a title and name on it. I suppose it could be used as a cover if it suited the right book.
I always have mixed feelings about photomanipulations. For cover work, they’re fine, but as art I don’t really feel that it is “MINE”. Normally I try to use as much as my own photos as possible. Come to think of it, I think this is only the second piece I’ve done with all stock art. The first would be “Lil Red Riding Hood“. No, wait, I misspoke myself, this will be the third all stock piece. “Beyond the Falls” was all stock too. Typically, at the very LEAST I use my own backgrounds, but I do use stock models in anything with people. I just don’t have willing models to pose for me lol.
So here it is, “Wishful Thoughts”
Trying Something Different
Was playing in Photoshop today, thought I’d try something new…well for me. Pretty much I started out just playing with various PS brushes I’ve downloaded. Using only brushes, and a few of my own textures, I came up with this:
Then I took it a step further, and went about digitally drawing, combined with various texture brushes, and an old photo I took. Decided to do an ode to Odilon Redon’s “The Smiling Spider.”
Not my normal work, but then again, really not too far off from some of the photo-manipulations. What can I say? Everyone needs to try something different for a bit.
15% off Framed and Canvas Prints!
15% off all Redbubble framed & canvas prints!
Offer ends Wednesday, August 26th, 5:00 p.m. US Pacific
High Key Challenge: Fashion Photography
The High Key Group at Redbubble just finished up another challenge. The latest theme? Fashion Photography! We see a lot of Fashion Photography come through the High Key Group, so we decided to do a challenge to highlight some of the great photographers. As always, the challenges are judged and voted upon by their peers. So on to the top 10!
Here’s Looking at You by Matt Sillence
Slappa Da Bass by Chavy-Voodoo
HollyWoodHoneymoonshh09 by shhevaun
Long Haired Lovely by ~ Ademac
Seductive part 2 by miruna uzdris
And don’t forget to check out these great photographer’s other work!
New Day, New Work
Man I had to go through the old posts to see what was the last new work I posted about! I guess it’s been a while. Unfortunantly, I don’t have a whole lot of new work. Not that I haven’t been out taking pictures, because I have, just nothing seems to be turning out all that great.
The latest images I have posted on Redbubble are:
Fender made some neat Zazzle Products too.
I’ve also been practicing with my Infrared Filter I bought last fall. My camera isn’t the best for digital IR photography, but I seem to be getting a little better each time around. Here are my last two pictures, the second is much better than the first in clarity, but I get the big ole hot spot in the middle.
And I was able to catch a couple cute pictures of my daughter.
Themed Feature: High Key “Objects” Challenge
The lastest and greatest High Key group’s challenge was Objects. I figured, since we’ve done animals, children’s portraits, and flowers, objects was the next best subject matter. It is quite fascinating to see what people will photograph with a broad subject matter, such as objects. So on to the top 10!
Listed from 1st place to 10th place. If you would like to see all the entries, click here.
Ballet Shoes by Francesca Rizzo
Death of a Light Bulb by Karri Klawiter
Perfectly Orange by Jen Cannella
Candy Cane Heart by Tamara Brandy
Don’t forget to check out these great artist’s other work!!
New Work :)
It must be the weather. We’ve finally gotten out of the dreary Michigan winter, and spring must bring forth some creative juices. I have a couple new pieces to share! Yay! So here they are:
Preconcieved Illusion (the last one if you can’t read the title) has become an instant fav of mine.
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
And don’t forget to check out other great products featuring these images at Karri’s Zazzle Store!
What’s New?
I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I would do a quick post on what’s new and going on with me. I haven’t gotten out with the camera much this winter, but I did set up a couple floral shots. Hopefully, with the weather warming up, and grass getting greener, I’ll be able to get out and get some new work!
For more Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
And one candle image, that is only available on Zazzle.
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I also worked on a new photomanipulation. This was intended to be the ‘sequel’ to Ephemeral Partings, but it seemed to get away from the oringal design a bit.
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There are also a few new digital abstracts.
For Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
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I also have a few new t-shirt designs on both Redbubble and Zazzle.
Of course the designs are available on other products too.
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I was also asked to illustrate a Fire Saftey coloring book, which is in progress, and was able to create some products featuring 2 of the characters.
For more of my firefighter Zazzle products click here.
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I also started making business cards designs on Zazzle. You can view them all here, but here are a couple examples.
As you can see, I like the black cards. All of them are customizable, and the colored ones in the middle can have their background colors changed.
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Geesh, I guess I have been busy! But I have found time to take my kids to the park.
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Additionally, I just sent out a bunch of images to be printed. I hope to be hitting the art show circuit this year. I already have a few lined up. Wish me luck!!
