Local Events!
I will be attending a couple Art Fairs/Events over the next couple months. I will be sharing a booth with Nature’s Angle Photography. If you haven’t check out their fine art photography prints, then you are missing out on some amazing Nature and Local Photography! We will both have a variety of prints available for purchase.
So if you are in the West Michigan area, come check us out!
Saturday August 25, 2012
Art Jam in Downtown Fennville, Mi
10am-6pm
Saturday September 8, 2012
Art in the Park in Rockford, Mi
9am-5pm
The annual Rockford Art in the Park exhibition takes place the Saturday after Labor Day in the Garden Club Park between the Rogue River Dam and the White Pines Trail in downtown Rockford. With the Rogue River as a backdrop, Garden Club Park is an idyllic spot for a fine arts celebration.
Artists from across the state of Michigan compete in this juried art exhibition, featuring works in pottery, stoneware, sculpture, jewelry. glassworks, painting, photography, fiber arts and more. Artists are on hand to showcase and sell their works. A “Best of Show” award as well as six “Best of Category” awards (Jewelry, Pottery/Stoneware/Sculpture, Glassworks, Painting, Photography, & Fiber Arts) is presented each year.
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.
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!!
New Product Line – Fire & Rescue
Once again, I was slowly building up enough images to blog about it, but I now have a new product line at my Zazzle Store for Fire & EMS. Each design is offered on several different products, and I’m still working on expanding the product lines.
FIRE:
Paramedic/EMT:
FIRE EMS COMBO:
Just a reminder, each design, and variations of them, are available on several other products such as: Cards, Posters, T-shirts, Postcards, Mugs, Stickers, Stamps, etc.
Feature: Out with the Old; In with the New.
The latest High Key Group challenge was Out with the Old, In with the New. (You know, to go along with the whole New Year thing) We left it open to interpretation.
The Top Ten:
First Place
snow in the field by muratodentro
The rest are as follows:
The Next Generation by Kristen Trapane
Keeping A Clean Act by Johanne Brunet
Don’t forget to check out these artist’s other great works!
Vector Images & New Characters
Since I started working on my scuba diving designs, which needed to be vectorized to make good t-shirts, I’ve been screwing around in our sign program drawing other designs too. I can’t quite get the whole drawing and vectorizing in Photoshop, so I have to make do with this other program. So once again, I’m gonna self-promote and share some of my new vector designs! A couple of these are available as t-shirts at my Redbubble gallery, and all are available on multiple products at my Zazzle store.
With my first series of vector image product, I would like to introduce you to Pynki Q! She’s just a lil blob of a thing I drew playing in the sign program.
As you can see, she’s available on stickers, in which you can change the background color. Also she has her own mug, shirts, and more!
And then there’s Pynki Q’s brother (or just the bluer version of Pynki Q), Pynki Q Blue!
Pynki Q Blue is also featured on stickers and is featured in his very own Birthday card!
And here is someone else I would like to introduce you too, he comes in several different colors, but is always happy to see you. I introduce to you Mr. Happy Bones! (I know, the names are gay!)
I also made a few customizable cards with a lovely floral vector I drew, that is also available on shirts. Just click the customize it button, and you can change the background color and the text to fit your needs!
And then there’s the lovely butterfly.
And a cute lil fishy!
The lil fishy lead me to draw this mini scuba cartoon, which I feel is a little better than the last one I tried. It is also available as a mug, sticker, and postcard.
I have a few more drawings done, including a guitar and a frog, but just haven’t uploaded and made anything with them yet. I hope you enjoyed my little preview of some of my new products.
Arachnid Feature – Color on Color: Camouflage
I am one of the hosts from Redbubble’s Arachnid Group. We recently hosted a challenge titled Color on Color: Camouflage. The rules to this challenge was to take or create (we welcome all art, just ends up mostly photographs) an image, in which the Arachnid had to be the same color as its background. i.e. A green spider on a green leaf, or a brown scorpion on brown dirt. You get the gist of it.
We only had 18 entries this time around, but they were a great 18 entries. If you would like to see all the entries, follow this link. Don’t forget to take a look at the artist’s other work. Their linked names will take you to their profiles.
On to the top 10 images:
1st place went to Gozza with her beautiful piece, Practically Invisible
The rest are as followed:
You Have to Look Twice… by Ann Palframan
Color Coordinated Spider by LoisBryan
Goldenrod Crab Spider #3 by KaneSlater
Goldenrod Crab Spider by Leyla S. Ismet
Come Closer…I’m waiting… by Yool
I would like to thank the participants for their outstanding work!
Congratulations to you all!
New Cards
I know, I know, I know, my last several posts were about Christmas cards. But what can I say? They are just so much fun to make! Here’s my latest set, available in my Zazzle Store.
Simple, yet satisfying 
New Santa Holiday Cards!
I put together 2 more Christmas cards today. They are both available as high quality art cards at Redbubble, and in bulk on Zazzle.
*** TODAY ONLY (DECEMBER 2, 2008)***
****FREE SHIPPING ON ANY PRODUCTS AT ZAZZLE!!****
enter code CYBERZSHIP08 at checkout
offer valid till 11:59pm PST
On to the cards!
(note: clicking on the card images will take you to my Redbubble work, not Zazzle)
Click here for all Holiday cards through Redbubble
Click here for Zazzle Holiday Products.
Holiday Cards!
For the past month I have been trying to come up with an idea for holiday cards. My mind has been a blank. I tried a few things, but nothing jumped out at me. That is… until last night So I bring you my lastest work in the form of holiday cards.
It’s a start at least, right?
New Calendar: Flora
I just put together a new floral calendar called Flora. I have been holding off on doing a floral calendar because I wanted it to have a theme. I wanted it to have simular editing, either all manipulated, or all natural photography. But then I thought, huh, I constantly change my techniques, bouncing back and forth from this style to that, so why not allow my calendar to reflect that too? So I bring you my latest calendar Flora!
Additionally, I have added my lattest Digital Abstract, Techno Luminescence, to my Digital Abstract Calendar.
Almost all of my images in these calendars can be puchased as premium art cards, 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.
Example Card:
TTV: Through the Viewfinder
What is TTV: Through the Viewfinder?
Well, it’s pretty much what it says. It’s a technique using two cameras, an old box camera and the camera you actually take pictures with, in which you take a picture of what you see through the other camera’s viewfinder. Make sense?
What is the point you ask?
For me, I love the aged retro look you get with TTV. Yeah, you can make an image look aged or antiqued using textures and filter in Photoshop, but it’s just not the same. Most of the old box cameras are dirty, covered in dust, maybe some scratches, all of which add to the character of the image. (The dirtier the better I say!) Not to mention the challenge of balancing 2 cameras, and the whole flip flop issue. Most box camera’s used have a top viewfinder, that uses mirrors, so you have to keep your good camera at a 90 degree angle to what you want to photograph. Oh, and everything is reversed. Do you know how confusing that can get, you keep turning the direction you need to to center the image, yet in the viewfinder it’s going the other way?!?
So what do you need to get started?
First off, you need a camera to actually take the picture. I’ll assume if you are reading this, you already have one of those And to get a nice close-up shot of the viewfinder, you will need a macro lens, or zoom filters. You will need to be able to take a picture a few inches away from the object. If your camera has a macro setting that you are happy with, then by all means, just use that! Besides that, you will need some sort of old camera with a large viewfinder, and then something to block out the light between the 2 cameras.
After you have what you need, honestly, all you do is take a picture of the viewfinder.
Obviously the image above doesn’t have the light blocked out between the two cameras. I just wanted to show you the viewfinder.
My set up:
I have my Canon Rebel XTi for my primary camera (we’ll call this camera #1 from now on), an old box Argus 75 for my secondary camera (camera #2), my stackable zoom filters (I don’t have a macro lens), and my Tube of Darkness. Put together it looks like this:
You can pick up an old box camera fairly cheap at flea markets, antique stores, or ebay. Cameras like the Argus 75 were so overly mass produced in the 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s, you can find them all over the place. I picked mine up on ebay for $4.99 plus shipping!
Here it is pulled apart:
The Tube of Darkness:
To block out the light between cameras, I used a 3 inch cardboard tube that I cut down to 6 inches long, and a black (fuzzy) sock (lost the match) of which I cut the toe off. I slipped the black sock over the cardboard tube, so that there is equal excess material at the top and bottom of the tube. Then I slipped the tube over the open viewfinder on camera #2, and used saftey pins to secure it around camera #2′s straps, making sure it’s pulled tight, yet not to cover camera #2′s lens. And viola! a Tube of Darkness!
And since I use an SLR camera, I just dip my lens into the tube, and pull the top excess sock material over camera #1′s lens. The sock works great because of the elasticity, it keeps a snug fit over the camera’s, keeping out the light. Sorry, I can’t show you a picture of the SLR in the Tube of Darkness because I only have one camera!
I took the picture, now what?
Honestly, that’s up to you and your taste! First off, crop off all that excess around the image. Most people leave a small border around though. After that, editing is all up to you! I have heard that a lot of people like to used the Urban Acid Photoshop Action. I have tried it, but usually end up just playing with the tones and colors on my own, so I can’t give you an example of it. Then why not upload it to Flickr? There are a ton of TTV Flickr groups! Not to mention the ton of information you can find in those groups! The largest one, Through the Viewfinder, has a blog with a ton of information, including a list of a variety of different secondary (base) cameras that can be used. Check that out here.
I hope you enjoyed my lil tutorial/informative blog! Now I’m gonna shamelessly self-promote
More of my TTV images
This is the very first TTV I took. This is my daughter. What I love about this image, is that it looks like a picture that fell out of my baby book!
This picture was actually chosen as the picture of the day on Absolute Michigan’s Michigan in Pictures Blog!
“Museum of Newaygo”
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)
Example Card:
