Spring Brings The Local Art Show

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Lately, it has been easy to forget that spring is around the corner. Days of rain, followed by days of snow that melts only to be replaced by more snow, then followed by rain. Gray has been a dominant color with the exceptional sunny days serving as welcome reminders that this won't really last forever.

I haven't had time to fret over the gloom, as I have been immersed in preparations for the Bear Valley Springs annual art show. Since I missed the event last year, I have only participated in this show once and that time I entered pieces that were conventionally matted and framed. It was basic gallery style frames, standard mats, and your typical color prints for me. This time around, I am trying new things.

For instance, I am experimenting with prints on metallic paper (finally, I might add—the paper has been around for ages now). I also am ordering one piece printed on metal. Of course, like a child, I will be waiting for the delivery truck tomorrow when I get to see my sample pack from Bay Photo. They offer so many finishes in the metal that I needed to see samples before placing my order. While I am catching up with the rest of the photography world, I will test out one print on canvas. I decided why not have fun with this show and check out what everyone else has been playing with for several years now. When this show is over, I will not only have had the fun of participating, but I will have learned a great deal.

Beyond the new print materials, I am also placing my first order for frames and mats from Frame Destination in Dallas, Texas. I have read good reviews about the company for years and thought it was time I found out for myself how good they are.  A few weeks ago, I placed a small order with them and was impressed with the way they handled it. It happened that one item in my order was temporarily out of stock. They called me to inform me of the delay and I was already impressed that a real person called to let me know. Then, the item arrived, having been shipped Fed Ex 2-day, although I had not paid for the expedited shipping. Their handling of the situation gave me an idea why reviewers have given them raves for their customer service. I felt the service warranted further investigation.

You will hear some of those last minute howls of "woe is me" as the deadline nears for hanging pieces, but you know I will be having fun, as well. I remember the opening day reception as a marvelous party where I met a number of delightful people. Why should 2011 be any less a day of celebration?

Making Art as Therapy

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I'm not great at handling stress. My usual tactic is to wrap it tightly in a huge, hard knot, and drop it in the pit of my stomach. This is not a strategy that I recommend. Of course, I am also well practiced in the art of locking my shoulders somewhere up above my ears. There is another brilliant move, that I can't, in good conscience, advise for healthy living.

Because the stress level here rates pretty high on the Richter scale, I knew I had to find a way to divert some from the stomach area. Too late on the shoulder business. Originally, I had the bright idea that I would set aside all my creative work and all the crazy plans I normally have for yet another project and just deal with the business at hand. Well, that lasted about a day and a half. By then, I was exhausted from screaming silently and moping, had the shoulders locked, and was hard at work on the knot. I decided to reverse field.

Saturday, I dove into the files from that shoot last spring at my friend's horse farm.  For the moment, I have no perspective, but I think that I have found more images worth working on. These are the ones that either simply didn't register previously, or I had liked the potential but could not see a solution to the native problems at that time. After all, I had what seemed to be an embarrassment of riches after one quick pass. The client's package, all done up in a handsome archival box with acid free tissue, and tied with a beautiful wired ribbon, contained 47 prints. I didn't have to get past the first cut to please her.

Now, I am obsessed with possible overlooked "treasures", "could-bes" or "maybes" and free to spend all the time I need experimenting with heretofore unimagined solutions to nasty backgrounds. (Nasty backgrounds at SKF are part of the game. This is a functional farm, not a Kentucky show barn.) I cannot say that I worked in an organized and smart manner—this is therapy now. The final product isn't the focus. The doing is all that matters. While I am absorbed in an image it fills up the corners of my mind, crowding out everything else.

Throughout the day, I skipped wildly from one passion to the next with no order and no sense of a plan, but simply letting my heart take me from one impulse to the next. It was healthy and when (and if) I finish one of these pieces of therapy, I will share it here. Meanwhile, I felt like posting one of the pictures that had been ignored in the first cut. On that fine spring morning, this bay gelding called Louie, exulted in his power and the joy of freedom. It was a contagious celebration of life.

Bad News and Customer Service

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We got some quite disturbing news this week. I will leave it at that except to say that I know myself well enough to know that I will not be at my best for a while. I am almost certain to have more bad days than good ones, until the news is encouraging. I apologize in advance if I am slow to respond to comments, erratic in posting, and miss many days of making web rounds. 

Meanwhile, some thoughts swimming around in my head: Do you love your bank? Probably not. I know that I wasn't feeling too kindly toward mine. I won't mention the name, but they are one of the biggest in the country and certainly have California pretty well tied up. Specifically, I was ticked off because a business account of mine had recently been whacked with some outrageous monthly fees. I had not dealt with it—just a couple of things on my plate recently. That was my fault. But, that did not stop me from being annoyed by the exhorbitant deductions from my balance every month.

One of the many things we dealt with, while in Los Angeles Tuesday, was banking. Amazingly, this megabank doesn't have a branch in our nearby small town. When I sat down with a lady at one of those lobby desks, I was only there about an ATM card that had expired right around the time I had surgery. (Another thing that hadn't been dealt with, because it wasn't high on my priority list.) Well, lo and behold, this kind lady preceded to ask me about that account with the nasty fees and volunteered that she could switch the account so my required balance would be quite reasonable. Whoopee! No more irritating deductions. I jumped on the opportunity, of course. 

It is one thing when a company takes care of a problem because we have requested said action. It just feels so much better when the company representative spots the situation and offers to solve a problem that wasn't even on your radar at that particular moment. Today, I am still feeling all warm and fuzzy about that big bank with B and A in its name—at least about the representative at that one branch.

Long, Long Days

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Lately, I have been terrible about commenting, and genuinely miss making my daily web rounds. Tuesday was another one of those days that took me completely out of the loop. Our trip to Los Angeles was a particularly long, hard day. In my opinion, any day that begins at 4:30 AM is apt to be an exhausting one.

Now, I don't like sleeping in and can rarely stay in bed past 6:30AM, even if I am not well. But, this 4:30 stuff is a little outside my range. The stress level was high enough most of the day to stifle impulses to yawn in anyone's face, but I wasn't exactly bubbling with energy. Since we didn't roll back into our garage until after 9:30 PM, I was glad to see the day end.

Meantime, Galen becomes better friends with all the folks at the day-boarding facility in town. Everyone there loves him. The adrorable manager of the kennel section (the pet food store is up front) is crazy about our pup and always has to be the one to deliver him to us. She brings him along with his personalized "report card" and a little bag of treats tied with a colorful ribbon.  Galen's report cards are always filled with glowing remarks about his good humor and excellent behaviour. Thank goodness he likes everyone there. (Little secret: Galen loves everyone. He thinks people are keen and that surely everyone lives to play with him.) We missed him desperately for two whole nights, a day, and two mornings and are relieved to have him home with us. I think he like us okay too.

My Photo Lab Search

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Over time, I have tested a couple of photo labs, but those early results discouraged me. So much so, that I never really made a thorough investigation of possibilities. Recently, I began thinking, once again, about the option to send out printing. For one thing, I would like to test printing on various materials, but I am not interested in trying it at home. I think I have found my answer, Bay Photo Lab.

There are a couple of advantages to using Bay Photo. Because they are located in California, it means faster delivery. But, here is one of the best things about this arrangement: Their profile is so close to the one for my printer that I can print proofs on my home printer and get a solid reading on what adjustments need to be made before sending files to the lab. My first test order arrived quite promptly and, most importantly, I am happy with the prints. So far, so good. Next, I am ordering some samples on different materials. I will keep you posted.

Out in the World, Again

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During my many months of recovery and relative isolation, I had forgotten what it is like to be out and about with anything resembling a social life. Friday, I went to a birthday luncheon (that lasted three hours—hey, women can talk!). We were celebrating the birth of a dear friend and it was a warm and lovely early afternoon. I came home to feed the dog, catch my breath, and collect The Husband to head off to the the monthly arts gala in town, the First Friday event. That meant two hours of hubbub bouncing back and forth between two galleries, meeting exciting new artists, touching base with artists I knew already, and bumping into old friends that I hadn't seen in months. I came home at the end of the evening totally exhausted physically and so hyped mentally that I couldn't sleep. All this activitiy had come on top having just begun to re-read Freeman Patterson's Photography and The Art of Seeing. It dawned on me Saturday that I had not absorbed that much stimuli over the course of one day in over a year. Yesterday, I was still a bit of both—exhausted physically and buzzed mentally.

I had already committed in my own mind to participate in the BVS Cultural Arts Association Annual Art Show (how's that for a mouthful?) this year, and Friday night solidified that decision. The big order for my friend/client, L, is done, and I'm just waiting for some packing goodies (for a finished sort of gift wrap) to arrive, so I can ship it off. I am ready to take on the next challenge. In spite of the work the art show entails, I am looking forward to it. I hated missing out on it last year.

This past Thursday, we were on the road and will be again one day next week. This time the medical appointments are for The Husband. The photo above was taken on the road west to Arvin. Most of our doctor visits mean the road south to Los Angeles—a not nearly so scenic drive. I decided to mine the more scenic photos for something to post here.

The photo is from the shoot, "On the Road to Arvin" and was taken with the G7. This one is a good example of why I indulge in drive-by photography. All along this route, there are very few places to pull off the road. Besides, we were headed home, running late already, and moving fast. There was no time to think, just react. Afterwards, I realized that I had responded to the frame that surrounded the mountains in the distance.

You Do Not Want to Miss This Video

You are invited to the gala premiere of Galen's video. Now ready for the big screen.

For the best viewing, click the lower right button and enjoy the full screen version.

 To avoid interruptions, give it a few seconds to load. It is a large file.

Sorry we can't serve popcorn, here.

Peace and Quiet

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I enjoyed tromping around in the snow, last Sunday. The snow lay like a great, soft blanket over the valley wrapping everything in quiet, muffling the usual everyday sounds. It was a peaceful day. Not many people were out. One of the few vehicles we encountered was the snow plow. As I was completely caught up in the scene at this stop, the clattering of the plow did not register until it was virtually on top of me. Then, I was startled by the intrusion on the calm.

I can't blame snow, but something certainly has made me quiet. While it is true that I have been deeply immersed in projects, that does not normally still my voice. Over the past few days, I have worked like mad—processing, printing, backing up, shooting, and exploring. But, I am virtually mute. I struggle to put five or six words together in a meaningful sequence. It is a peculiar state. I am not in a dark mood, nor am I overly reflective. Still, it isn't easy to put thoughts into words.

Up the Road to Jawbone Canyon

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Monday afternoon, we made a quick scouting trip to Jawbone and Red Rock Canyons. There wasn't any time for photography other than a few grab shots in the "drive-by" mode. But, my mouth is watering now that I have seen these two spots.

The verdigris colored rock in the photo here is known as Blue Point. It is located at the mouth of Alphie Canyon off Jawbone Canyon, and at the end of Alphie you would find the San Antonio mine. The color is produced by the oxidized copper in the rock. Kern County was mining country starting in the mid-nineteenth century and some of them continued producing until the 1940's. We see remnants of abandoned gold, silver, quartz, and copper mines off most of the old roads in our area. It's scouting trips such as this that make me regret not being thirty years younger, male, big, and strong. There is some fine exploring to be done up here.

We made the excursion because The Husband is looking for a place to ride outside Bear Valley Springs. Our slippery trails have him eager to escape. There is so little sand in the soil here that the water doesn't drain well and, with more rain and snow coming this weekend, it looks as though we won't dry out for months.

Jawbone and Red Rock seem to fit The Husband's needs fairly well. Plenty of sand. Of course, the downside is rocks. Because both our horses go barefoot (like most of the horses up here), he will need boots to handle the rocks; but, their first ride there on Wednesday went well. Jawbone is less than an hour away and is BLM land—no parking fees and miles of riding available. Some trails would not be advisable, since Jawbone is a favorite place for off-road enthusiasts. Being on the back of a horse going up a trail and meeting one of those vehicles coming down wouldn't make for a pretty picture.

I am working at talking The Husband into an overnight stay in Jawbone. The colors and formations of the rock are sure to produce some wonderful viewing in golden light. This is a trip we would want to make before May, because it does not sound like fun to be there on a blazing hot day. So far, he is lukewarm about the idea, but I am patient.

Snow—For a Few Hours

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Things got a little crazy around here for a few days, but I am back again. One thing about being out of touch for a bit is that there such a wealth of images to view and plenty of interesting reading to catch up on.

We had snow last Sunday, but it did not last long. Supposedly, we have more coming this weekend. Rather than snow, we have had mostly rain this year. Of course, if this year is anything like 2010, we could have snow as late as May.

I wish I knew what these seed pods are from. I haven't seen any others, but I will be watching for them now.