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Stop what you are doing right now!  Look around you and imagine that there never was an artists in this world.  Erase from your mind all the things of art that you see.

The Apple on you i-phone was created by an artist.  Erase it.  Any Jewelry on you hands or neck?  Erase them.  The lamp shade, the sofa, the table, your shirt, your sunglasses – make them all just black and functional.  All wall hangings must be erased.  Curtains and shades? – just hang up old newspaper – it will do the job. No interior design artists exist in the “no artist” world.

Get rid of the Museums of Art In our cities across the United States. Erase all building architecture & landscaping.

Sixty years ago I was graduating from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Engineering – We engineers had our own “Engineering Hall” up on the hill, overlooking the Cathedral of Learning where the art students went to classes.

In 1958, there were very few girls seeking a Masters degree in Engineering.  Being that there were a lot of girls seeking a Master of Fine Arts degree, we engineers soon learned our way around the Cathedral of Learning.

We figured that pretending to appreciate art was a small price to pay to be surrounded by so many young ladies. 

That pretending soon began to sneak into my soul.  I began to appreciate art for real.  For an engineer, that is an unexpected “Oh My.”  I purchased a camera, and spent hours in the University’s darkroom creating photo art.  Engineers’s need artists, I learned – or is it that artists need engineers.

I could see that we engineers could never design a new 1961 Corvette without the help of the artists. In fact I think it was the other way around, we engineers were just putting an engine and driveshaft into the artist’s piece of work. The Corvette is a real piece of art.

Anyway, my way of thinking shifted from “engineering first” to “art first.” The artists do the design, then the engineer’s job is to create machines to punch out the pieces of metal, plastic, and fiberglass. Then we engineers created an assembly line to bring it all together to turn out the artist’s Corvette – a piece of art that was any engineer’s dream.

Keep thinking about a no artist world. The artist designs the picture on the box and the engineer gets the cereal to your kitchen table. The artist says you need holes in your Jeans and the engineer figures out how to wear holes in your jeans, at just the right spot, before you put them on of course.

Study the environment around you and name the hundreds of things that had the artist’s hand.  Now go back to what you were doing.

The next time you meet an artist, bow down to them and say “Oh my, Thank you for making this world a beautiful place.”

In my case, I will also say “Would you like to go to your art gallery this evening?” The Blue Heron Restaurant is a wonderful Art Gallery that even serves great dinners. The team of artists. that Gloria organizes for the gallery, make the Blue Heron Restaurant a beautiful place.  Thanks!

I hope my photo art work helped make my story more interesting,      Oh my, maybe I am an artist?

I am a photo artist. We artist are all alike:  1. We all want the  viewers to say “Oh My”. and  2. We all know there are 8 guiding dimensions to consider when creating a piece of art.

To be successful, all the artist needs to do is bring the first 7 dimensions together so that  number 8 gets the “Oh My.” Simple as that:

1. exposure – from dull moody to bright strongly expressive
2. tone – from racy high contrast to soft low contrast
3. color – from vivid colors to excite senses to pastels that quiet the senses
4. focus – from an all in focus flat photo to some out of focus to give depth
5. axis – from the rule of thirds, to leading the viewer to the subject, to making the viewer find the subject
6.  objectivity – from recording all facts to being selective 
7.  complexity – from the subject standing alone, to its interactions with other elements, to abstraction like floating clouds.
8. viewer response – “Oh My”, that image makes me relaxed, angry, laugh, dream of another time, …….

If a photo artist did not get any one of the first 7 dimensions correct, they can improve their errors by using PhotoShop. But, there is no PhotoShop for Viewer Response corrections.

See, you are starting  to understand the artist’s challenge already.

First, study these images in light of the 7 Dimensions:

 

Did you study the images?  Bet you can do better than the artist. See, nothing to it.

But, now that you are so smart, how does the artist correct number 8?  How do they correct things to get the “Oh My!”

The light bulb just went off in my head.  The artist must know what response they want and from whom.  Is that a novel idea: “You need to know what you want in order to know if you got it!”

Listen artists – Here is the road to success.  Use these two Brubaker dimensions (number 9 and 10).  Success is not guaranteed, but it is the best you can ever do!

9.  Intended viewer group  – Know who you want to view the art – for example, I want both Republicans and Democrats to view my art titled, “Evening News – Election Results”

10.  Intended response –  I want Republicans to say “Oh My” and  Of course I want the Democrats to say “Oh My,”  – How can that be with one piece of art?

 

See what you think of the “Oh My” response I wanted from the viewer on these photo/art images:

 

P.S. Of course we writers want an “Oh My” on things we write – So, now that you have read what I wrote, in unison say “OH MY!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We know that the photo above is one of Gloria’s masterpieces of art – or is it a digital photo of mine of her’s? – or does it matter? Is it now mine? – not really – ’cause I stole a bunch of pixels? (in this case, with her permission) – Oil, watercolors, colored pencils, now pixels enter the art world!

You tell an artist “A digital photographer is a better artist than you are.”  I will tell the photographer “An artist can create a better image than you can.”  Stand back and let’s see if we started a fight.

First, here is an announcement from the Milton J. Weill Art Gallery in New York City:

“On View: January 11 – February 19, 2018 – Modern art has always been built from the blocks of its own history — just never at the breakneck speed the digital world now allows. The exhibition explores what happens when past and present collide, when paint becomes pixels.  In the process, lines are blurred: those between ownership and originality.  All “art is theft” Picasso once said. And when a work ages enough to be in the public domain, do we call it old — or just ready to be reborn? – with pixels?

Explore new work from artists Eric Corriel, Bill Domonkos, David Galbraith and Joaquin Trujillo — as well as intricate collages from artist, Sally Gill.”

 

Last Friday I gave a presentation at a Florida Photo Club meeting, attended by both photographers and artists, on the subject of manipulation of a photograph to create art.  It was a lot of fun and the folks there were very kind to me – No one “Booed” and no one started a fight.

Fine Art Photography has always been considered an oxymoron. But with advent of automatic digital cameras that oxymoron has changed.

By definition, a fulfilling work of art is beautiful or tells a story or both, and the viewer has an emotional response to the image – the emotional response will be unique to that viewer.

Today that image can be hand made with an artists paint or a manipulated photograph of pixels.  I like this new capability.  I will tell you how I used that capability just yesterday.

I sat in the waiting room of my Dermatologist for over an hour.  I was half listening to the TV news while studying the wall of the waiting room. I even whipped out my iPhone and snapped a few photos.

The one hour wait passed quickly and when the Doctor arrived, I showed him some of the photos I took of his office walls.  It helped us connect, he laughed, and I think we had easier discussions concerning my skin’s health. And, I had material for this blog.

The purpose of my little story here is to encourage you to find a “pixel” pass-time while waiting anywhere. You do not have to actually create pixels, just think about how you could create them.  It is really a fun way to spend enforced wait time.

 

How about these images?:   Beautiful or tell a story?  How ’bout the emotional response to the image

“A people without knowledge of their roots is like a tree without roots” – That was an advertisement that scrolled across the TV. For, twenty dollars,  they would check your DNA. Suppose I came from Iceland  – Land of Viking explorers – Epicenter of Mythology and Fairy Tales.

I drifted off to sleep, saw a psychedelic image of Iceland,

and viewed a Fairy Tale. When I awoke, I called the Fairy Tale “PERLA AND THE DRUMMOND DUCK”

Do you know Perla’s parents were born in Iceland and moved to Canada right after Perla was born. They hated Canada. Mother said the Canadian geese were too loud – their voices disturbed her peaceful sleep. Dad said their habit if eating the limited horse grass was disrespectful – and after eating all that grass the geese pooped on the remaining grass – disrespectful.

Mom said, I want to go home, back to my roots. – back to Iceland and the mid-night sun

.  But we can not do that. Since 982 AD, Iceland has banned any horse entering or reentering Iceland.

Mom and Pop fretted so much about their loss of home that they died up there in Canada. Young Perla and friend Addies moved to Drummond Island, USA.  But the Geese ate and pooped in the USA too. Addies said “ I hate this land, this pasture, these geese, and the Drummond horses.  I want to go home.

Perla said to Addies, “Mom and Dad did not know how to adapt and make new friends – the loneliness  killed them.  Perla said, “We must try – We must try to gain new friends. – We must try.”  With that, they both closed their eyes and drifted off to seep.

In their dream, They ask the Canadian Geese “Did you ever think of leaving the pasture and be like the duck, Eat, sleep and poop in the water?  The geese replied  “Well, maybe you should leave the pasture and and go live with the ducks.

The Horses said “You mean go away from what makes the Icelandic horse special – and live with the ducks?”  They felt strange and shed big horse size tears,

but they went to meet the duck on Whitney bay.  They stood by the water’s edge and envisioned a strange new land.

They saw a place where white horses pointed the way for any lost ducks, where the great 8 legged horse, Sleipnir, of Norse sagas, performed on stage. They, in their dream, saw Perla swimming all day. Their friend, Jim, canoed beside her – and the duck, the duck carried another Jim on its back.  Addies said “How can we make friends in this strange world of he duck”.

 

Then, they both awoke. They said, we must stay in the pasture and try to get along with the horses that accept pooping geese  – the land of the duck is too strange.  We must give up some of our ways and do as these horses do. It will be OK.  We will not loose those important things of our roots – We can still Tolt, do the Flying Pace, grow long hair and change color in the winter.

That evening, Perla and Addies joined joined the other horses. They made no comments about wanting to return to Iceland.

Here is what happened in the pasture. At midnight the human of the pasture would sit and talk with them for hours. They were given treats of sweet food and fresh hay.

“Hey, these humans are real heroes.  They give us food, shelter, love, exercise, and they plan to take care of us for a long time.”  In Iceland, when heroes died, their horses had to give up their life to be buried with the hero.  It is not that way here.   WOW.”  Perla said, “By trying,  we have just found a great new way of living – we have adapted and we made new friends.”

Perla and Addies smiled and lay down by the fresh mound of hay and dreamed of another day in the pasture, with their new friends, with the geese, and with an occasional duck.  And Perla said, “We lost nothing – we can still TOLT, do the Flying Pace, grow long hair, change color in the winter, and we still are the most nice friendly horses in the pasture.”

It pays to try hard, to embrace the new ways and new friends, and still hold on to those important thing’s of your roots that make you a special person/animal.

THAT IS MY FAIRY TALE.

Question 1: If you can operate your cell phone camera, why would you ever turn to PhotoShop and destroy what the “person” behind that little round circle on your iPhone saw? You know there must be a very little artist inside your phone looking out of that little round hole with a paint brush painting very quickly what he saw when you push the “snap photo button” on your phone. 

Question 2: Why did Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) who was a Spanish painter and sculptor create surreal and abstract art when he certainly had the skill to paint as accurately as that little person inside you your iPhone

Question 3:  Why did enough folks around the world pay enough attend to the art pieces of Pablo to to make him famous?

Question 4:  Why would I spend any of my limited days on earth messing around creating surreal and abstract “things” from photos that I took or found on the internet? Especially when the photo I started out with was a perfect image of the beautiful art created by God – I am talking of the clouds I asked you to look up and enjoy in the last blog.

Answers: Guess what? I can not really answer any of those questions but I sure love pondering each of the questions. I can explain that I sure love PhotoShop for letting me spend wonderful hours at my computer.

Explanation:  Playing with PhotoShop at midnight is a substitute for going outside at midnight to check on my horses and cows, or for sitting at a computer developing business software, or falling asleep in front of an old movie, or reading a book on abstract art, or polishing my antique tractor and motorcycle, or  mowing my pasture in the cool after a 100 degree Texas ranch day, or for climbing down the cliffs to see the phosphorescent on the ocean as the waves roll in, or walk in the woods at midnight to see the phosphorescent of foxfire or St. Elmo’s fire .

Next years Explanation: I have done all of those things in the past, but now I think in the Abstract and Surreal.

 

Back to this year: – Why abstract art? — I got this reason from one of my on-line studies of the subject:

“The pinnacle of painterly achievement isn’t creating something that looks so real it can be mistaken for a photo. That’s the pinnacle of technical skill. You’re duplicating the results cameras give.  

The pinnacle of painterly achievement is going beyond replicating reality. It getting someone to see and feel something they haven’t seen or felt before. To see the familiar afresh, to see and feel more.”

That’s abstract art, in its full range from slightly abstracted to pure abstract.

God as an abstract artist: Now lets look at some of Gods abstract creations – each photo was taken with in moments of the other – God is a fast prolific artist:

The purpose of this little article is to help you look up at the sky, see Gods art and feel something you had not felt before  – see the familiar afresh – see and feel more.

 

 

– So, say I to me – “Write about several things” — So, say I – “I will” –  Read on and see what I wrote.

I noticed only a few of my neighbors are ever out and about.  That made me wonder about the production of rope. Maybe I should get into that business.  What does rope have to do with my neighbors? Well, all the neighbors that were out and about  had a piece of rope in their hand. In all cases, there was a dog attached to the other end of that rope.

That made me think about how living in a “Town” shapes us human beings. I lived the first twenty years on a country farm. Thousands of animals passed through my life on that farm. Granted, many of them were chickens.  But I do not recall ever putting a rope around a chicken’s neck and having it lead me around on a moonlit night.

 

In this new modern life, we only provide a few ways to experience nature and the outdoors. Walking the dog (or having the dog walk us) is one way to get out in nature to have our noses “smell the roses” and have our mental and physical cycle “influenced by the phase of the moon.”

 

Hey, you “DO” believe that the phases of the moon control us?  I have been reading that some folks believe the moon influence us a lot. Tells us when to “create” babies, it tells when murderers should murder, and it tells other people when to be grouchy, or when to feel you should be energized.

According to Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer:

The lunar theory is the idea that there’s some correlation between moon cycles and human behavior.

 It is believed that people were more likely to show erratic behavior during a full moon.

A publication in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service titled “Lunar effect” shows the moon brings about social tension, disharmony and bizarre results. Police records in Florida, show an increase in murders and aggravated assault around full moons.

Scientific studies have also proven:

1.  The moon affects our sleep patterns.

2,  Supermoon’s cause baby boom.

3.   Moon phases tell when to be Grouchy and Nice

4,  The moon regulates menstrual cycles. Not very often in our  retirement community?????

5,  And, the new moon (Little moon light) controls animals:  For example, many small animals are more active during the new moon phase, because they are less visible and have a lower chance to be eaten.

Do you think the moon affects people?  Are you grouchy once a month?  Do you toss and turn all night once a month?

Some say yes and some say no.   Controversy – I love it –  (another New Topic)

See, I surround myself with people who are respectful, who are kind, and who are opinionated. – In business I hired that way.   In life I select friends that way.  But that opinionated part creates controversy sometimes. But, controversy is good – it brings out new ideas.

If you listen to your friends when they express new ideas, how can you loose?  Friends enjoy you because you listen and you get lots of new ideas without doing all that research work?

So, go out and walk your dog, look at the moon and let it influence your good side, and, kindly disagree with a friend.

Then:

Hey,  Who designed the clouds in the sky?  Beautiful to see, are they not? Must have been designed by a professional sky scape architect.

The dictionary says architecture is a carefully designed structure of something. Clouds are a structure of something – of moisture.  But, who was the architect.  – Are the clouds really forms as I see them or are the forms I see as a figment of my cloudy mind? If so, I think that makes my cloudy mind the architect.

In college we studied architecture. It had rules. In my case we studied and created layouts of production shops – we designed  steel mills, machine shops, automobile assembly plants – We did all that to make it easier, safer, more economical, – In short, improve working conditions and make the owners more money.

There were many rules of architecture we had to learn. We were Industrial Engineers.  We designed and changed the architecture to support our findings and creativity. Beautifully designed efficient production facilities.

Our Florida home is ruled by the community’s Architecture Committee who has many rules.  The result is a carefully designed structure of things – the street, the houses, the landscapes.  Our street is beautifully designed according to rules of the architecture committee.

But, then I look up, the clouds form structures too  – They are beautiful.  But there are no rules – and the winds aloft change the structure ever so gently – every few seconds – not according to rules. The clouds just change and a new architecture is made of clouds – of moisture.  They are beautiful.

It is impossible for me to look at a cloud and not see something of an earthly shape. Being an Engineer, it is also impossible for me not to use  PhotoShop to help me show you the forms that I see.

 

 

The purpose of this little “Cloudy Mind” story is to get you to enjoy your sky more than you did before reading the story – Stop, Look Up, Study, and Laugh at what you see in the clouds.  Let your mind be the cloud architect.

You may be embarrassed to tell others what you really saw. That is OK – Keep it to yourself for you alone to enjoy.

 

Sometimes I sawsee things that are not there – add little PhotoShop and now I seesaw them.

Doodling is good for you! Listen to me and read on. Then, smile during your next enforced down time.

Yesterday I had a lot of enforced down time – Just sitting and waiting – so, I took my computer and my PhotoShop with me.

When I have enforced down time, instead of feeling bored, I always turn these down times  into an excuse to do one or all of these 4 things that I feel guilty doing when I could be doing “Productive” things like house cleaning, painting the walls, doing my filing, etc.

1. It’s Entertainment Time!

• Play music, sing, or dance.

•Read paperbacks, magazines, and your kindle books.

2. Go Online!

Use your smartphone to surf internet, browse information – any topic like “How to kill time and have fun”.

3. Be Creative!

•Updating this blog with new posts.

•Doodle, draw, or paint a picture using your favorite colors.

•Hook a rug, or whittle a stick.

•Write a story, journal entry, hand-written letter, or write a poem.

4. Take Me time

•Become your own manicurist – file your nails .

•Take a short nap or doze off for longer hours.

•Exercise, jog, or do stretches .

•Close your eyes and start daydreaming.

•Reminisce about your past and relive old memories.

•Make a phone call or send a message to friends you haven’t spoken to for a long time.

 I LIKE DOODLING BEST

I found this article at Atlantic.com:  

“Two new books tout the benefits of doodling as tools to facilitate thinking. Perhaps it’s a kind of artistic rebellion over the supremacy of computers and digital media.

Or, maybe the need to draw is simply hardwired into human brains.  Making graphic marks predates verbal language. A more deliberate free-hand drawing is essential to expressing spontaneous concepts and emotions.

Drawing  isn’t just for artists. For anyone who actively exercises the brain, doodling and drawing are ideal for making ideas tangible. What’s more, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodlers find it easier to recall thoughts of the past than non-doodlers, because thy are more likely to daydream.”

THERE YOU GOT IT – Enjoy your down time, killing time, or what ever you call it.

Here is my yesterday’s down time doodles: