Oct 26th, 2009
E-Art
Flowers
Landscapes
Creepy Crawly
Art is all around you. Perhaps the most clear example is raw nature- beauty in its essence. Photography provides a wonderful way of blending technology and nature to create personal and meaningful works of art.
I spent this past year learning abroad in Israel. Within that country lies vast beauty of endless landscapes and dazzling scenery. I took a lot of pictures wherever I went. In this post, I have a section on scenery, with images that range from sunset at beaches, vast fields, panorama of cities lying upon hilltops, cavernous rock structures, and a birds eye view of Masada, a well known summit in the northern part of Israel with a colorful, interesting history. At one point, I focused on photographing up close shots, zooming in on small flowers or tiny ants. Once I captured those images onto my camera, everyone could see the blatant beauty of what was photographed, whereas if they might have chanced upon it walking in the woods, they wouldn’t have stopped to notice it.
After spending the year capturing the beauty of of the land on camera, I returned home laden with a rich and priceless collection of timeless pictures that keep the memories of the times I’ve had alive and vibrant. With an easy click of a button, I can slip back into the memories of days gone by, reveling in past experiences and enjoying the re-enactment of my year through pictures. In this way, like Marriane Hirsch wrote, photographing enables me to freeze the moment, capture the beauty, and take that sliver of time along with me as I continue pushing forward in life.
Nature is beautiful; It’s just up to you to take a moment to discover the beauty hidden within.
My Paintings
This is my first painting and I created it in Professor Tracy Jones’ class this semester. Its a still life of an old teapot, grapes, a vase with flowers, and drapery of a Taj Mahal backdrop. It took me about five classes (15) hours to complete this still- life. I used oil paints consisting of only five colors, and for the rest of the colors (like green, gray, pink) I needed to mix colors.
This is my second painting that I’m currently in middle of. Again, it’s a still-life of a vase of flowers, grapes, and a cup. This picture was taken yesterday, Oct. 27, ‘09, at the beginning of class.
This is the same painting, only after four hours of painting class to work on it. I have not completed it, although I added more background and made significant changes in the grapes and floor of the set-up. This would be my second painting.
