Whitewater Draw

Last Thursday Mike and I went to Whitewater Draw with our friends, Ben and Mary Anne.Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area is in Sulphur Springs Valley.Familiar to veteran birders as Hyannis Cattle Company, this 1500-acre property was purchased in January 1997 by the Arizona Game & Fish Department to provide habitat for waterfowl and Sandhill Cranes and wildlife viewing opportunities. Located in the southwestern part of the valley, between Bisbee and Elfrida, this area features a seasonal wetland (playa lake) that attracts up to 21,000 Sandhill Cranes in winter and numerous other water-loving species from late summer through spring.

Here are some photos from the afternoon outing. These were all done with a digital pinhole camera. I'm having fun experimenting with the digital pinhole, which I acquired last year after taking a pinhole photography class with Kathleen Velo.

I plan to do a little more touching up with a few of these and seal them in wax!

We did see lots of Sandhill cranes during our excursion. My telephoto lens was better  for photographing the cranes.

 The last time I visited Whitewater Draw was in March 2010. I went with my friend, Sonya. Check out her photos from last year at Sonya's Daily Art Journal And here are my first experiments with my digital pinhole from that visit.

I wasn't very fond of these, so they sat in a folder on the computer until now. It's nice to compare and see what more experimentation has led to with the digital pinhole.

Portrait experiments in mixed media

So these were completed last weekend for our Sunday afternoon drawing/mixed media get-together. Small group of Bisbee artists, 2 to 4 of us enjoying art, experimenting, and camaraderie!

Three versions of portraits of Hettie and Ludmilla. All are encaustic/mixed media on rice paper.

Ludmilla, version 2, 4"x5" on rice paper

Hettie, version 2, 4"x5" on rice paper

Ludmilla, version 3, 4"x5" on rice paper

Hettie, version 3, 4"x5" on rice paper

Hettie, version 1, 4"x6" on rice paper

Ludmilla, version 1, 4"x6" on rice paper

I found a new technique I really like and will continue to explore with portraits, and landscapes as well. I like versions 2 and 3, also am pleased with versions 1, however, I don't find them as flattering of Hettie and Ludmilla.

Side note: Hettie is my daughter, and Ludmilla is a very dear friend.

Hettie and Ludmilla

Quick post before off to ladies' brunch/b-day party. Just finished working on this photo of Hettie and Ludmilla. Kinda like the fisheye, although normally I'd say sort of a hokey idea.

Numinosity: Meet the Drawing Group and Randomness from Today's Art Endeavors

Okay, I planned to start a "Saturday Morning Post" this morning, but did not get around to posting it! The good part of not getting the morning post done is that I spent the majority of the morning, and afternoon, up until about an hour ago, in my studio...working on 100 portraits for our drawing group that will be meeting at the Grand Saloon tomorrow afternoon. See Kim's post from our last week's meeting:

*Numinosity*: Meet the Drawing Group: "I've never been part of a drawing group but when I heard it was rather casualand was meeting at the Grand Hotel Saloon in Old Bisbee, I deci..."

We truly have fun with this!!!

Here is a link to check out more of Kim's Blog too:
http://numinositybeads.blogspot.com/

Back to the 100 portraits - on any kind of  approx. 4"x5"paper using any technique creating real life portraits, portraits from photos, and from one's imagination. I got to #22 today, short of the BIG GOAL, but along the way I learned some new techniques, had a great time, and got 4 pictures I really like! I will post next week after the group has met and shared.

In the meantime, here's a photo (2 versions) I also worked on this morning. My love of photography was freshened (rekindled?) after spotting the Web site of Amira Fritz  I love this photo, and really her whole portfolio! Some beautiful images, very inspiring. So, I felt like I was on a caffeine high and "couldn't get enough art today" - seeing the work of other artists, and creating some myself.

Ludmilla and Hettie, photographed end of Dec. 2010. Worked in Photoshop today.

Version 2.

Anyway, this has been, and still is, a great day...More after tomorrow.

The start of a New Year - 2011

Fifteen days into it. I have been busy! My encaustic studio was disassembled in December 2010 to become a bedroom for my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. So before reassembling, the studio got a fresh coat of white paint, ceiling, walls, et. al...Now re-organized and fresh, I'm back in the studio! There will be posts of new work in the very near future.

This is sort of a "grab bag" post in the meantime.

Anyway, starting the new year with "new" studio, taking a writing class, continuing Sunday drawing lab with good friends. And making more art....good start for 2011!

Here's a share I like:

Talked with my sister Holli yesterday. She lives in Nashville. She's a writer and has new book coming out in July, so more on that this summer! Her hubby, my brother-in-law, is a musician - Stone Jack Jones.

Catch this excellent video made end of last year of Stone Jack Jones:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2011/01/11/stone-jack-jones-black-coal-fresh-vid

It was directed by Zack Spiger and photographed by Spiger and Madison Rowley, with editorial by Sacha Szwarc and film scanning and grading by Eric Rosen at Lightpress -

Beautifully filmed!

Here's to a creative, fresh, new year!

Day Trip to the Amerind Foundation

The Amerind Foundation, located in Texas Canyon in the Little Dragoons (just off I-10 in SE AZ), is a private anthropological and archaeological museum, research center, and art museum, dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Native American cultures and their histories. Here's their web address for more detailed info: http://www.amerind.org/

Photos in this posting are from a day trip we made on December 26th. We ( being me, Mike, daughter Hettie, son-in-law Sean, and grandson Ryan) had a picnic lunch, made photos, and visited the museums. It was a goreous day!

Hettie reclining on Victorian loveseat. "Found object" in the desert. Actually, a family had hauled this is in the back of their truck to do a family portrait.

Ryan exploring the rocks.

Contemplating the downhill run.

He's off!!

And back up to do it again!

Scapes at Amerind

On the way home.