State Fair Ribbons

No prizes for Collage or Printmaking or Handmade Books, but I won first place in Computer Art for my digital collage, "Lonely Serenade". I did a blog post about that already (Click on name for article and image.) My calligraphy piece won a third place ribbon.

The first place winner was very nice this year.

My piece was bleach on black paper with much pointed pen lettering over the bleached lettering. It doesn't 'show' very well. The pointed pen work is difficult to see. It was a practice piece that I liked, and I will probably explore that idea a bit more. Lettering with bleach is fun with unpredictable results depending on the age of the bleach (believe it or not) and the paper. Some black papers give yellow or tan letters, some pinkish. Read more... Not many give a good white, but I enjoy the unpredictability of them and think the yellow to tan range is good. I love this Nietzsche quote. My son gave it to me years ago and I did a collage with it. After it sold at an art show several people came back looking for it. Here are my two prize winners this year. Sorry about the bad photos. Framed art with glass is very difficult to get.

The Artistry of Beautiful St. James Court, Louisville KY

The artistry of beautiful St. James Court in Louisville Kentucky is hidden when most visitors are there. I read that more people visit St. James Court during the annual St. James Court Art Show (first weekend in October) than the Kentucky Derby, raced the first Saturday in May just a few miles away. The art show is great, but if that's the only time people see this lovely Old Louisville neighborhood, they miss a lot. The neighborhood and its architecture has an artistry of its own. It is perhaps Louisville's most architecturally interesting neighborhood. The neighborhood began as stately homes. Many of them went through a sad period of disrepair, but experienced a renewal period leading to a return to glory. It's remarkable that so much of the fabulous leaded and stained glass has survived. Some have had newer pieces of glass and iron railings added, but the charm of the neighborhood remains completely intact.

My friend Donna visited me this weekend. Today after breakfast we stopped to photograph St. James Court and Belgravia Court (a walking courtyard that is part of the neighborhood.) Though the sunshine was not right for the best photography - almost overhead and very bright) it was fun to take photos of the stately Victorian homes that ring the courtyard. It was a trip to an earlier time with a very European flavor, especially on Belgravia Court. Gas lamps dot the courtyards, their flickering flames gently illuminating the area at night. To read more about the various homes and some of the history of the post Civil War era neighborhood, please click on the above link.

Here are some of the photos I took this morning.

The fabulous fountain midway through the split courtyards at the aptly named Fountain Court. Originally commissioned in the late 1800s by the developer of the community, it was recast in bronze in 1975.

A resting lion statue at the Magnolia Street entrance.

Some of the majestic homes and doorways of St. James Court.

Here are some of the sights along Belgravia Court...accessible only by foot.

Donna working with the light to get a better shot of the fountain. Donna Hacker is an excellent travel photographer. See some of her photography by clicking her name above.

To see a bit of St. James Court during the big art show, click on this link. I notice that I took photos of some of my favorite houses back then too. St. James Court is well worth visiting on the first full weekend in October if you like art shows, but don't forget to visit when you can get an unimpeded look at the fine homes.

"Lonely Serenade" Takes First Prize in Digital Art at the Kentucky State Fair

My favorite digital collage, "Lonely Serenade" is one I did while active with the Creative Matrix online digital art group a few years ago. The Kentucky State Fair has a new category in Fine Arts for computer generated art, so I entered this piece. It is a digital blending of several photos including a statue of Benny Goodman, an abalone shell, a tree branch, a window and a wooden fence or paddle wheel - possibly others too. When I am creating digital collages the layers add up quickly, are duplicated, altered, and so on. The abalone shell is the star of this one, color-wise, but all of the elements went together so well to complete the story of "Lonely Serenade".

I hope you like it!

Here are a few other digital collages that I've done over the years.

"Orange Crush" - For this one, I layered everything in black and white except the little orange bird. I selectively colored in a few places with orange hues.

"Night in a Foreign City" (The inherent dangers of using Asian figural text is that I have no idea if I'm cursing here or saying something inane or profound or dirty. I just thought it was pretty script.)

"What the Flock" - This one started with a painting which I used for the background. I added some mathematical drawings and some script and two different raven images. Of course there's a mixture of layering, filters and blending in all of these images.

"Black Dahlia" - this one began with a photo of a red dahlia I took in Ireland. I layered some script over it, a bee image and a sprig of some other flowers.

"Continuum" - this one has lots of layering and blending, lots of coloring. Images of Queen Victoria and her family are included, along with some of my lettering and typing and bits of 'found' text.

"Universal Truths" (see note above regarding Asian text...I haven't a clue if it represents truths, universal or otherwise.)

"Viaje" - an experiment with fonts.

"Three Chairs, No Waiting" - I found this antique image of the three long-haired ladies, and an image of a chair online. I added in Spanish the words, "Three chairs, no waiting." and a pair of shears, without much hope that they would sit still for that!

"Cotton Candy" - This started with Photos from my Creative Matrix group of clouds and a baby's hand. The clouds looked like cotton candy, so I made them pink for a little cherub to grab.

"Rose Chapel" - Beautiful roses from a photo, arches from another photo taken in Ireland, blueprints and more were layered for a pretty straightforward digital collage.

I have lots of them, in several different styles. I wrote an article about creating them for Somerset Studio magazine several years ago. It's in the November/December 2003 issue. In addition, Horizons, the magazine for Presbyterian women contracted with me to do their May/June 2005 cover.