Beyond Photography

"Soos Creek Brook" by Sarah Schoenfeld

I'll admit upfront, I'm not a photographer. The best I can do is capture snapshots of my family or things I want to paint or illustrate. So I really appreciate photographers who can turn the ordinary into something more than meets the eye.

This photo by Sarah Schoenfeld does that. Blurred water running over rocks may seem like a common subject if described in words, but viewing it reminds me of a time when I was a kid. My cousins and I put on old sneakers and tromped up and down the creek that ran through their backyard. We caught crawdads, looked for snakes and imagined we were alone in the wilderness, even though the house sat just over the hill. I have Sarah to thank for a wonderful memory.

Calming earthy colors make "Soos Creek Brook" soothing and easy to live with, while water has a cooling effect. The picture is representative, but the blur, textures and colors in combination give it a semi-abstract and painterly, almost impressionistic feel, which may be why I was drawn to it.

Sarah has chosen to frame the picture in a mossy green mat and dark wood frame which perfectly complements the natural scene. However, if you prefer a different look, ImageKind allows the buyer to customize the mat and frame, as well as the type of paper it is printed on. Either way this is a picture you can enjoy for a long time.

Sunday Best March 23, 2008

Assimilation by From God's Hands

Tiger Lilies 398 by Kent Lorentzen

Celtic Cruciform by Andrew Mercer

Ready for Spring

"Chirico Iris" by Amy Hautman

Irises again! This watercolor painting by Amy Hautman is a breath of fresh springtime air. The colors are vibrant and the mood is joyful. I'm particularly drawn to irises as I remember growing up with rows and rows of them in all colors that my mother lovingly planted around the house. Although Amy's gallery is small, all the works she has on display show the same beautiful vibrant and flowing style that makes spring come alive even in the middle of winter.

Traditional Mediums

Iris Trio
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I've just started uploading some photos of my traditional art. I have a lot that I made in the past but now I'm having a hard time getting back into it. I feel drawn to the computer like it's an addiction. If I'm not working on making fractals or vector illustrations, I'm preparing images to upload to various sites. This can include changing file formats, resizing or cropping, adding embedded keywords, watermarking and then the actual uploading. I'm now putting images onto 3 microstock sites, 2 print on demand sites and 1 photosharing site, not to mention my blog. I'm enjoying most of it, especially the wonderful people I'm meeting on the various discussion forums. Let's see if I can keep it all going!... :-)

The Whimsical Corgi

"Little Cupid" by Valerie Brock

When I started blogging seriously, I jumped right in and started 5 of them. After a couple of months of this, I realized I was crazy and have finally cut them back to this one. One's enough for me and my only regret is that I reviewed a lot of really good artists and didn't want to lose any of their exposure or my appreciation of their work. So, slowly but surely, I'm going to repeat all of the posts I made on my Weekly Art Review here so everything will be together. I trust the artists won't mind and I'll enjoy seeing the art again.

I love corgis and Valerie Brock has a wonderful whimsical style that captures the corgi personality to a tee. Her corgis are uncannily human, celebrating Christmas, painting 'en plein air', mowing the lawn and sitting in the naughty corner. Personally, if I could get my own Corgi mix to do anything remotely useful, I would never think of using the naughty corner! Regardless, he's a great dog and I suspect that Valerie is totally in love with her own corgi. It shows in her work.

Rhythm Series

Rhythm Series: Orospura
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

Orospura or "mountain fire" was a homework exercise in creating rhythm in a fractal image in my online class at Visual Arts Academy. I used distortion transformations in the software to create organic and uneven waves throughout the image. It ended up looking volcanic and the title Orospura came from the ancient Greek words for mountain (oros) and fire (pura). I ended up submitting a different image for the assignment but it and another were derived from this one. All three are now uploaded to ImageKind, RedBubble and Flickr.

Taking Stock on Tuesday March 18, 2008

Wavy Grid

copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I have officially requested to have my account closed at Lucky Oliver. To give an idea of why, in the "odditorium"(their name for forum), one member joked saying that "it's called Lucky Oliver because you're lucky if you get any sales". That would agree with my experience. Some people wonder why anyone would remove any portfolio in total like that, and I can only say that to watch day after day after day for sales that never materialize is demoralizing and depressing. When the current emotional toll becomes larger than future benefits, it's time to say goodbye. I decided that my work sells on the other sites I upload to, so either my art doesn't fit LO buyers' needs or they don't have enough buyers, and maybe both.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Lucky Green

copyright © Joan Kerrigan

This is one of my St. Patrick's Day images at Shutterstock and Dreamstime. On Dreamstime it is also included in an image collection called Green Backgrounds and Designs. The collection is managed by Lisa Ewing who I have "met" online in several different places that revolve around selling our art. She also makes fractals and interestingly, lives only a few miles away from me. It just shows how small our world is getting.

Sunday Best March 16, 2008

Fire Inspirations by Rhonda Phair

Dog on a Rock 687 by Kent Lorentzen

Rainbow Fascination by Peter Ridge

Isaac's Farm

Isaac's Farm
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

A couple of years ago, I took a painting class at Burlington County College in NJ. I had never painted with oils before and it was a wonderful experience. I loved how creamy and textile the paints were and even the smells didn't bother me. Halfway through the semester, we got the opportunity to paint on location at a farm owned by Isaac Witkin, a famous sculptor who lived close to campus and taught there on occasion.

The farm was a typical farm house and fields but with a major difference. Dotted through the fields were large metal sculptures, some with ladders next to them. Isaac was working on refurbishing some of them for a new show.

The first week, we spent time choosing a location to paint and setting up. Then we blocked in our drawings. I chose to paint this rusty farm equipment as I wasn't interested in a plain New Jersey farm landscape. After our painting session, Isaac took us on a tour of his gallery and workspace. I'm not a sculptor so most of it didn't stay with me but it was interesting and very generous of him to spend the time with us.

The next week, we were to meet at his farm to finish up. When we got to the entrance of the winding road to his home, another student who was posted there, told us that the day of painting outdoors was called off. Isaac had died during the week of a massive heart attack. We had a strange and somber day of painting in the studio and a memorial was held a week leter at the New Jersey Grounds for Sculpture.

My painting remains unfinished but I kind of like it that way. I haven't even really stuck with painting in oils, not because of this incident, but because of the mess and the cleanup and all the other things I'd rather do. When I look at my painting though, I always think of Isaac.

Journey

Hodos
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

Hodos is in my brand new Kaleidoscope Gallery at ImageKind. Four of the images are based on the classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy: earth, water, air and fire. And then I added some extras. This image is one of the extras. Hodos, in ancient Greek means journey. The images are all titled using ancient Greek words which was really interesting to look up and decide on. I think naming my art is one of the most difficult things to do so this was fun and different.

1stAngel and Flickr

Cactus Rose
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I have friend on ImageKind/OVA/flickr who is not only a wonderful artist but also an amazing bundle of energy and spirit. Her screen name is 1stAngel and her blog/website is a busy place. She has included interviews, blog entries, links to galleries and more. It is through her that I learned about MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog as way of promoting my blog.

Her newest venture (and I think she has a new one every day!) is Flickr. She has started a group on Flickr called 1stAngel and is inviting all of her interviewees to post their images in the 1stAngel pool. As of now there are 12 members but I have no doubt that more will come. She is a master of networking and a generous soul, and I can only attempt to keep up.

I discovered I had some fractals on Flickr that I had forgotten about that are still on private mode but now I've started uploading small versions of my ImageKind fractals as another way to get my work "out there". So check out the link to the 1stAngel flickr group and see some wonderful and diverse work!

Red Bubble

Tsunami
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

After reading some of the forums, I've decided to upload some work to Red Bubble. It's a POD that does prints, posters, greeting cards and tshirts. The site revolves around community, groups, forums, journals, and provides a meeting place for artists and writers as well as a printing service. I've uploaded a few test images that I've resized to offer as cards. Since ImageKind hasn't perfected it's card option, I thought another site might be able to provide this service. I'm still wondering how to incorporate a square format piece into a 5x7 card without it becoming off center during production. I guess I'll have to set one up and order it for myself to test. But first I have to figure out how to navigate the site and deal with the quantity of messages and comments between artists.

Taking Stock on Tuesday March 11, 2008

Cool Tiles
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I've been uploading to Shutterstock but not as much as I did at the end of last year. My sales are showing it too. According to their front page, SS is taking in between 35,000 to 40,000 images per week and has over 90,000 photographers! These are amazing stats. I'm still having fun uploading there but I think it's easy for an artist/illustrator/photographer to get lost in the sheer volume of images on the site. When I stop enjoying it, I'll stop uploading, because at that point it won't be worth it anymore. The money isn't exactly paying the bills anyway...Interestingly, Dreamstime is starting to pick up a little steam.

Get Well Soon, Dad

Get Well Soon, Dad
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I made this card and printed it at home for my father-in-law who underwent a quadruple by-pass surgery last week. Thankfully, he'll be coming home in a couple of days and I want to wish him a speedy recovery and good health. So from your family, Dad, "Get well soon...we love you."

Sunday Best March 9, 2008

Shih Tzu by Susan Donley

Dancing Petals by Karen Nicholson

Pippi's Message by Johannes Wessmark

Pattern as Art

Windy Day
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I've started doing more work using pure pattern and texture, with my art having no defined foreground or background. This piece is taken from the outside curves of a spiral structure that I have cropped out of the final image. The organic curves resembled billowing fabric banners which is why I named it Windy Day. I thought the soft blended colors looked like a watercolor painting, so I put it with some other similarly styled works into a new gallery at ImageKind and called it WatercolorFractals. I'm planning on adding to the gallery as I work my way through my Ultra Fractal class at Visual Arts Academy.

Featured Member!

Rainbow Spill
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

I awoke this morning to find a message from an ImageKind artist congratulating me on being ImageKind's featured member for the day! My name and icon were on the front page as a link to my gallery. With all the great artists and photographers on ImageKind, I feel truly honored to have been chosen at all. I got a lot of traffic and messages about it and it's been a fun day.

NJPPS Exhibit at the Flinker Pavilion

The Secret Garden
copyright © Joan Kerrigan

The NJPPS took in work on Wednesday and hung a show at the Dr. David Flinker Pavilion Art Gallery, located in the Virtua Memorial Hospital Burlington County. We hung a total of 69 paintings by 25 artists all different styles and subject matter. Our show will run until April 20, 2008.

I chose to enter "The Secret Garden" which is pastel on Wallis paper at 18x12 inches. The painting is from a photo I took on a trip to Niagara Falls a couple of years ago. On the Canadian side, we found this little park, called The Secret Garden and took a bunch of photos. The painting has been hanging in our extra room for awhile so I thought it was time to let it go.

Portrait Demonstration by Sean Roach

We had a wonderful treat at our monthly meeting of the New Jersey Pastel Painters Society Monday night. Philadelphia artist, Sean Roach, did a pastel portrait demonstration, using one of our members as his model. Teaching and entertaining at the same time, he kept our attention riveted on his technique. Sean is a multitalented artist who is dedicating himself to doing only portraits for the time being. In order to support this goal and not have to take commission work, he is also an actor on the popular Sunny Side Up children’s show on PBS’ Sprout network.

Life Study 6
Copyright © Sean Roach

Life Study 6 (detail)
copyright © Sean Roach

This painting was available along with many others for us to examine close up. We were all impressed with his color choices and textures especially since he uses the smoothest paper he can find.

Sean explains how he goes about beginning a portrait while his model, Norm, waits patiently.

A face is starting to emerge from the paper in a monochromatic sepia tone underpainting. Sean squints and tries to find large shadow and light areas first, while also concentrating on the model's eyes.

The painting develops as more colors are added and shadows are deepened. Sean takes several breaks during the session and ends up deciding not to finish the ear because of time constraints.

Norm
copyright © Sean Roach

Norm and Sean with Portrait

Taking Stock on Tuesday March 4, 2008

Aboriginal Landscape

I have decided to roll my microstock blog into this one and have all my art endeavors recorded together. In general, I don't keep up with microstock news unless it's a really big story so I only have my personal experience to relate.

I have a limited number of sites that I upload to, so I need very little blog space to keep up. This week I awoke on Monday to find that my Aboriginal Landscape illustration has achieved its 9th download at Dreamstime. This is my most downloaded file here. Interestingly, I just established an Aboriginal Art Collection in my profile this weekend. There are only 11 images in the collection but I wonder if that has something to do with the latest download.

I currently have 4 managed collections and I'm debating whether to create some more. Once they are set up, they require very little maintenance and it certainly can't hurt to show your work in more than one place. It is also kind of fun browsing for specific art to include as well as being able to highlight my own specialties.

Class is in Session

Heavenly Throne

copyright © Joan Kerrigan

My class has finally started at Visual Arts Academy. It is called Ultra Fractal Artistry and is the third in a series of UF classes taught by Janet Parke. She is a wonderful teacher who has worked with Ultra Fractal almost since the software first came out. Her materials and methods have helped me understand a lot more about Ultra Fractal and abstract art in general. This final course gets more involved in the underpinnings of fractals as an art form. In other words, she demonstrates how traditional elements of art and principles of design can be used to study and judge fractal art.

This is exactly the way I've been working with fractals for awhile now and I think it will help to solidify my thinking, especially since we will be required to write it all out. As I work through the course (which is, by the way, almost 4 months long) I will upload to ImageKind and show them here.

I'm also working on a series of lessons on these elements and principle of art and design and will show how I use them in my fractal work. These will later this month, so check back.

Sunday Best March 2, 2008

Orange Roughy by Terese Dombrowski

Apples by evision Arts

Frosty Morn by Will Borden

Blogging Communities

Jewel Tones

copyright © Joan Kerrigan

(my avatar at many of my sites)

In my ongoing education in social networking/bookmarking, I've joined several blog community sites. Two of them are more community-like and the other is a Beta version of a syndication network. I haven't fully utilized any of them completely but here are my first impressions of the ones I'm trying.

MyBlogLog: This is a Yahoo affiliated site that works like a community. You create an account and sign your blog up. Then you can visit other blogs and join their communities, thereby getting feeds from their current posts. And you can also add the authors as friends. You can put any of your blogs into your profile as long as they meet the TOS. On first glance there seem to be a lot of sales and affiliate sales oriented blogs, interspersed with well known content-rich blogs. But the hope is that in joining the communities, more people will read your blog.

Blog Catalog: This is also a community site. You can join for free but you have to put their widget on your site and be approved as a good content-providing site. They turn down sites that are brand new, as not having enough posts, or total spam blogs. Not only can you join other communities and add friends but also sign your blog up with a group of blogs that align with your blog's purpose.

I'm finding that many bloggers are members of both these groups. I've started joining individual communities and fanning or friending people and blogs but it takes time and I'm starting to feel stretched a little thin.

BlogRush: This is the most recent site I have joined and will be the last for awhile. I heard about it from author Daniel M. Clark. BlogRush is different in several ways. It isn't a community like the other 2 where we join groups or friend people. It is more of a blog post distributor. I applied and after approval, their widget was placed in my sidebar (you can see it to the right). The widget has the titles of 5 different blog posts of other blogs in their network, tailored to the subject matter of my blog. In exchange, my own posts are placed in other blogs' widgets for anyone to click on and visit. So it's networking but with very little effort on my part except for making regular posts.

As with everything else I'm doing, it will take time. Toward the end of the summer, I'll decide if any of these are worth staying with. If you have any other methods that you use to promote your blog, feel free to leave a comment.

Just knowing that someone is reading this is nice and generating a few sales at my ImageKind gallery would be even better. So stay tuned...