Ok, later, I re-shot the cattails with 35mm (50mm/2.1cm) and have been heading for the darkroom week after week … yes, life if busy …

Finally made it.

These show, in part (I have many reasons), why I love film vs digital: just look at the fabulous grain. Photoshop can fake it, but I love the real thing. I once had a fake Rolex that a friend brought me from abroad. Personally, I couldn’t tell the difference between it and a real one, but wearing it fell very-short from what I can imagine wearing a real one might feel. Anyways, I won’t get started on my feelings about Photoshop here … they are mixed and complex. And, the fake Rolex stopped running after a month …

Historical sidebar: there is some disagreement as-to the initial origin of the dog-on-a-stick/corn dog. From what I read, the dog-on-a-stick is the first noted use given there is a patent dated 1927 that describes putting a sausage/etc onto a stick to cook. Not sure corn batter was in play, but the dog and stick definitely are. Perhaps the squabble should be re-stated: one as-to the origin of dog-on-a-stick, and another to use of a corn batter. Troubling issues, those.

Academic note: I did a search thru my Bible concordance … no mention of “dog-on-a-stick”, nor of “corn dog” … so, definitely the early Greeks and Aramaic speaking crowd didn’t come up with the thing. But I’m convinced God foresaw the humor of the cattail/corn dog on-a-stick visual long, long ago … and still smiles.

Anyways … I did get back into the darkroom today to finally print God’s Own: corn dogs on-a-stick. Actually, I was torn between two negatives: two different compositions/perspectives … so I printed them both, God’s Own: corn dogs on-a-stick 1 and 2. 🙂

I was going you show them here, but this post is getting a bit long, so I’ll follow-up with the next post and show them both. I’ll telegraph what I feel: I’m so happy to 1) get into the darkroom again (it’s a magical place … to see an image appear out of the developer is so much fun) and 2) I’m very happy with both of the images!!

Here’s a teaser ….

Stay tuned!!

A couple posts back … no, by now, it’s a couple of months back … I said I was heading for the darkroom. It took quite a while to get there, life being what it is (!!!). 

And, life being what it is, and though I did get into the darkroom momentarily, I still am without any prints. 

I got ready … I first had to redo some things to sure my darkroom is (kinda) light tight … sealed/flapped/etc and got it pretty dark, even during daylight hours. Then, once inside and “ready-to-go”, I found several “issues” … tried art first to work around them, but there were so many … and so many that could really effect quality, so I bagged it. So, I’ve put a few days into fixing things (note: “days” to me means an hours or so max each day only – I have other things, life things, that often need to trump art things.

Amounts those “issues” was the fact that I needed a new negative carrier for 35mm film. So, since there was only one on ebay, and it was pretty expensive, I set out to build one myself. Here it is:

I used steel flashing material, it’s in two parts: a base with slightly larger-than-35mm frame size with grooves/guides for the enlarger … and a second layer to actually frame the negative. I filed this piece slightly larger than 35mm image size to add a black frame around the image on the print. I wonder who started that idea (the black frame around an image … ). I wonder if it was a statement: “hey, this isn’t cropped, I am responsible for the whole frame”. Or, maybe it was a design thing. I recall seeing it first in my teens and thinking that looked and felt “Pro”. I like the idea that each and every print has the same “fingerprint” black frame – no two enlarged frames are alike: some are very rough, some a bit lopsided, etc..

Then, it was Thanksgiving (I love Thanksgiving!) – with it’s accompanying time dedications – and now, I think I’m getting close to taking another whack at it … day or so away!! (ha! it was weeks!)

(Photo trivia: negative marked #6 will be the first of series .. God’s Own: corn dogs on a stick 1).

Stay tuned …

We often, on our daily constitutional (in better weather than present), walk past a little pond filled (at that time of year) with cattails. However, they don’t look to me like a cat’s tail at all. And, they don’t flick inquisitively as a cat’s tail does. To me, they more resemble a beaver’s tail after it’s been forced thru a knothole. Cat tail? No. If I were to come upon a critter with a tail like that, it’d accompany some soothing self-talk and maintaining eye contact while backing away slowly.

Anyways, I was thinking of taking a picture of one of those. As we passed them one day, I remarked aloud “hey, those look like corn dogs, they’re even on a stick!” Must have been around lunchtime. So, why did God make these plants (which for some reason are referred to as cattails) look so much like corn dogs!?! What fun though, and what an exposition of God’s sense of humor. My wife is continually pointing out His sense of humor (and most particularly, and most often) when in the presence of a dog .. any dog … she loves dogs.

At any rate, I decided to take a few shots of a “cattail”. For some reason, the notion cried-out to me for square format (don’t ask), so I chose to lug my 2 1/4” camera on the walk. I have an 80mm and a 135mm lens… the 135 I figured, in hopes of keeping depth-of-field shallow, as-well-as my feet dry.

Several days later: ok, I developed the film … a disaster. Here’s the problem of being a peripatetic artist: some of the activities are done so rarely that an efficient and quality level of ability is hard to maintain. In this case, I mis-loaded the film in my tanks and ruined it. I have done 2 1/4” so rarely, I’m just not competent with it these days (note: I once was very good at 120/220 processing … a while back though). Rather than fight it, I’m going to re-shoot 35mm … where I’m very comfortable and confident. I need to get them shot while they’re still in good shape.

Bummer.

I’ll end with a personal sidebar on cattails: my wife once created a very pretty bouquet of dried grasses and a couple cattails in our family room. Very nice. However, month’s later, the cattails apparently burst open – I assume in a natural manner so-as to propagate – setting aloft hundreds of little feathery, light-as-air seed poofs. I still find one here, one there … everywhere, when dusting. Cattails explode – who knew?

Double bummer.

Life is busy … I mention that often …

But just now, I went out to shut my gate, as I do every night … it’s cold tonight …

Well, out there, a pause. I looked back at my house … frozen by the moment … what a Blessing I have … this place, this house … those windows … those shutters … this porch … the plants … this home …

Sure, over the years, we have worked on it all by ourselves … expanded it’s square-footage, it’s size over the years, every nail and wire and pipe …

It’s not a huge place, but it’s our home … it’s such a Blessing that was given to us, for our family … oh, so … So! … what a Blessing …

Sorry … not an “art” moment … but, perhaps a more important moment, a needed moment all the same …

“… patience required beyond this point …”

Perhaps, not a non-aesthetic moment after all…

Love to you all … and, dare I say, humility and thanksgiving as well …

Ok, I’ve repeatedly said “life is busy,…” and, well, here’s another proof.

Shifting thru some watercolor paper in my art/travel bag, I found this one. I had worked on it while traveling, and, as usual, life set in … and it fell thru the cracks. Well, between other sheets of watercolor paper, that is … only to be found a couple days ago.

So, I got busy on finishing it … working on deepening/defining the mountain in the background, tightening up the lapstrakes … and here it is. 🙂

And, a detail …

I think what led me to this steeple is it’s simplicity: white (of course) lapstrake, a steep steeple (I like that phrase), tall and slender – reaching heavenward. this is a narrow one. Not much room in the bell area (still wondering what that “area” is called, architecturally) for much more than the bell.

Simple, basic: to the point. 🙂

… this painting for sale in my Steeple Project Gallery …

“God’s Own:” … what a marvelous creativity and sense of humor He has regarding originality …

Ok, here’s another fork in the road … “God’s Own:” … this thought gets down to basics … original creation vs. derivative creation. Many of us have no idea of the difference, and the absolute blessing that the gap between those two offer. That is a concept that is based upon a hierarchy: God has created ex-nihlio … and we create in derivative, blessed concert with that.

So, as I mentioned in a post a little while ago ( Back in the dark … Oct 28, 2022 ) I’m thinking of a series title I’ve taken for this, “God’s Own: xx”, is reflecting some things in nature that remind me of something else … some odd dualities that I get a kick out of. I guess it kinda gets to finding interesting visuals … humorous or coincidental or even serious … and letting that visual “create” something other. Ex-nihlio to derivative. Visual puns, perhaps. Puns are usually fun. Perhaps visual dualities … perhaps visual concepts that not only put me in my proper place, but also gift me with both fun and an informed partnership that helps me fulfill my assignments.

That gets pretty lofty, pretty quickly. Simultaneously, perhaps it’s not so heady a discussion after all. Maybe simple, street-level … God having fun me … interacting with my given sense of humor. I’ll take them both.

Stay tuned. My first image coming soon …

There are mysteries in life, to be sure. Some are good to solve, to fully understand the answers. Others, I like to retain the mystery, maintain the wonder. Sometimes, the chaos, the un-knowing, is actually more fun than the answer.

I came upon this as I began a post about finishing/framing art. I began to stumble over “mat” and “matt” and “matte”. Between spellcheck, my limited knowledge, and personal grammar consciousness, I become torn.

Let’s begin with “matte”. I determine the “e” is silent, so are we led to “matt”? Also one of the “t”s is silent (the first one, or the second one?). So, does that, then, lead to “mat”? Do we split the elements and go with “mate” … no, I think that’s a wife, husband, or friend. Or do we trust and accept the “e” and “t”s as quiet-but-needed … keeping to “matte”?

I’m pretty sure there is a correct path here. However, I’m going to keep in the dark, by choice. I like the mystery here. Are we talking a window cut in paper, or the absence of gloss, or a short moniker for a guy named Mathew … or something else … ?

Here, then, is my compass-rose sentence:

“Matt made a photo print on non-glossy, matte paper … then he put it in a mat.”

Now, I know truth is truth, and sometimes we need to know it. If “mat”, “matt”, and “matte” are needed to be understood, I’ll refer you to what I always said when speaking as a graphic designer, as a graphic manager, and as a graphics teacher:

“Editors are your best friend!”

And, have fun!

So, I was asked to paint a piece, not as a commission, but on spec. I was given the subject matter: a crow. So, I gave it some thought and came up with something that gave it a twist that I had fun with – the title “As the Crow Fries”. I pictured a crow with a bag of fries – living big!

Ran a few proof-of-concept sketches, playing with composition … bag standing-up, laying down … crow’s foot on bag or not … like best the bag on ground, foot holding it. Of course, this scene would take place at the curb, so I put a simple grass background ….… below, and detail …

FYI … this piece, “Artist’s Proof of Concept“, is for sale in my Watercolor Gallery … 🙂

And then, I went on to the sketch … below and detail …

FYI … this piece, “Artist’s Sketch”, is for sale in my Watercolor Gallery … 🙂

Below: painted it: “As the Crow Fries“, oil on canvass …. size about 20″sq, black floating frame, simple. This original painting is currently for sale at The Red Door Gallery in La Conner, WA. If interested: (360) 466-2000 or email cjmaddalena@yahoo.com.

Also, below, a companion painting by my wife (also about 20″sq and same, black floating frame), also at Red Door Gallery. If interested: (360) 466-2000 or email cjmaddalena@yahoo.com. 🙂

.

Back, way back … maybe my first post, I mentioned I love b&w photography … silver gelatin, not digital. I know, it dates me a bit … well, a lot. But, that’s me. One day, I’ll post my thoughts re photography, Photoshop, etc.. but another day. Today, I’m happily dealing with getting back into the darkroom …

Though I have sketched and painted since a kid (I know, it doesn’t show), I also had a camera in my hand since my teens. It got serious in college when things switched to applying photo to fine art … dimensional photos, non-traditional processes, mixing photo with other media, etc..  and exposure to entering shows/galleries and the like. My work fell into the conceptual art bucket. Very heady and all. A lot of fun, and, at the time, very serious work.

Ok, back to today. I’ve a series of photo’s in mind I’ve begun to shoot, as-well-as a couple stand-alone images. First, though, I need to get my darkroom up-and-running (what’s with all these three-word-hyphenations all-a-sudden?). I turned my enlarger on a couple days ago and found the focusing rack was seized-up. After a good cleaning/WD40, it’s running like a champ now. (Ok, for any gear-types out there: Simon Omega D2/Schneider-Kreusnach/GraLab/Ilford/D-76/Dektol/etc… ).

Tomorrow, I’ll pickup a fresh deck of multi/poly contrast paper and maybe get back into the dark in the evening. We’ll see…

If so, the first couple prints will be for that series I mentioned … I think I have a series title I like: “God’s Own: xxx”. I’ve been seeing/sensitized to noticing some things in nature that remind me of something completely else … thus far, humorous dualities that crack me up. Well, I think they’re funny – not sure if anyone else will, but I get a boot out of them, and I’m pretty sure God does as well, I think He has an incredible sense of humor …

I saw this steeple, and was reminded, how I, too, need maintenance. Physical, emotional, spiritual … crosses, and I, need it all.

Good News: with effort: scraping, sanding and painting …. and with commitment: time, patience, and dedication … and asking: sand me, have patience with me, and fix me … it can get done.

Crosses, and perhaps I/we as well, need maintenance.

… a detail …

… and matted …

… this painting for sale in my Steeple Project Gallery …