Art Every Day Month - Nov 18 -

Shoreline Reflections

Shoreline Reflections - a quiet moment

Source photo

Sometimes it's the close, quiet moments that become the most important. To take a photograph only requires a fraction of a second and some camera gear, to make a photograph requires some thought, some "reflection" to consider what needs to be represented in the image.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 14 -

Crisp Morning 2

Crisp Morning 2 - ripple patterns indicate a slight breeze  

Source photo

It's a crisp morning, with a slight breeze coming from upstream on this quiet river channel. The golden early-morning sunlight looks warm, but its appearance is deceptive, and today you will want your gloves, or else you are going to jam your hands into your coat pockets as you walk along in the open.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 13 -

Crisp Morning

Crisp Morning - cooler temperatures kept yesterday's snow on the ground  

Source photo

Yesterday's snow has stayed on the ground, gleaming white in the early morning light. Yesterday's footprints are still visible, too, the tracks of joggers' sneakers and dog-walkers' hiking boots, the paw prints of dogs, rabbits, squirrels and other creatures too small to be seen. Birds, too. This part of the riverbank is a busy spot, but you're only aware of it when you can spot the tracks left on the ground. Snow is good for that.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 12 -

Alpenglow Colors

Alpenglow Colors

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Alpenglow is a breathtaking blanket of pink light that surrounds everything, before dawn or after sunset. It doesn't happen often. Necessary conditions include a general but not too intense atmospheric haze, and for the sun to be below the horizon but striking the particles in the atmosphere, which for viewers on the ground, glow in the red end of the light spectrum. I have seen Alpenglow on the river, and it is a stunning event.
Disclosure: this is not an image of a true alpenglow, I manipulated the original mild sunset colors in the photograph to get the overall pinky tone. However, the photo does serve as a reminder of how beautiful the original event is.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 11 -

Snow on the Riverbank

Snow on the Riverbank - an overnight dusting of snow

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There's just a riffle of a breeze on the water near the riverbank, but the overnight dusting of snow on the shoreline is undisturbed. The tree branches and the tall grasses on the shoreline have been able to shake the snow off, but the chilled moisture in the sand will be able to preserve the snow until the sun hits it and evaporates the white stuff.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 9 -

Dogwood Berries for the Birds 2

Red Osier Dogwood Berries for the Winter Birds 2  

- backlighting from early morning sunlight on overnight snow

Source photo

Golden early morning sunlight silhouettes a cluster of Red Osier Dogwood berries, food for the overwintering birds. Migrating birds have already picked the neighboring clusters bare. That fluffy cap of snow with the glowing light behind it will melt during the day, but this photograph saves the fleeting impression.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 8 -

Dogwood Berries for the Birds

Red Osier Dogwood Berries for the Winter Birds - early morning sunlight on overnight snow

Source photo

Flocks of migratory birds passed through here earlier this fall, stripping most of the wild fruit from the trees and bushes. However, some bird species stay here all year long, feeding on what is left on the trees, like these berries of the Red Osier Dogwood bush. Before the winter is over, even these bird-raisins will be eaten, and the birds will be foraging in some other trees.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 7

Squashberries for the Birds

Squashberries for the Birds - black and white conversion from color photograph

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Digital cameras take full color photos, and normally strip away information to give the image the user wants. I'm pleased with the original color image, but I wanted to show the berries as gleaming gems, hanging on the branch, tantalizing for the birds. By taking away the color, I hope that the viewer can concentrate on the shape and the weight of these juicy pearls. Oh, and squashberries? That's the local name for the high-bush cranberry, Viburnum edule. Humans like them too.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 6

A Flash of Color

A Flash of Color - a scrap of birchbark, backlit by a shaft of sunshine in the woods

Source photo

Some things just grab your attention out of nowhere. It had been a generally overcast afternoon, with scattered breaks in the clouds. But the sun broke through while I was photographing in the woods, and it highlighted a scrap of birchbark, which normally looks opaque and pinky-beige. With the sun behind it, the birchbark was now glowing brilliant orange - and all I had to do was crop the image to make it into a fine color arrangement. Such good luck!

Art Every Day Month - Nov 5 -

Overcast Day Fall Colors

Overcast Day Fall Colors

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On a dull overcast day, with gray skies heavy with atmosphere, and with no direct sunshine, colors in the distance appear neutralized. Close up, however, even autumn brown grasses and ocher leaves take on a golden yellow tone in contrast. The little snow that fell overnight will be gone soon, but so, too, will these leaves. I'm glad to enjoy them while they're still here.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 2 -

Fall Atmosphere - River Island 2

River Island - late fall color

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This is the same location as yesterday's post, it is a spot I go to often. In this photograph, I cropped very little, I enhanced the colors slightly and I applied a little sharpening to bring out the contrast of the white birches against the evergreens and the ripples on the water. You can see that there is a little dusting of snow on the island, and on the sandbar farther out in the river. Winter is on its way, but the atmosphere is still Fall.

Art Every Day Month - Nov 1 -

Black and white landscape - River Island

River Island - Converting a digital photo into a black and white image

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It's a cool fall day, with drizzle taking the place of yesterday's snow flurries. Colours are dull except where the sun is peeking out and highlighting autumn colors. My original digital photograph appears almost monochrome to start with. 

Back when black and white film was what most folks had to work with, color film arrived as a welcome advance. But sometimes you can see more in a black and white photograph. 

I chose to make this image black and white to remove the immediate sensation of color, and to emphasize the texture of the water and the bare branches of the trees on the island. Winter is on its way, but not yet.

Art Every Day Month - November 2

Spotting Red

November Crackerberries  -  Detail of 11" x 15" Watercolour on paper - Study in saturated/ unsaturated colours

 Source Photo

 This month's AEDM has turned into a personal and professional challenge for me.

My overall intention is to loosen up my painting style by painting abstract images every day this month. "Abstract" means that from some source material, the artist extracts some theme and elaborates on it in the work.

Now, as a life-long realistic painter, I have come to rely on Image as a necessary part of the picture, and including detail and references is a tough habit to break, I am finding. Will I have enough time in November to show some progress with painting in an abstract style?

I have told my Inner Critic to take a month-long sabbatical, and so far I have been able to work uninterrupted. But old habits are hard to break, and this is "loosening up" is proving to be more of a challenge than I expected.