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I had to think about this one a while but I soon realized that stairs play a big part in many of my dreams. Even as a little kid, I used to dream that I could fly down the stairs at our house.
I started looking through my photos and discovered I had an inordinate number of photos of stairs. It seems I tend to photograph a lot of them. I decided to do a collage of just a few of the photos I found. My collage contains about half of the photos I had printed so I could have made this even bigger than the 24' by 18' canvas I used.
I can't believe this was our 84th challenge. This art challenge experience has been such fun! It gets those creative juices flowing.
My Art Challenge Group met on Saturday evening and because I missed the last meeting, I had two challenge subject to present. Today I'll feature the first one.
I missed the meeting a month ago because of a schedule conflict but I had my piece ready to go. The challenge subject was "A False Memory". I chose a memory that I really don't know if it was false or not.
I won't go into the whole story but because I grew up in a house with more than a normal share of creeks and groans and other mysteries, memories of some events are a bit nebulous.
I'm not much of an artist when it comes to drawing but I drew this scene anyway. It's an image of a lady I saw just silently walking through my parents bedroom. I would see her from time to time when I was in the next room.
I took a photo of my drawing and decided to try a few artistic renderings using my photo editing application. There is one application that does some AI work with the photo but it's based strictly on the photo with no added suggestions. It gives multiple options and I can choose the one I like. When I saw this one, I was a bit taken aback. It represented what I remember perfectly. It even changed the tree photo I drew to a family photo hanging on the wall in the room where I was sitting. So I presented both my drawing above and this edited photo version at the meeting.
P.S. I was never afraid growing up in that house. All the curious things were just normal events to all of us.
Tomorrow I'll show you my piece for the April challenge.
Here is most of our Art Challenge Group enjoying some time spent around the fire pit at Julie and Dave's house. Two other members hadn't yet arrived.
I snapped this shot after the sun went down and before we set about the art challenge business. It was a nice evening for sitting by the fire.
I thought I'd show you a couple of other completed bodies photographed before we mixed them up. This one was created by Larry Nisula. He's the artist who was in the Biltmore Fashion Park art walk show that I posted on the 14th.
This one is by Marcia, the wife of our club member Jim Lowman. Marcia doesn't usually participate in the challenges but I'm so glad she did on this occasion. I like her creation.
My Art Challenge group took up that idea. We were given four sheets of paper and told to create an image with a head on the first sheet, then a torso, legs and feet. Each one of us did our creations separately and then at last night's meeting we mixed them up to get new images.
This was my original piece. I made mine from cut paper.
These next shots are examples of how they were mixed up. To the right we have a creation using pieces from four different people.
Here's another with four different pieces.
These two were the "judges" favorites. My "legs" got into that one on the left and my "head" made it into the one of the right.
This project was one of the most fun challenges I can remember. I loved doing it.
My Art Challenge group met on Friday evening and our subject for this meeting was "Radiance". This was my entry. I was inspired by many of the Native American artworks that I see at the Heard Museum. Instead of a Native American image I used a photograph I took of the replica of the Anglo-Saxon mask discovered at Sutton Hoo in England. The display of the Sutton Hoo artifacts is one of my favorite things to see at the British Museum. I painted a sort of radiant background and attached my photo of the replica helmet to the center.
Here is a photo of the actual mask in the display case.
The one in my photo is a replica of what it looked like when new sometime between 450 and 1100 AD.
For anyone who is curious about this archaeological discovery, you can read more about it here.
It was another fun meeting with my fellow art lovers. Our next meeting isn't until October and the next subject is "Monsoon". I haven't a clue what I will come up with for that one.
The challenge for our June meeting was "Balance" and my creation is to the left. I call it "Kaleidoscopic Totem Pole".
Here are two more from the group. Above is Jim's piece. Sorry for the reflection. Those guitar necks are all cut out very finely and then set against a painted background. We kept it in the plastic wrap because it was so delicate.
To the left is Tim's drawing of the view from his studio at home. Tim usually does sculpture work but being an architect by trade, decided to use his drawing skills.
These are just a sample, there were several more great creations that I didn't get captured. It's fun getting together once again and even more fun getting those creative juices flowing again.
One of the other challenges of my Art Challenge group was "Parent Portrait". For this challenge, I used a photo of my dad that I took many, many years ago. I'm guessing this was taken somewhere in the mid 1970's. Dad loved to explore in the desert and since Phoenix wasn't as big and sprawling as it is now, the open desert seemed closer and easier to get to. On one of his adventures, he found this old mine shaft and he asked if I would take his photo there. So off we went into the desert with camera gear in tow.
I scanned this from an old print I found and then had it printed on metal. It is much more permanent now. Maybe 50 years from now, it will hang on the wall of some future home and it will be called "a window into the past".
It was fun to see the many portraits of departed parents among our Art Challenge group members. A few even remembered my dad affectionately. He made friends with everyone he met.
My Art Challenge group finally met again last Saturday night. We've been working on the "Transparency" challenge since April but our meetings kept getting postpone due to COVID and clashing schedules. My entry was the photo above. I took this photo several years ago at the Tate Modern in London. I had just had a glass of wine with a friend in the museum's bar and while leaving I noticed the opaque glass and how you could only see shapes and forms through it. I had this photo printed on glass which seemed appropriate for this photo. I love the way it turned out.
Here is Dave presenting one of his pieces, a collage of photos he's taken through glasses. He had another collage of photos taken through windows with familiar views from around the world.
I presented a second photo also and it was one you have seen before. In fact, I made this one my photo of the year three years ago. I love it and I now have a print version I can frame and hang somewhere.
About 3 weeks ago, it was decided to reveal several other challenge subjects so we could hopefully catch up with our art projects when we meet again in October. Tomorrow I'll show what I created for another challenge.
I've been saving this one especially for today. This is actually another of my Art Challenge Club pieces from back in 2018. The challenge was "heart". I was inspired to search through my photo library looking for all the photos that were dominated by red. I found quite a few. I then used my editing tools to create a heart shaped collage. When I was searching through all my past art challenge pieces, I thought this one would be the perfect Valentine post.
Enjoy the day!
Here are two more of my Art Challenge Club projects. These two are both from 2019. For the one above, the challenge was "Melting". I took a photo of a cactus bloom and used some editing software to make the flower look like it was melting.
For this second one, the challenge was "Sticks". I used this photo of a bamboo grove and used software to enhance the edges of each 'stick'.
Back in 2017, one of the challenges of my Art Challenge Group was "Russia". Having never been to Russia, I struggled with the subject until I remembered my affection for a certain Russian born artist, Wassily Kandinsky. I have always loved Kandinsky's abstract and geometric works. So I decided to attempt a Kandinsky-like drawing in colored pencil. This was the result.
Last October when I was in New York, I got to see the actual painting I used as my inspiration for my drawing. I had my friend Glenda take a photo of me by the painting.
The Guggenheim Museum had an exhibit of Kandinsky's works. Solomon Guggenheim was a friend and patron of Kandinsky and he owned a very large number of his works, all of which were on display
On Sharon's Sojourns today I've created a post all about that exhibit. So many beautiful pieces!
In 2015, one of the challenges for my Art Challenge Club was fluorescent paint. Another interesting challenge. I had to search some craft stores to find the paint and once I had it, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I ended up with this rather simplistic painting. However it did glow in the dark, which was the goal.
In 2016, one of the challenges was "The Garden as an Autobiography". For that challenge I printed a large number of pictures of the various flowers I've taken and I cut them out and arranged them to make a frame for a little poem I wrote. It was a fun project and I liked the result of this one.
P.S. I think blogger has messed up the whole comment feature. Last night I checked my site ready to delete that pesky spammer who visits us all and I found several comments that never posted to my site. One had been marked as spam but I had never seen it, the other was awaiting moderation only it shouldn't have been according to my settings. I hope they get things fixed soon.
One of the challenges for my Art Challenge Club during 2014 was "Feminine". That made me think about a photo I had taken back in 2013 of a wonderful fountain that I found in London.
In 2013, one of the challenges for my Art Challenge Group was "Project Runway". For those of you who don't know, that refers to the TV show Project Runway. It was a clothing design contest that operated much like The Great British Baking Show with one designer having to leave each week until one wins. For that challenge, I created a mixed media piece with a ball gown designed from buttons. I sorted through my button box and picked out the white and black buttons and few red ones and fixed them to the canvas.
I enjoyed this challenge very much. I even ended up hanging this piece in my closet.
Here is another of my Art Challenge entries from 2011. The challenge subject was "Highway". I took a photo of a very desolate highway and I turned the blue sky into bricks. I called it "Heading Toward the Fossil Fuel Brick Wall".
For a challenge in 2012, I decided to try painting. I will admit I'm a novice painter but I like to try. The subject was "Beatles Songs". I decided to paint my version of Eleanor Rigby. I thought of her in church, thus the stained glass in the corner. You must admit, she does look rather lonely.
During the summer of 2011, my Art Challenge Group was challenged to create a work of art on the subject of "popcorn". I had fun with this one. I set up a little photo studio and filled four different glasses with popcorn and then photographed it. Then I used photo editing tools to add the bubble effect over the photo. I really loved this one. When the Shemer Art Center learned of our group, they put together a show featuring our group and another group of artists. I submitted this piece for the show.
A few days ago, I mentioned that I might post some of my art challenge pieces from the past. Our little group of "artists" started way back in 2010 and the very first challenge was "No Smoking". I remember that I struggled with the subject trying to think of something I could present.
During that time, I attended a work related conference at a local resort and while on a break, I spotted this huge ash tray outside on a patio and it was totally full of cigarette butts. I snapped a photo and then using my photo editing software, made it into a kaleidoscope image. It isn't something one would frame and hang on the wall, but it did the job for that very first challenge.
Tomorrow I'll show you a challenge from 2011 that ended up in an exhibit at the Shemer Art Center.
My Art Challenge group met Sunday afternoon to review our latest challenge which was "View From Above". Our little group had not met for almost 3 months because of busy schedules so it was great to see everyone once again. The pieces I did for this challenge were three prints all taken from the window of an airplane. I had them mounted and printed to 8 by 10 and I called the series "Why I Like the Window Seat". The one above was taken while landing in Phoenix and the plane was over Grady Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University.
And, this last one is of Venice Italy. I took it right after take off from the Venice Airport. It was a rare, clear day and I was able to get a great shot of Venice. Good enough to pick out St. Mark's Square and the train station.
Our little group has been meeting for over 10 years now. It's hard to believe we've been challenging each other that long. I might post a few of my pieces from past challenges in the future. Many of them I never displayed here on the blog.
My Art Challenge group met on Friday evening in person for the first time in a year. It was so good to see each other in person for a change. The challenge for April was "Jewels". I took a photo of a blue glow agave and had it printed on canvas and then I "bedazzled" it with little jewel-like tear-drops.
My official piece was the canvas above but I also brought along this photo that I had printed on metal. I thought the photo editing I did gave it a jewel-like look so I included it as an extra.
