Time... a serendipitous still life

The above photographic art image (that I created this week) has an interesting story behind it that I thought I'd share along with the image...

I happened to be in the neighborhood of my husband's office on Tuesday (his office is about a 35-40 minute drive from our home). He hadn't expected me to be out and about, but was so excited that I was in the vicinity, he wanted me to drop by his office so he could see me (can you tell we're best friends?). He told me he only had just a "little bit more work to do", and then he was going to leave the office for the day.

Well, "a little bit" turned into "a lot bit" as I sat there in an extra chair feeling like a bored 5 year old. I had my camera with me, so I started looking around his office at what I could possibly use to do some experimental shots to pass the time. He has a cool little battery-powered desk clock that was a great candidate. Then I found little tidy cluster of artificial May Day flowers pinned on his bulletin board.

Hubby has a large shiny black metal office cabinet in the corner of his office (the only other piece of furniture besides his work surface). He doesn't have anything on the top shelf so that was just screaming to be used as my "studio".

I set up my still life on the empty shelf turned "studio" and with the fluorescent overhead office lighting as my only light source, I starting shooting. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the image in preview mode (I shoot with a Sony a100 DSLR), and the shots looked like they'd been shot in a studio!

I just love when "photographic serendipity" happens! This is how it looked...


Well, I liked one shot so much that I wanted to turn it into a still life "painting". After I got home, I used the technology of Photoshop to add layers of textures. I also used my digital drawing tablet to add the painterly touches of light and shadow.

I'm learning that although there is some amazing technology out there, like Photoshop, it doesn't make a piece of art unless it is used in an artistic way akin to the same things I learned in art school before we had computers. With the digital tablet (a 12" Wacom Cintiq that feels like a sketchpad in my hands), I'm able to use the technology in the same way I do a brush, pen or pencil. The stylus feels so natural in my hand after all the years of producing art the traditional ways. It responds to my hand pressure and my hand stroke. I can finesse the painting out of a photograph that way. It wouldn't work with a mouse. And there's no "quick fix" to make it happen. I am still using the same techniques as I learned in art school. I'm just using new tools! So cool!

As my sister pointed out this week, I've discovered a new art form for myself. And, boy, am I having some fun!