Playing with 50mm

I have been lusting after a 50mm lens for my camera, and I have decided to go ahead and get it.  But while I'm waiting, I'm practicing a little with my zoom lens set to 50mm.  What I'm finding is that I love it for close up & macro shots, but for most other things I'm seriously missing a wider angle.  I had no idea I even used the wide angle so much!  But apparently I really do. 

So here are some of my shots during my play:

And here are some I shot out of a moving car window (hence the odd framing).

Some of you may be wondering why I'd want a fixed focal length when I can have so many more options with my zoom.  Well, my first reason was, for the cost, I can have a much higher quality 50mm lens and I would be spending at least 10 times as much on a zoom lens with anything close to the same quality.  In addition to that, the 50mm lens goes down to a f1.8 aperture, meaning it can let in a LOT of light, which means I can shoot more low light level stuff, which I love.  I'm a big fan of available light.  F1.8 also allows for much shallower depth of field.  50mm is also close to human vision, so there is no distortion like you'd get from wider shots, or flattened perspective like you'd get with telephoto.  So there are so many reasons to want this lens. 

For these reasons and probably more, there is a whole faction of photographers out there who believe that 50mm is the one true mode of pure photography and that is all you should use.  Of course, they're mostly using film.  For reasons I'm not sure I fully comprehend, every focal length on a film camera corresponds to a narrower angle of view on a digital camera, so if I were using film, 50mm might not feel so frustratingly narrow.

Secret Garden, Near Fort Cornwallis, Penang

Photos from Little Penang Street Market, July 2008

Photography skills?

I can't believe I would have been soon pushing a year since my last post.  Outrageous!  Well, I've been so distracted from my art what with having a baby and moving overseas.  I had hoped that I would be able to devote myself full time to my artwork once I got here, but no, it's pretty much the same as in the States.  We still can't afford that much childcare.  So the only art I'm really doing a lot of is photography, by necessity.  I'm compulsively documenting our stay here in Penang, and spending hours upon hours trying to keep up with the photo editing so I can keep sending photos home, and so I don't end up with several thousand unedited photos when our year here is up.  Anyway, on a recent excursion, I snapped these shots.  I'm working to increase the drama in my photos a smidge.  Enjoy!

I'm not sure why, but blogger seems to make my photos much darker.  That first one especially.  I can't figure it out.  Sigh.

Sleeping Babe

I'm completely obsessed with cell phone photos right now. Here are a couple I played with today...





Back to the full blog...

Illo Friday - Emergency

Tada! My first Illo Friday in forever!

Emergency -- Pen & Ink Wash

When my baby cries this hard, it's an emergency, I can tell you. At least that's how he sees it!

I bought one of the famous moleskin journals recently. I wanted to make a fresh start and encourage myself to start drawing again. The quality of these journals is supposed to be just the tippy tops, so I finally plunked down the money for one, and I love it. It does ooze a little bit with quality. The warm tan tone of the paper will be something I need to get used to, it make it especially difficult to scan in accurate colors, but I do love it. I also decided to branch out just a tad with my usual style and use colored inks for my washes. Single colors, mind you. Not sure if I have it figured out yet, not to the degree that I had the B&W ones down. But it's not bad. Below is my first attempt, and above is my second.

Tree -- Pen & Ink Wash


Back to the full blog...

ACEO #32 - Fairy Boy

ACEO #32 -- "Fairy Boy - Purple" - Pen & Colored Pencil, July, 2007

Bid on this and other items on eBay.


Back to the full blog...

Freezer Paper Father's Day

It's been forever, I know, and even this post is way late in coming. I'm trying to do better keeping up with my three blogs, but it's tough these days with the little kiddo.

So here are the gifts I made for my men for Father's Day:





Matching T-shirt and Onesie. Chess-themed for my chess-loving hubster. I think they came out great. Still loving the freezer paper thing. Have to do more soon.

Back to the full blog...

Happy Valentine's!

Back to the full blog...

New Policy on Visual Space

No nudity on the front page! Ok, I think it's totally ridiculous to worry about some sketches of some nudes on websites, but I have had a couple of comments from people that they became embarrassed while looking
at my blog at work etc.. Then my teacher sister & bro-in-law both said they would get fired if they looked at any nude art online while at work. My other sister and I grilled them on this... even the Statue of David??? Yeppers! Ridiculous I say! (And it makes me wonder about visual depictions of genitalia in Bio class, are drawings allowed there? I remember there being at least cross sections done, but why would that be ok and David not? Where is the line here??)

Still, as ridiculous as it might be, I don't want people to get into trouble for looking at my blog, so.... for anything that has any nudity here (and there is only one post so far) I will not put the picture on the main page, you will have to go to the actual page for that post to view the artwork. So if you notice any postings that don't have previews on the main page, that's why. But that is as far as I will take that kind of censorship. I am not going to have any warnings in the titles, or anything like that, you go to the rest of the pages on my blog at your own risk. But the main page is safe! (Haha! The post in question was actually a piece called "Safe!" Oh the irony!

Back to the full blog...

The Fine Art of Freezer Paper Stenciling

So I came across this artform online somewhere and immediately I was filled with the urge to immediately try it out. And I did, a few months later. Basically you create a stencil out of freezer paper (like wax paper, but it only has wax/plastic coating on one side), iron it onto a piece of fabric, and paint over the stencil. This is like poor man's silk-screening, only cooler because it takes less of an investment of time, money, equipment, and even chemicals.

So here was my first effort:

I made these as Xmas prezzies for my bros-in-law and
my hubby. This is hubby sportin his. I quickly learned (after three botched shirts) that some important things to think about are how thick/runny your ink/paint is (and therefore how much bleedage), and how you can't have any floating areas of white within the black because that piece of the stencil will just fall right out. Also, one major difference between freezer paper stenciling and silk-screening (aside from the evenness of the ink) is the ability to redo an image over and over. Freezer paper is pretty much a one-shot deal. So if you want to make multiple shirts, you have to re-cut the design every time.

My next project was a tote bag for my niece. It's super-freakin sweet, it's this colorful, stylized, butterfly-covered tote that I put a huge image of her face/name on to personalize. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera handy to get a shot of the bag, but for now, here is the design I placed on top of the tote's existing pattern:
Again, there were little bits of floating white everywhere, so I ended up changing some elements quite a bit when I actually cut the stencil.

Then came this little project:


A baby-shower gift for some friends. I wanted to personalize it further with the baby's name or something but, even though they've already picked out the name, the baby still hasn't been born yet, and you never know, so I kept it generic. Still having trouble with those round edges, and getting clean lines with my xacto.

Now my pride and joy:


A friend of mine just gave birth to this cutie pie and I wanted to send them something special to celebrate. This is from a photo of the little munchkin when he was still at the hospital. As you can see, I am really starting to figure stuff out. My biggest revelation: freezer paper (with enough coaxing) can go through my printer, so I can print my design and cut through only the freezer paper. I had previously been doing freezer paper plus design sheet laid on top. This makes cutting that much easier and therefore more accurate. I am sooooooo proud of this one, I can't wait to think up another design to try out. Hubby thinks I should offer custom designs for people if they send me their photos. Maybe I will!

Let me know what you think!

Back to the full blog...

A Little Sunshine Must Fall...

Sun Rays -- Pen -- 2006

Just a little experiment with a different style.


Back to the full blog...

Our Little Bean

Yep, that's right! I'm pregnant! And here is the first picture of our little bean...

"Hurley-David Jr. -- 32 weeks before birth." -- GIMP, Sept 1st, 2006.


Back to the full blog...

Illo Friday - Safe

Self Portrait, 8 weeks pregnant -- Pencil, Sept 1st, 2006.

Baby. Safe in Mamma's tummy. I suppose this is as good a time/place as any to let the world know. I'm pregnant!!! Hubby & I are terribly excited.

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this drawing. One of the dangers of using yourself as a model is that your drawing may end up looking even more like you than you thought it might. Of course, I intended it to be a drawing of me, pregnant at 8 weeks. But I guess I thought my rough sketch lines would stylize it a bit. My husband chuckled when he saw the drawing, he said it definitely looked like me, but said it seemed tasteful enough to post. My mom said it would have been fine if not for the fact that it has my face. I started getting nervous posting it myself. My friends, relatives, art customers/clients, and salsa students all come here from time to time, and now they get to see me naked. Well, it's not really me naked. I mean I did take some artistic licenses of course. I came up with several censored versions of the drawing, but found myself getting a terrible taste in my mouth and wanting to rebel against my own censorship. So here it is. Unaltered. Raw. This is me (sort of). With Baby safe in Mamma's tummy, but with Mamma feeling vulnerable and exposed.

How sad that we can't just appreciate the naked form. As soon as it has a face/identity, especially if it is recognizable, it almost becomes lewd at the moment of recognition. But I started thinking about it. This is the way this drawing had to be. It had to be recognizable as me. It's me pregnant. Baby is safe in my belly. Maybe I could have drawn it with clothes on, but I think that would have taken away from the purity of the connection between me and my unborn. Then you would have identified me by my clothes and categorized me as a certain type. But, here, I am me, just me. No cover, no guise, nothing but me and Baby.

This reminds me of an article I read yesterday. Totally different situation. But we Americans definitely have a problem with nudity, especially motherly nudity. Why? Who knows. But apparently there is a big uproar about the scandelous photo of a nursing baby on the cover of "Baby Talk" magazine. Ridiculous! It couldn't be less sexual or lewd, or more beautiful.


Back to the full blog...