Friday, June 30, 2017

New Book Cover

Helped a friend with make a book cover for her new book.

She wanted something to represent living in Mexico,

in an art town like Todos Santos. Just published!

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Inside & Outside - La Galeria de Todos Santos

This agave has so much personality.

It lives just outside a gallery,

perhaps that's why it has such artistic form?
This photographic image looks very much like a painting...

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

Sunday, October 30, 2016

On the Road South - In the Morning Light

Valle de los Cirios

The Valley of the Candles is a Protected Area of Flora and Fauna in the municipality of Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico. This site was declared a protected natural area on 2 June 1980. With its 2,521,776 hectares (9,736.63 sq mi), is the area of Plant Protection and largest of Mexico Fauna, the second protected natural area of Mexico for full extension behind only El Vizcaino, but the largest in land area and one of the largest protected natural areas in the world.

It is characterized by scrub and desert landscapes associated with large nuclei candles. Unlike popular belief, this is not a bleak scenario, but an area with a large conservation and integrity, defined by its high level of endemism, which includes abundant concentrations of cacti, reptiles and large mammals. The Valley of the Cirios is since 2004 in the Tentative List of Mexico, to be named World Heritage Site.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Encaustic Photography and Printmaking

It felt like reviving an old dream when I took a workshop in 'encaustic' painting. Found out one can make a small studio without having to buy a expensive press, a happy thought. The use of beeswax is an ancient method of sealing in paint pigment to paper, photographs, canvas or board. You can print on a warming tray for creating mono prints or de'colage. One uses layers of forms, shapes, and colours, to marking and build the life of the print.

I've had a love for the art of printmaking in past years. At the university I stayed many late nights in the art studios, lost in the creation process. After graduation, however, there was little access to well equipped studios working full time in an architectural office. Commuting to the financial district of San Francisco, it was exciting to be in the big city starting my career. I created a photography darkroom in a little apartment, again staying up late to lean over prints in the water bath, watching images come to life... That was some time ago, before marriage, children and moving to different countries, changing careers. Maybe now I will make space to bring some hand made prints back into my life. Hope so!