Sunday, July 25, 2010


This image is suppose to sister the piece before this one with the people dancing on with the universe behind it. The image of the couple also came from the long lost Pink Floyd images book. I just love the idea that the couple is generating. The first image I did with the people dancing was about sharing experiences together and growing from it this is image is about learning who you are through shared experiences. Every relationship we have challenges who we are as individuals and I just love seeing a couple kissing and at the same time checking themselves out. I wanted to have them in a field or near the pyramids as the land they are on so I am still in the process of breaking that down. I am also still deciding WHICH universe picture I want to put in the background for this one. Both images (this one and the dancing couple) are still lacking their drawings and doodles on top of them because I am still designing those images. I do really like that they are dressed on classic clothes because it puts a time era on the image and that is another reason I chose to scan these images rather than photograph them. With photographs I could eliminate those pixels and paper look to the images but I rather like that they look antique (because they are!) and I want the viewer to gather that information on their own just by looking at it. This image still has a lot of work to be done on it but I am really pleased with beginning stage. I almost want to start a time line with this series where these images would be the first ones and the last ones would be the images that include me and all the ones in between could have cultural references from the time in between then and now.

Last Thursday we got to go to Turner broadcasting and see the behind the scenes. It was a pretty fantastic trip and I learned SO much. One of the things that really pleased me was seeing that the camera they use for photographs AND filming is the same as my camera, the Mark II. I knew they would be using that camera but it still feels really good to SEE that I have the same equipment as the professionals. One of my favorite parts was seeing how the composites are made. They had little quick time videos that broke down the work that was involved to create their posters from the original image to the final print and that was just incredible to see. Watching the creative process of a successful company is extremely rewarding…I got so many ideas just watching them and I was able to answer some questions on my own that I had been wondering about their production. It was also really neat seeing what KIND of environment these professionals work in and it was so chill and not stuffy like I thought it would be. It was actually very bright and creative and so were all the people. Michael gave us his card and said we could come down whenever we pleased and watch a photo shoot….I am SO doing that.


This image has begun to really take form as well as open up a whole new world for me in this project. I thought I was going to be limited when it came to using only me for the images of the person but I see now that I don’t have to limit myself. I like the idea of incorporating the old into the new because that is pretty much what this project is about…the old affecting the new. This image has a lot of meaning for me because it comes from the Pink Floyd collection of art that pretty much has never seen the light of day. I want to continue using old images from their collection because they are aesthetically pleasing and they work SO well with my concept. Pink Floyd cleaved the way for music and took rock and roll to the next level that it HAD to go to. Floyd is one of those bands that understood the importance of evolution and I feel like took music as a whole under their wing and took it upon themselves to help it evolve. I believe rock and roll would be dead if it wasn’t for Floyd stepping up and understanding that it had to go somewhere new for people to want to continue to follow it. These days my favorite genre of music is called space rock with is rock with an electronic twist. The bands play tracks that they have produced in the studio for an album but then live they take some of those tracks and go into 20 minute improvisational jams so it becomes cerebral music. I wouldn’t be listening to that music nor be the person I am today without Pink Floyd thinking outside the box like they did. This image becomes even more powerful once you understand this background information I am giving you. Pink Floyd took one of the things that grounds us as humans (rock and roll) and raised it to a universal level. So, when I look at this image I see Pink Floyd in the people tying us to our roots as rockers and then I see the universe in the back and I think of where they took us. Music is an extremely vital part of my life…I sometimes call it my IV to life so its no wonder I wandered off to the music side of the world to be incorporated in this series. I want this series to represent all the happy and optimistic thoughts and feelings I have about the world we live in and how it all ties us to the universe. Music has also given hope for my future and my future husband…it has allowed me dream of images of us dancing on the moon with the stars at our backs so it feels absolutely incredible to verbalize my dreams through imagery and photography. I feel a lot of power coming through these images as I composite them and when I look at them I DO see MY brain on paper and I love it. These images are MY imagination and I am finally at a point in my life where I am willing to invite others to see some of my personal dreams and fantasies…I finally have the strength to invite others into my world. Maybe that is what I will call this series…”The Invitation”. Yep, that’s exactly what it will be called. An invitation to my imagination.

Monday, July 12, 2010


I have begun to work on another piece for my project. Its about being together in far off places. So far all of my ideas have only included me or just one person. I would like to have at least one image that has the idea of two people sharing new ventures together. Part of this series is about encouraging people to step outside the box and start using their imagination correct? Well in lure of that I would like to also touch on the idea of doing just that but as a shared experience. Part of what inspired this project is me trying to tell myself to think outside the box and to really utilize my imagination. It’s an attempt to try push me to live above the regular and average standards of human life. Well, one day I would like to get married and share my life with another human being but at the same time I in no way would want to stop living life the way I know how to live; therefore I must be ready to share the way I live and look at life. This image is not only a promise to myself that I will one day share my creative life with my husband but it also to encourage others to want to share their particular ways with their significant other.

Apart from the romantic connotation this image has it is also the merging of the old and the new. This refreshes the concept I mentioned last week about the past being the foundation to the future and having appreciation for what our ancestors did to help springboard us to where we are today. Here is an image from Pink Floyd’s collection of unknown art. This image was the front cover for “The Collection of Great Dance Songs” done in 1981. First of all I found the image completely intriguing and very appropriate to use for my series. The concept is surrealistic yet deep. It makes me think of how humans could not survive without our ties to our very own planet. It makes me think of human beings that are very “grounded” to the world they know. These two thoughts are exactly in line with one of the ideas my series is centered around….connection relating to growth. I chose to look through Pink Floyd’s work in the first place because they are a great living example of what my series is trying to get across. They were all about breaking boundaries and stepping out into uncharted territory, with the help of their current technology. I like that the scan of the image causes a grit effect to occur on the dancers. It will allow the viewer to automatically know that the image is from the past and not the present. That last sentence makes me want to find something so that I could put an image in this series that connects the present to the future. I will have to explore some options. Anyway, the basis of this piece is that we have to do this together, we have to grow together, and we have to learn to love and utilize our planet together so we can keep progressing fantastically into the future.

Monday, July 5, 2010


I have taken my image to the next level and have begun to remove the original sky and have started adding images of the universe. I intend to remove every other tile on the balcony and replace it with grass. The concept is about stepping outside the walls of your own mind and allowing it to take you to other places, other galaxies if you let it. You are not suppose to see the girl’s face because she is suppose to be more representational rather than a character. I intend on changing the color scheme of the buildings to make it look more like the idea stems from the imagination. I also want to include some my cats walking around the balcony if it looks correct. Another point I am trying to get across is the idea of working in harmony with the universe rather than working against it. I feel like when we begin to work with the things around us, then true dreams have a greater chance of manifesting into reality (i.e. technology). The reason I chose to be in a skyscraper is to highlight my initial concept about appreciating society for it’s technical advancements. Skyscrapers only get higher and higher as the years go by and the tallest building in the world is three times the size of the Empire State building. Our advancements are exponential as time goes on so theoretically if we stay at the rate we are going, we will one day reach the stars. Again, these images are about imagination and pushing the limitations or thinking outside the box. I chose to include a small image of a plug being plugged into the building as a small symbol for the importance of electricity in our technology. I feel that that idea alone could inspire another image for the series but focuses on that particular concept; the power of power in our modern day society and how it plays such a massive part in the our expanding consciousness. As technology grows, so does the complexity of the world. Things were much simpler 50 years ago and so was the technology…it was minimal as was creative thought. I believe that the number of artists in the world grows with our technological advancements not only because they offer more jobs that require designers as apart of the team, but because technology inspires new thought as it breaks new boundaries. I myself am extremely inspired by the world around us and how it is built on human knowledge. I also wouldn’t be ½ the artist I am today without technology. Not only with my cameras but also with my DJ equipment; and with my turntables, comes much more chaos and complexity thus bringing me back to the idea of technology and complexity going hand in hand. I do want to incorporate some of my sketches overlaying the bottom left corner of the image to help reiterate the chaos idea. Order can come from chaos it just takes contemplation, planning, and notes lots and lots of notes. This is why I like to include my notes in my work because they are a vital part of the way I operate and think and create so I like to include them in this series. I feel it works well the with concept of the series and it is aesthetically appropriate for the style of image I would like these to have.