When a set of online teasers for a new camera called the Lytro appeared earlier this year, you could have been forgiven for seeing the invention as just another gimmick. The camera’s attention-grabbing feature is a kind of after-the-fact autofocus: with a click, any blurry portion in a picture can be snapped into sharpness—another step in the march of idiot-proof photography. MORE
In 2011 retail is all about ecommerce. It seems that fewer and fewer people are shopping on the high street, and instead browse online to find the best deals or a wider choice of products. Scribbler, the Greeting Cards and Gifts Company, have recently offered a three to six month internship at the ecommerce businesses head office in Kennington, South London for a lucky applicant. The role is full-time and is fully paid, offering a great opportunity for the right person to embark on a promising career path in ecommerce. MORE
Dayton Daily News
The holiday greeting card is just as important in 2011 as it has been in more financially robust times, according to area designers and retailers. After all, as Joe Bohardt of the Mulberry Tree in Oakwood points out, a beautiful holiday card is a gift … MORE
While some store fronts stand empty in town center, a new cottage industry has sprung up in Wellesley this fall, and it’s run by sixth-grade social entrepreneurs. Their product is recyclable greeting cards, and their manufacturing center is a couple of classrooms in Wellesley Middle School that constitute “House R.” Read more:
Angela Sharkey was an Oak Creek Printworks featured artist in the winter of 2009/2010.
This colorful image of Roman pines was printed and used as a bookmark.
BY ANGELA SHARKEY
www.angelasharkey.com
I have been a professional artist for more than 20 years now and I have worked in both graphic design and the art industry and have found my true love in painting some 12 years ago. As an independent artist, I am constantly evolving with every changing landscape, pushing my boundaries whenever I can. My family and I move around the world quite often so I am constantly trying to find my place along the way in new and often unfamiliar cultures.
My home these days is sunny, ancient, noisy, and beautiful Rome, Italy. I visited this great city some 22 years ago as an artist living on a shoe string budget, and as many before me I was captivated by “la dolce vita.” Coming back to Italy to live has been a dream for me and I am determined to live life to the fullest. The French novelist Marcel Proust sums up my attitude in life quite well in his beautiful and poignant quote:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
With all the difficulties of moving so often and adjusting to a new life I find it fascinating how altering my vision or having new eyes can affect what I see and how I feel. This way of seeing, in turn, ultimately affects those around me—hopefully in a positive way. As I look around I see so many lives moving in different directions; everyone’s eyes are capturing a different view, giving us all our own unique perception.
As an artist I like to approach my work when my vision is overloaded with colors and scenes and I need to translate everything onto the canvas. I am always looking deeper, certain there is more below the surface, hoping for more clarity. In my work as an artist and in everyday life I am very drawn to color, and my art is a great way for me to express this.
Whether I am in the Tuscan countryside counting the endless cypress trees that line the country roads, or studying the rolling hills dotted with Roman pines, I envision the colors I want to capture as I sketch and study nature. Gazing upon the magnificent architecture all around me I break the images down into simple forms and shapes putting color where it once was and bringing texture into the piece. Everywhere I look I am inspired by the beautiful Italian landscapes and architecture, which I then transpose to the canvas through my own vision.
Alongside my work as an artist I am currently working as an art curator for the Mel Sembler Gallery at the US Embassy in Rome. My job allows me to show my art once a year at the gallery while the remainder of the year I scout American or international artists, along with the curating team, for those interested in showing at the gallery. Every month we show a new artist’s work which includes sculpture, painting, photography, textile art, and mixed media. I have had the privilege to meet many talented individuals and enjoy sharing in their excitement as a distinguished artist showing at the US Embassy Mel Sembler Gallery. For some artists it is their first solo show and I am honored to help them show their work in the best light possible, giving them the exposure they deserve.
In the month of March we have a special show dedicated to children’s art. The children of embassy employees submit their work which is then displayed in the gallery much to the pride of the young artists and the admiration of the adults. It allows the children a sense of confidence and accomplishment that they are able to publicly display their works. I have always enjoyed children’s art as it is uninhibited and free. This March 2012 we will be happy to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Girl Scouts of America as the Scouts submit their artwork to our gallery for the children’s art show.
I have seen firsthand the Mel Sembler gallery is more than just a venue for showing art, but a real-world setting for joining Americans and the international community. Through our art we are bringing people together to share ideas and connect our lives and families. I believe we all have the possibility to see with new eyes, regardless of the landscapes we are navigating, and bring forth positive new visions for our world.
Angela Sharkey
Roma 2011
These 4-inch chainette tassels will dress up your bookmarks in the latest in fall colors. The Pantone fashion color report for Fall 2011 highlights top fashion designers’ color picks and is a great resource for anyone who wants to keep up with current color trends.
Here’s how our bookmark tassel color selections compare with the Pantone picks. Bamboo-Antique Gold, Emberglow-Orange, Honeysuckle-Rose Blossom, Phlox-Very Violet, Cedar-Moss Green, Deep Teal-Deep Turquoise, Coffee Liqueur-Chocolate, Nougat-Cookie Dough, Orchid Hush-Lilac, Quarry-Silver Blue. Pantone’s fall 2011 designer colors are just a few of the over 40 tassle colors available in the Oak Creek Printworks store.
You may discover other uses for these multi-colored tassels. Glue them to greeting cards to add dimension to your designs using tassels to represent a myriad of items, from inanimate objects like trees and broomsticks to creatures large and small. Combine with pen and ink of other media to create unique composition. Attach tassels to small baronial cards, gift cards or gift packages to give them an added touch of elegance.
Click here to add a Fall 2011 tassel set to your shopping cart.
Sun-bathed fall images exalt the upper Yukon River valley before yielding to the black and white grip of a six-month winter.
Brian Heaphy, Featured Artist
This, of course, means that I am greatly skilled at swatting mosquitoes and sitting in the rain for hours while waiting for the sun to come out! It has its moments indeed, but, I do treasure the experience.
I practice a very unique subsistence lifestyle here in the remote upper Yukon River valley of interior Alaska. It takes me an hour to hike into the nearest tiny town in order to access satellite telephone and internet services.
As a “one-man-band,” getting ready for winter here is a full-time job. Doing things the “old-fashioned way” takes time. When temperatures plunge to minus 50,60, or 70° F with only two hours of daylight, a person really has to have their act together!
Refracted light creates tones of warming color as winter approaches the upper Yukon River valley. Uncommon and fleeting, such moments add striking contrast to the reality of the season.
I have been richly blessed with the skills, abilities, and opportunity to live as I do. As one might suspect, however, my success has come only at the cost of a great deal of sacrifice and a fair amount of self-imposed discomfort. Nonetheless, I consider those costs a very fair exchange for the personal growth which I have experienced along the way. The unforeseen gift of a strong and growing personal faith has been the icing on the cake.
There are very few people left on this planet who live as I do. It is a very arduous routine but the pay-off comes in the form of increased discernment and “crystal vision.” That is to say that a person quickly learns to differentiate between those things which matter and those which do not, as well as those things which one can live without and those which one cannot. It is extremely satisfying and purposeful to be able to live and move at the speed of creation.
Placid waters combine with the gentle sweep of the country to extend an irresistible invitation to pause and admire.
For someone who originally grew up in the northwest hills of New England, and who graduated from Annapolis with a degree in engineering, I could not have landed any farther from those beginnings!
I can honestly say however, that it has always been my heart’s desire to find a niche such as the one which I now treasure. All of my previous pursuits and occupations have effectively combined to prepare me for the demands of my present circumstances. Amazingly, it has all “added up!”
Brian Heaphy
Brian grew up in northwest Connecticut and went on to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD with a degree in engineering. After receiving his commission as a Naval Officer, he completed Basic Underwater Demolition / S.E.A.L. training and then made three consecutive deployments to the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Koyuk, Brian Heaphy's pack dog.
As platoon commander, he led each of three S.E.A.L. platoons through the conduct of numerous Naval Special Warfare operations. While overseas, Brian’s childhood dreams of someday living a homestead lifestyle in the bush country of Alaska incubated far beyond his comfort level. Happy to still be alive, and relatively uninjured upon completion of his obligated service, Brian resigned his commission and moved north to Alaska to begin work as a river guide.
Brian has since lived and worked in remote locations across the State of Alaska from the Bering Sea to the border of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Included among these places which Brian often refers to as “the best of what’s left on the planet Earth,” are the Kenai River in the Kenai Wildlife Refuge, the Chulitna River in Lake Clark National Preserve, the Kanektok River in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, and the upper Yukon River and its tributaries in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
Brian Heaphy's home in the upper Yukon River valley
Only recently has Brian advanced his creative pastime of wilderness river scape photography to the professional business level. For many years, he chose to share his images with others as gifts in the forms of hand-fashioned prints and greeting cards.
Along the way, however, comments and compliments from myriad friends, relatives, and associates caused him to consider the possibility of a formal career in photography. The interest and prompting of several world-class artists and photographers finally convinced Brian to take the next step and begin taking pictures “for real.”
Split chum salmon drying for dog food.
Brian’s work is currently on display in prominent gift shops, fine art galleries, and museums across Alaska.
This past weekend I was immersed in the unpleasant chore of paying bills, when I reached for a pen and instead, my clumsy grasp sent a cup full of pens spilling over the edge of my desk and into a box full of old cards. Reluctantly, I got up out of my chair and fumbled through the box, my eyes landing on some old photos stored in a clear plastic box.
Upon seeing the fading image my grandfather as head pressman of the print shop where he worked, I realized I had not scanned the photo, which I thought might make a good retouching project for my Photoshop students.
And then, much as I hated to, I had to stop myself from wandering off track, but when I saw this new 180-degree panorama image juxtaposed with the circa 1920 image of my grandfather, I couldn’t help but marvel at the technology built into our mobile devices.
As I mentioned in my article on “grunge” apps, now that we’ve mastered the doctored image to near perfection, we’ve gone on to mimic effects like the vignette, the scratches, and the light leaks in this aged image. And now we can create 180-degree, 360-degree, and even cave-like images projections that totally surround.
As a kid growing up in the 50s, the Dick Tracy watch was science fiction. Who’d thunk that as an adult, I’d have my very own communication device far superior to anything Dick ever imagined? This week I’m into panorama apps, but note that this is not intended as a review or comparison of specific applications, but instead, a reflection of my limited experiences with panorama apps in general.
Typically, if you’re shooting with a normal lens, you can achieve a panorama effect by cropping and zooming into a very narrow area of an image. That’s essentially what you get when you order a panorama from the drug store, or your local film processor.
Among its many automation features, Photoshop has a fairly sophisticated blending function called “photomerge.” These days, however, I’m into “quick and dirty,” but I don’t really see the “dirty” in an app like AutoStitch from Cloudburst Research. It’s incredibly simple to use and has impressive blending and exposure algorithms.
I’ve been making images around the college campus where I teach, and one of the effects when shooting these panoramas that has intrigued me ever since I studied photography is that of the disappearing people. I’ll never forget the sense of awe I experienced when seeing the photographs of Ralph Eugene Meatyard. The children in the images had disappearing faces, an effect all photographers have experienced when using slow shutter speeds while the subject moves.
It’s one of those things that started me thinking about how untrustworthy human vision is, and the fact that we don’t see something doesn’t necessarily mean it is not there. It just means that our senses are not acute enough…and you can extrapolate whatever you want from that. My next project is to turn some of these panoramas into bookmarks that I can include with the gifts I give during the coming year.
Original image, unaltered.
Grunge isn’t new, but the ability to add it to image on the fly using the new crop of camera apps for mobile computing promises to take schmutz to a whole new level. I’ll be looking at some of the free and nearly free apps that can assist artists in realizing their creative visions.
It seems, as a culture, we’ve mastered the art of creating pristine photographs. Photoshop has provided artists with the tools, and those that master them can retouch, repair and restore images to better-than-new, if there is such a thing. One only has to search websites like istockphoto.com or veer.com to find an abundance of stock photos, illustrations and videos, whose rights can be purchased for $.99 and up!
Now that our collective consciousness has been saturated with dust-, scratch-, and stain-free images, some photographers, illustrators and graphic artists are spending their processing time adding just the right amount of grit, grime, and goo to their images to set them apart from the increasingly ordinary flood of work on the cheap stock market.
And no, grunge isn’t new, and neither are the type of edges seen in the altered images of the snapdragons. Well before Photoshop or digital images, photographers distressed their prints using a variety of methods not excluding grease and toxic chemicals.
There have been techniques to achieve the rough and tumble, aged look seen in the snapdragon images since Adobe Photoshop© first appeared in 1990, but in order to achieve many similar effects, one had to first understand the relatively complex processes required to achieve similar results, and then implement the techniques on machines that crunched the data while you showered and ate breakfast. Only then could you could view the results of your commands, and then the results were unpredictable at best.
Instead of waiting hours, it now takes just a few seconds to render results on the newer, faster generation of mobile devices. And because most of these apps are so easy to use, I’ve been transferring images to my phone to alter them with apps instead of using a full-blown image editing program like Photoshop. For only $10, you can download enough apps to to mess up even the cleanest images beyond recognition. Here are just a few of the photo apps that photographers, designers and artists can use to create dramatically altered images:
Grunge effect added in photo app, picfx. I found effects resulted in edges very similar to Photographic Edges' edge masking templates, with added features for textures.
After applying the grunge effect, I applied a second, aged paper effect.