Preview of my shoot with the Peterson family. Such nice people. I didn’t expect them to feed me lunch and carry my gear… Wow! I’m not used to such treatment on a portrait shoot. And they’re so good looking. The camera loves them! Thanks, Peterson family, for a fun shoot! More photos to come.
Update: More photos added June 30, 2010
Two weeks ago I spent an inspiring Sunday with artist Shona Macomber. Her paintings and illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Although Shona is skilled in both acrylic and watercolor, I’ve always been a fan of watercolor for it’s fresh and unpredictable ways. I once took a course in watercolor and, well, let’s just say I’m quite terrible at it! My mind just doesn’t think the way you have to think when painting with watercolors. It’s an unforgiving medium so I am in awe whenever I see a well-done, professional grade watercolor painting. Which is what you get when Shona paints her lovely, timeless, idyllic and whimsical scenes. Peruse her site here and, while you’re at it, go ahead and buy a couple paintings! More photos to come from my day spent with Shona!
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Filled with color and whimsy, Shona’s studio & home refreshes, recharges and inspires me whenever I have the opportunity to stop by. Her kitchen is full of bright, happy-colored tiles (though I didn’t photograph the tiles…this time.) There are mementos all over and I can’t say enough about what a lovely oasis she’s created!
Let’s start with a shot of her studio, then I’ll take you outside with a few shots of her working on a new painting.
Below: Shona working outside on a brand new, mixed media piece. Busy mom that she is, the left photo depicts her painting while on the phone. Keep your eye on the piece sitting on the ground in the middle photo. I’ll soon get to a shot of the finished piece.
Call me a crazed, artsy-farsty person…but I was completely enchanted with all the colorful tissue paper blowing in the breeze. If I weren’t so busy shooting, I would’ve purposely strewn that paper all over the yard just to see the colors fluttering around. “Dance, papers, DANCE! Be free!” 
Above: Laying the groundwork for what will be a beautiful, textured bottom layer to the painting. By the way…if I can help it, I try not to shoot in speckled lighting conditions such as the one you see above. But, in this case, I couldn’t help it. So…there you have it.
I came back a few weeks later and snapped a photo of the final painting as it sat on Shona’s easel in all of it’s textured detail and glory. I highly recommend someone buy this painting. Immediately. It’s absolutely gorgeous. One sidenote though…since I wasn’t expecting to see the finished piece and this photo is just a quick snapshot, I can’t be sure that the colors are accurate as viewed here on my blog. You’ll just have to go into La Petite Maison in Jamestown, CA where the painting is displayed to view it for yourself–and then buy it. Or, go to Shona’s site and contact Shona directly.
The texture on this painting is so delicious I just don’t know what to do with myself! Those folds are amazing! I just want to eat them up! I am such a sucker for texture and mixed media! I definitely lean toward abstract, loosely painted pieces. Gorgeous!
Now let’s go inside and take a look around while Shona looks for some inspiration at her easel in the studio.
The following photo is one of my favorites. I love the little brown plush dog and the blue room peeking out from beyond the doorway.
My other favorite… The arched opening from the studio to the kitchen. Look at all the colorful fun stuff she has on the walls!
Beautiful dried flowers on the fireplace mantel. Isn’t that yellow-white checked container cute? And look at those bunnies leaping across the front of the mantle! Love that aged, antique paint look. See what I mean when I say Shona’s place is whimsical and inspiring?!
These happy chicks on the windowsill make me smile.
This unfinished watercolor with the little boy really captivates me. I’d buy it unfinished, actually, since it leaves much to the imagination of what it could be.
…and…just a few more samples of Shona’s work and I’ll wrap up this particular artistic journey.
Such beautiful work Shona! Thank you for sharing your creativity with me.
I’m just enchanted with all those hair strands glinting in the sun (photo on the right). I have another shot where Amariah’s hair is brushed back, out of her face, but the photo just doesn’t have the same punch without the glinting hair strands.
Thanks, ladies, for a fun shoot!
It was cold and pouring rain when we shot outside last Tuesday, but you’d never know it from the photos. Alijah was such a trooper, braving the elements for some great shots. So easy going, too! I love laid-back people who are open to trying whatever I suggest. (Ex: “Alijah! Wrap yourself up in the hammock!” And away she went, wrapping herself up in the hammock. And look at the nice result!) What a model.
I’ve had this idea floating around in my brain for a while now. Probably for the last 2 years, actually. I’ve got thousands of photos floating around on my hard drives, many of which have never been seen by the public. And I keep meeting new people who are not familiar with my work, where I come from, what I’ve shot in the past. So I thought it’d be cool to put up a single shot from the archives and call it dumpster Archive Diving. I was gonna call it “Archive of the Week”…but then realized there was no way I could keep up a weekly pace of archives. I’d think about this idea from time to time, which photos I’d use–and then put the idea back on the shelf in my brain for a later visit.
Well, here it is. I’m actually putting up a post. So there you have it. A new series, finally coming to life.
This was my first nice portrait. I call it my “Iconic Photo.” It just has that look. This was most likely shot on Kodak Tri-X film of which I processed myself and printed in a darkroom. I learned photography on a completely manual SLR camera with no bells & whistles, using just one 35-70mm (3.5-5.6) lens for many years. If I dug around in my files, I could find the negative and probably the ISO, speed and f-stop. But going through my negs is way more time-consuming than it should be since I’ve yet to properly organize them. Good news is that they’re not dumped in shoeboxes but in 3-ring binders inside protective sleeves. They’re just not dated, titled and all that good stuff. My guess is I probably shot this in 2002. This was shot in an old strip mall about 2 miles from my home town in Texas for an assignment involving stop-motion in my Photo I class at the University of North Texas.
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