Monday, March 29, 2010

Back on Track


Into the light and out of the darkness. What seemed like it would last forever has now come to an end. I have finally broken through my creative block. You have no idea what a relief that is. It's a bit like the feeling that we get when the first signs of Spring appear or when the sun comes out after a long period of gray days.

Being out of practice for the way that I create my work has a good and bad side to it. The bad is that it takes longer to figure out what works best for my setups. The good is that these are the times when it's easier to experiment and when wonderful accidents happen.

During the period while I was having my creative block, I was not liking a lot of the work that I had created. It was an awful feeling. It's one thing to get bored with one's work but not to like it is another. Relief, relief! Because I haven't looked at a lot of my work for awhile, I can be so much more objective about them. This is definitely a good thing.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Nautilus Shell


This shell has fascinated me for years. One of my professors, years ago, had given me a whole nautilus shell plus two halves. While in Florida, I purchased a pearlized nautilus and two paper nautilus shells. The paper nautilus shells are so thin and fragile that I'm almost afraid to pick them up. I've photographed them straight and am now including them in setups that give them a Daliesque appearance. The shell never bores me.

The odd thing about the work that I am doing now is that they are so much darker in appearance. My past work has been much more colorful with brighter colors. I don't' know if the difference is that my older work usually began with a flower or two and grew from there. I'm always fascinated with how one's inner being leads us along the creative path.