Tag Archives: Tim Anderson

The Creative Use of Photography

Throughout the years I have had my photography used by artists for many purposes: sculpture, painting (from watercolor to oils and just about everything in between), graphic design, etc. It is very gratifying, indeed, to have another artist think enough of your work to want to emulate it.

Irish Waterfall in County Connemara Ireland by Tim Anderson

Waterfall, County Connemara, Ireland 2016, ©Tim Anderson 2016

Such is the case with the first image illustrated here. I took it while on vacation in Ireland recently. It was in Connemara along the western coast. It was a day of scenic beauty, no matter where we went. Most of the time in situations like these I photograph what looks good, with little regard to settings, although I do a basic setup before departure for a day of photographing.

While in Ireland I captured almost 3,000 images of landscapes, portraits, birds, ancient ruins, and monolithic remains. Each evening, back at the hotel, I downloaded the day’s images to my laptop, in the proper folder. I find if I don’t do this daily, I get “lost” immediately when beginning the editing process.

Upon first edit after returning home this image immediately grabbed my attention. Guests who came over for dinner last night agreed by saying it should be a painting. With that in mind I thought I would play with it a bit.

I took it into Photoshop and played with a few filters, and finally settled on the second image in the post. The filters were canvas and splatter. I could have spent much more time on it, but I was just playing, trying to see with a painter’s eye.

Waterfall, County Connemara, Ireland 2016, ©Tim Anderson 2016, edited

Well, what do you think? I have often said that to be an artist is a multi-disciplinary creative pursuit and that some of the best artists see much more than the “normal” person. If you are a painter and you view the photography of a friend, do you envision what you could do with that same print?

If not, you might want to try it.

Leaving for Ireland

Tomorrow, I will be fulfilling a dream that I have had for a long time. I am leaving for Ireland for three weeks. The trip will consist of four days in Dublin, five days driving around the south and then twelve days touring the west coast.

photo showing how it feels leaving or Ireland

Dublin

I have had a provocative relationship with Ireland for many years. It has been calling to me through books, movies and stories for at least two decades. I am adopted and it was about that long ago that I found out that my father was Irish.

I have put the trip on the back burner for a long time, but about six months ago I decided it was time to go.

Dingle on the west coast

So this will be part soul journey for me, part just exploring a very interesting culture and being curious how the wet and green environment there will influence my painting.

I really want to pay attention to ancient symbols and figures that I will see. I want to look at Irish art, the landscape, the sea and the cliffs. It will be a total contrast to New Mexico.

Newgrange, built about 4000 BC.

I don’t plan to paint while I am there. I just want to absorb everything that is around me. And I want to be an adventurist.

The photos on this page are some of the sites I will be visiting.

This will be my last post until I get back in June. I will let you know how it went.

Shadow & Light Magazine

Although my calling is to paint, I appreciate all kinds of creativity. I particularly love dance and photography. As some of you know, I am the Art Director of Shadow & Light Magazine, and I was the Art Director of CameraArts magazine from 2005-2008.

Shadow & Light Magazine is a PDF photography magazine. It is about “The Art of Photography,” and is the brainchild of Tim Anderson, the publisher/editor of Red Dog News, and the former publisher/managing editor of CameraArts magazine.

My main duties are to search for new photographers who have an eye for creating lovely, moving and/or provocative images. I also help him choose images that will go into a photographer’s layout in the magazine, and I usually choose the cover image.

Below are two covers that I chose.

Cover Image, Eduardo Fujii, March/April, 2016

The magazine’s primary objective is to introduce new voices in photography by featuring them in an internationally-distributed fine art photography magazine.

“In publishing a wide range of fine art photography, Shadow & Light Magazine seeks to publish those photographic artists who strive to formulate creative ideas and translate them into work that captures and ignites human imagination. Experience, education, equipment, and age are not determinates in recognizing quality art.”

Cover image, Tom Chambers, September/October, 2015

Not only does Shadow & Light Magazine seek to engage the reader visually but intellectually as well with informative articles, critical insight, and compelling interviews.

If you know of anyone who loves to make wonderful photographic images, let me know.

My New Painter’s Studio

This weekend I moved all my paintings and painting equipment back into my newly remodeled painter’s studio. What a pleasure. It is all new and bright and ready to help inspire my creativity.

Completed studio exterior

It has been quite a journey from moving everything out and now moving back in, arranging my paintings, canvases, brushes and gadgets in as simple a manner as possible.

Original Studio

Original studio interior

The design was a joint effort between my insightful partner Tim Anderson, my very creative and efficient builder David Medina and me. Luckily, David is a building artist. Tim documented it all.

Studio interior in process

My studio is now bigger, better insulated and brighter. I am delighted with the finished product. I have more room for storage and hanging space for my art. I can see myself having many creative and productive years in my new space.

Completed studio interior

Shadow & Light Magazine

Although I try to paint almost every day, occasionally I like to explore different ways to think about and delve into varied art-related projects. The class I teach for beginning painters is one example. Another example is plunging into being the art director of a new fine art photography online magazine called Shadow & Light Magazine. Here is the official description of the publication:

Shadow & Light Magazine Signature Image

Shadow & Light Magazine is designed for photographers across all levels of photography offering valuable information about a range of photographic subjects including portfolios, and individual images, along with interviews and in-depth essays. It is also designed for the photographer who desires to present their work to a large audience, including curators, collectors, gallerists, and photography peers and professionals. It is also designed to be appealing to all art lovers.

The magazine was launched in September, 2014. It is flourishing and I am proud to be a part of its success.

Shadow & Light Magazine Cover

As art director, my main responsibilities are selecting the cover image, helping the editor with the selection of Showcase Portfolio and Single Image Showcase submissions. I also assist with editing.

Because the publisher and editor of the magazine is my partner Tim Anderson, I have learned to appreciate photography as a fine art that can be just as expressive as painting. I have had the pleasure of viewing many wonderful images over the last ten years. An entire world of creativity has opened up for me, influencing my art in ways that are still a mystery to me.

A Creative You-Turn

Guest Post by Tim Anderson

I have been a professional photographer for more than 40 years, and a fine art photographer for almost 15 years. Several months ago, however, I had decided to not do any more fine art photography. It just became too much of an effort to arrange for a model, scout and pick a location, schedule a time to shoot, and then spend even more time post-processing.

I felt that I had quite a lot of work archived that I really hadn’t done anything with, and that when the time came I could do something with those. Well, that time came only a few months after I had decided to take that break, mentioned above. I was in the middle of what I will call a “you-turn.” This is a point at which you may run up against a wall in your creative pursuits, and feel there is nowhere else to go. The tide was ebbing.

My you-turn came late in the evening one day as I was making the rounds of the house, turning off lights, etc. I was walking past the dining room, and took a peek out there to make sure the outside door was locked.

My eyes were drawn to a silhouette (above) on the south wall. We have a very large painting there and I noticed a very compelling group of lines and shadows, which were created by the very bright outside yard light casting shadows from window posts and other framework of the windows. I took out my camera gear and proceeded to work with the shadows. I placed several Winnie-the-Pooh characters in the light’s path and their shadows were were also cast on the large painting. I worked on a variety of shadowy effects until more than an hour later, when I had shot my last frame. That was my “you-turn.”

I only needed that one image projected on the wall to light a fire under my semi-extinguished creative spirit. Since that night I have created two completely different new series, “French Noir” (below) and “Shadow and Light,” (above) which are both driving me to new adventures in post-processing as well as being able to enable me to view some of my long-forgotten photos in a new creative light.

Just when I thought I was creatively blocked I was offered an opportunity. Has that situation ever presented itself to you? If so, just take a slow look around and you may discover all the inspiration you need to make your own you-turn.

Good luck!

Retreat from the Every Day

I have been home from France for two weeks now and I find myself reflecting on my painting retreat. I also find myself thinking about my retreats which have been almost yearly for 15 years.

All of my retreats have included some time in France, ample alone time to paint, an almost total lack of knowledge of what was happening in the world, sharing some of the time with friends, teachers or my partner, Tim. They have all also been based on pleasure and joy.

Retreats with Friends

He was perplexed, they were 8297 nanoseconds too late. ©Karin Hillmer

Several years ago I shared my retreat space with the photographer, Karin Hillmer. It was interesting to see what she photographed during the day and what little treasure she would bring home to include into her photographic montage. I also shared time with the composer Donna Miller who played lovely music on the second floor while I painted in the studio on the third floor.

Provénce, 2007. ©Tim Anderson

My partner, Tim Anderson, a photographer, has accompanied me to France many times. He has photographed scenes from Paris to Provénce and his own retreats along with mine.

This year I shared a house with my friend Gail who drew on her iPad or with pastels while I painted.

©g forbes shannon, digital impression

Retreats with Teachers

I have spent time with a mentor, Suzanne L’Hoste, and my first painting teacher, Carole Watanabe. I love being with people who are creating their art as I am doing mine. It is a very interesting and refreshing experiencing for me.

This year, I listened as I heard Gail tell people how disciplined I was because I went upstairs and painted almost every day. As I told her, it is not discipline, it is love of painting.

This year I painted in France and Italy for two months. Two years ago I painted in France for three months. No one has been able or wanted to stay that long. Fortunately, I also have loved my alone time there, when it is just me and the paints and my affection of France.

Abstract Photography

Guest post by Tim Anderson
For more than 30+ years I had been photographing landscapes, portraits, nudes, etc. More recently, I have shot several times at the historic Albuquerque Railyards (Santa Fe Railway Shops, below) using models and conducting workshops. When the opportunity again presented itself for me to shoot at the Railyards, I didn’t waste any time accepting, even though my studio partner and I would be hosting a workshop focused on the building itself.
Once we arrived at the site we had a meeting and told everyone to split up and get back together an hour later. Being one of the workshop leaders I began to walk around the main buildings supervising as well as seeing what I could find of interest to shoot.

My interest was peaked when I first saw the red door (left). I was watching a couple of students photographing on the other side of the door and as I was going over to meet with them I looked again at the door. But this time the peeling paint caught my attention. From that moment on I became more of a student than a teacher. I looked for the abstract in everything I saw. No detail was too small, no peel of the paint too insignificant. I was hooked.

I began to look at the details instead of the whole picture. The main building, the machine shop, is more than 165,000 square feet of empty space, with a multitude of nooks and crannies just waiting for me to discover them. And that is just one building on this 27-acre site! After more than four hours of shooting I came away with almost 200 photographs, mostly abstracts, some of which are pictured (below) in this post.

As a result of that shoot I now look at things much differently, whether it be the expanse of a mountainside or the landscape of a nude.

You can see more of Tim’s Railyards abstract work, here.

Full Of Grace

I tried to get through this Holiday without writing a gratitude post, but I couldn’t do it. My life is full of grace and good fortune and gratitude is on my mind all of the time. I have many people to be thankful for. This year has given me the opportunity to meet many new and very interesting people, including fellow artists who have written guest posts for me or cooperated in letting me ask them personal questions about their art. Everyone has been very generous.

As most of you know, I love to paint and I have gotten support and encouragement from France to California. I especially am grateful to all of those people who have collected my work, sometimes in very surprising numbers. And people are reading my blog—wonderful.

Tim Anderson, editor, Red Dog News

I have the best printing, packaging, and shipping and sometimes framing department that anyone could ask for known as Tim Anderson.

I also am grateful for my adopted Afghan family who for 11 years has provided my life with more color than I could have ever imagined.

And then there is my east coast family—what a delight they are.

And what would my life be without dance. Thank you, Studio Sway.

Thank you,
Ann

Drop by my Etsy Shop AnnHartMarquis-meme

My Portuguese Father in Northern California

Kim Bruce was the topic of my last three posts. During the process of having someone ask her questions about her art and business, she was reminded of her father’s influence on her life and her art. Her post touched me and I now want to write about my father’s influence on my love of nature and how it relates to my love of painting the natural world.

My father was 100% Portuguese. His mother Mary, along with his grandmother Reza, came to the United States in 1901 from the Azore Islands. They did not stop on the east coast but went directly to family in San Francisco. A husband was imported from Lisbon for Mary when the time was appropriate and the couple moved to Sonoma County, California.

Wilbur Joseph Hart

My father was the first of 10 children. He had little money but he had a strong work ethic and a love of a certain piece of land in Bennett Valley, about 20 miles from where he grew up. There he built our house and there I grew up. Here is what the valley looks like even now.

annhartmarquis,Bennett Peak, photo ©Tim Anderson, 2013

I was surrounded by the splendor of the natural environment and I loved gazing at Bennett Peak, which looked so majestic to me as a child. I could always see it when I wandered from home.

In other words, I grew up in one of the loveliest areas of the country because my father loved visiting San Francisco, but he wanted to live in Bennett Valley.

Sonoma County looks a like rural France, which may be one reason that I love to paint the countryside of southern France. Here is a painting that I did in Sorèze, France that reminds me of home.

It is interesting to think about how an individual’s personal history affects their identity, behaviors, and actions. My history in Bennett Valley contributed to help make me an artist.

How about you?