InLight Richmond 10/22/10 7pm-12am

Spinner, Nadia, poses for a picture.

Melody Gulick and Andrew Prousalis, "V." Six projectors cast upon dancing curtains with beautiful continuous movement while a sombre soundtrack played in the background.

Not only were the exhibits fun for adults, they were fun for kids, too!

Medeology Collective projected onto a parking garage door of the Martin Agency, creating constantly changing images that create "moments of brief consciouness from a trance of consensual hyper-reality."

Sean Kenny's "Sound of Trumpets."

To view the complete album with information on the artists and their exhibits, you can go to my public album link here.

In Action on Monument Avenue by Ivon Samuel

by Ivon Samuel

Since I'm usually behind the lens, I don't have many pictures of myself (second from the right).  This photo was taken by fellow Richmond Photography Meetup member, Ivon Samuel as we did our night shoot on Monument Avenue. He took some great shots that night. It's neat to not only see us all in action from his perspective, but seeing the collective online albums we create from all the different shots we get being in the same place at the same time.

A Walk Down Monument Avenue

Here are some photos taken from my shoot last night on Monument Avenue. Night photography is fun! Richmond Photography Meetup, is great for creative camaraderie, and learning new skills.  It was good exercise, too.

VMFA class...Collage & the Altered Photograph.....

Two weeks ago I took a class from the VMFA called, "Collage and the Altered Photograph," by Susan Svendsen.  It was a nice opportunity to pack my bag full of art supplies (old photos, magazine clippings, bleach pens, oil pastels, ink pads, sandpaper, brushes, glues, scissors, and various types of paints) and do nothing but "get in the zone" from 10am until 4pm.  BLISS!

The kids have been taking art classes there on Wednesdays and I thought it was my turn.  I'm glad I did.  I have so many old photographs that I don't really think are frame worthy, but maybe patched together, they are?  The jury is still out, but at least I got to dig them out of my closet and go to town.  The hardest part for me is knowing when to stop.  Does it need something else? More paint, more interesting bits?  Who knows, I may continue to work on them, or not.  The important thing is I had fun and made an attempt to make use of my abandoned art.  I apologize in advance for the crappy images of my collages.  I was tired, it was late, and I didn't feel like getting the lighting right.

"Losing Track"
Since knowing where our food comes from is one of the themes of this blog, I'll start with my most passionate piece.  I used an old train photo taken at Hollywood Cemetery and collaged it with a Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden spring tree photo scene as the background, and the road from Skyline Drive.  This piece looks nothing like it did when I left class. It felt disjointed and you could see the seams of where I had pieced things together.  NO!  Not cool.  I pieced together some magazine clippings that seemed to compliment the photos and ease the seams creating one large image, hopefully creating a statement about the food industry. Will anyone get it? I have no effing idea.  All I know is it's my favorite, but next time I will work harder on insuring that the glue is smoothed since lumps are visible.  Perfection, people.  It's hard to come by.

After cutting out the train tracks in the above photo, I accidently created the shape of this bird.  I  glued him onto a sunset printed on watercolor paper, cut some bird lashes from some shadows taken from the treehouse at LGBG and whomp, there it is. What will I do with it? Your guess is as good as mine.

As you can see, I used the train again.  I also pieced together some photos I have taken of water, but most of them got covered up by acrylic paint.  I like the coverage of the paint, but up close it looks too lumpy, I need to sand over it, or cover with something else.  Anyway, I was inspired by these bad-ass ladies with their shields.  This one is definitely the most wacky, if I could only improve the texture.  It's also one that doesn't feel completely done, however, it has had many different looks, that I keep changing.  I worked on this for days after class. Inspired, tired and somewhat frustrated at the results. Cool, but Dali would you be proud? Doubtful, but he may cheer me on.

This piece is the most altered as far as keeping my materials to only photographs, sandpaper, ink and a few dots of a bleach pen.  This photo was taken at "The World Famous Old Pressley Sapphire Mine," in North Carolina around 2001 with an old point and shoot.  The gem mining itself was an experience, and I am drawn to the colors of the photo (green and blue are my favorite) but it was never enough.  After wetting and sanding, I cut the LGBG shadow photos and dyed them with a green, aging ink.  I used them as borders for the three horse images (all the same horse image, just different sizes).  I used a stronger glue since the photo paper is not conducive, nor as receptive to a mere glue stick.  I got tired towards the end since I added the other two photos late at night, days after my class, and got a little sloppy with the glue.  The texture is visible on some parts, but what are you going to do?  I will work on craftmanship my next go round.

Carrot Apple Muffins

Here is a recipe from Mother Earth News to use in season apples and carrots for muffins.  I left out the walnuts so the kids would eat them and for a few more batches of pesto.  The kids LOVED the end product.

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (I omitted, but I bet that makes them even better.)
2 cups raw carrots (about 2 or 3 carrots)
1 large apple
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (brown, white or a combination)
3/4 tsp baking soda
11⁄2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs (yay for farm fresh eggs)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated (I used 1/4 of ground ginger)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin cups or insert liners, if using. Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple, setting aside for later.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, ginger and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients and the grated carrot and apple into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Makes 9 standard-size muffins or 12 small ones. 

Green Bean and Pasta Salad

Here is a great recipe to use your local, in season, green beans from your local farmer's market.  I altered Real Simple Magazine's Green Bean and Pasta Salad Recipe a bit and it turned out great.  It makes a great, filling lunch or dinner and is approximately $2.60 a serving.  Use the entire can of beans and cook a little more pasta to stretch the meal even further.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces penne (1 1/4 cups)
• 4 ounces green beans, halved crosswise (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup canned red or kidney beans, rinsed (I only had canned pinto beans)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley  (used dried flaked flat-leaf parsley)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt and black pepper (I used fresh ground)

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, adding the green beans during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and run under cold water to cool.
2. Toss the cooled pasta and green beans with the red beans, parsley, Parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Divide the salad between 2 containers and refrigerate for up to 1 day.