Art Whatever No 14

Last post, I put up some of my newer photos. This time around, I figured I'd go ahead and show the rest!

"High Land"
Shot at a church by Highland Park, Birmingham, AL

"Ishtales"

Shot in Luverne, AL

"Atlas"
Shot in Florala, AL

"Forgotten Service"

Shot by the park in Five Points, Birmingham, AL

"Forgotten Hospitality"
Shot in Lafayette, AL

"Opposite"

Shot in Luverne, AL

"Great Heights"
Shot in New Orleans, LA

"Morning Drinks"

Shot in New Orleans, LA

"Exhilarating Warmth"
Shot near Chelsea, AL

"Readings"

Shot at gas station in Florala, AL

Birmingham+Art Whatever No. 13

As always, haven't been here in a while and decided to post an update on my art. Seems like the norm now, eh? Well, since my last post about a year ago, I haven't been doing much artwise. I've gone to galleries and museum exhibits, such as the Picasso to Warhol at the High Museum in Atlanta in January. Much more recently, I applied to the Birmingham Artwalk, and was accepted to show in the photography category. It's a two day "celebration"(this seems like the more appropriate description of it) on September 7-8. For the past two months, I have been preparing for this and for the next month I will be printing many images that I've been taking around Alabama and other states I've traveled to. A few of those will be posted in the coming days I have more time to do so. However, this post is dedicated to shots of Birmingham that I've taken recently. I hope to be entering this as part of a month long exhibit at a local gallery that just opened up. The theme of this exhibit is "Reflections of Birmingham", and I am approaching this in a very broad way using elements that I believe interpret what this historic city means to me and capturing this essence in four black and white images.
 

This image, titled "Craftsmanship", is a night shot of the Homewood Shoe Hospital window sign. I work close to that area and every time I pass it late at night, I see that they are always working on orders for the next day. It reminds of a time when people made an honest living from an honest job, which is similar to what I believe the working class once was in the rise of the Magic City.

This image, called "Forgotten Service", was taken in an interesting part of Birmingham. It's literally in a small corner of the Five Points South District by the park. I've driven by it so many times but never had the opportunity to admire it. Unbeknownst to the viewer, a locked fence surrounds this long forgotten establishment, whose purpose in the past is virtually unidentifiable due to the faded lettering surrounding the decaying door. There are many buildings like this around Birmingham. Left to be forgotten as new ones replace it and the busy lives of the citizen diminish any memory of them.

 A late night out in the empty Lakeview area brought me to this fading moped parked outside a local pub favorite. With the owner no where to be seen, the cracked leather seat and rusting metal frame are the only things to tell me of its apparently long history. What the story is actually left to the imagination of the viewer. This image, titled "Late Night Ride", reminds me of a Birmingham that enjoys having a good time in a diverse cultural scene, both past and present.

"Trinkets of the Past" is an image of a shop after hours(the name of the store I currently cannot remember). This shop is full of little valuables that remind the interested shopper of their past experiences. Antiques and memoribilia shops such as this are what keep the history of the average American life in a Pleasantville-like Birmingham alive.

Clarity+Art Whatever No. 12

So it's been a while since I posted. A lot has happened to me artwise in the past year. Before graduation, I received three scholarships, two for study at Birmingham-Southern and Memphis College of Art, and a private one from the Hoover Arts Alliance. Due to financial troubles, I was unable to go to either. In October, I was in my first outdoor art show. It was a great experience, but somewhat of a disaster. So I've just been livin' life and working lately. Which has caused me to not pay attention to my art as much. It's been a while since I've painted and my drawing skills aren't looking too hot. But I'm trying really hard to start back up. After posting this, I'm going to start on a piece, thanks to some new found inspiration. But as for the picture in this post, I have no idea. I took this in Helena, a town about ten minutes away from where I live. There's this lovely waterfall, that's apparently lit up at night, and I decided to take a picture of it. Of the three shots I took, I like this one the best. The background lighting turned out great. I feel as if I captured the water perfectly. The trees in the background add to a great design. The composition is ok. Not something I would usually approve of. I know there's something more this picture needs but I've no idea what it is. Any suggestions?

Watchtower

So this is a photo I took on my trip to Destin about two or three years ago. Walking down the beach near the base there, I saw this majestic bird silently peering over its domain. I took several pictures, being very careful not to disturb it, and parted ways. I edited the picture significantly on photoshop and like it a lot. It's such a soft contrasting picture with plenty of elements that make the eye move plenty around the photo. I put this up just now in memory of my photo teacher, Mr. Myers, who recently passed away. Without his guidance and inspiration, I would have never displayed such a picture and had the great summer with my camera. Though I wasn't his best student, I hope he knows he's the greatest man i've come across in life and will leave a mark on my life. Thanks Mr. Myers.

Art Whatever No. 11

So I noticed that in my last post I had forgotten to post some other artworks that I had. I'll try to post them soon. Or eventually. I went to the BSC Scholarship Day this past Saturday and enjoyed that. Had a quick bite at breakfast and spent about two or three hours drawing a still life as part of the audition. There was a girl there all the way from Texas. I had an interview with the art teachers. Nice conversation. Really ready for college after that. I am now waiting on the response for that, as well as the response from Scholastic regarding my works. I hope they hurry up and tell me something. I need to get my works ready for District. I am currently working on a portrait of my little brother that's not going too well. The soft pastel doesn't fancy me anymore. I'm thinking about restarting it with oil. Getting some new ideas together for new pieces. Will post stuff later. Oh! And girls suck. They're so confusing and really hard to read, as well as grab their interest.

Art Whatever No. 10

Been a long time since I posted but I finally got some of my pieces posted. I have some cool photography as well that I'll try to post sometime this week. Been a great year so far. Lots of Art Stuff. Had Bluff Park, then Winter Art Show, and now I'm in the process of fooling around with College, Scholarships, and Competitions. I placed as Award Winner in the BSC Competition, which I'll try to post pictures of soon. It always amazes me when I see other people's artwork. It makes me realize how much I suck. JK, there my friend. But it really is great to see how people are thinking and their level of commitment. At the BSC Show, this girl traveled all the way from Georgia to see the works. Cool kid, indeed. I recently submitted into Scholastic too. I hope it made it alright and I hope I hear from them...BSC Scholarship up next, along with Memphis(MCA) scholarships. Then to district and some other scholarship stuff as well. Til later.

White No. 8

This is an 18x24 oil on canvas portrait of....yeah....Anyways, my favorite! I played a lot with color on this one, and lack of it as well...This was my first piece in which I've actually tightened my craftsmanship. The composition of it is great. Very resembling of the subject. Especially the mood. As with the rest of my concentration pieces, I left something blank. That something being the background. I added the yellow so it would flow better. But the reason for this being to show her completeness. Her definition. Her environment/atmosphere is not defined. Not good enough for her. She overpowers her surroundings. I am very fond to this piece. One of my masterpieces in my opinion. It won a 1st place in the Winter Art Show. As did every Senior. But this one also won me an Award Winner Status at the Birmingham-Southern Competition for High School Students. I submitted it into Scholastic as well. Thoughts?