March 31, 2012 - Beauty

 Beauty is one of those things that I believe is different for different people. The two photos for today are beautiful to me. The first is actually kind of a bad scan of a photo I took way back in 1994 when I went to live in Yosemite for the summer. It represents beauty but also a summer of spending time soaking in every bit of beauty surrounding me possible.

This second photo is just a moment in my sweet daughters life. This was one moment of quiet before she was off running again. I don't know why but I love this photo of her. :)

March 30, 2012 - Van Gogh

When I think of Van Gogh I think of Starry Night and of Sunflowers...and his chopped off ear. I did think about taking a picture of an ear for today but changed my mind. I painted this sunflower on top of a tiny sewing box several months ago...maybe a year ago. It was perfect for the amount of space I had to work with.

March 29, 2012 - Complementary Colors

 Sometimes I can't just choose one photo for the day....

Complementary colors are across from each other on the color wheel. I do have one of those somewhere around here...true story..even though I do not often use it.  The eggs are decorating a house near me and these gorgeous irises are not too far away either. I will have to get some photos of my light purple irises today as well. :)

March 28, 2012 - Relief

Relief is art is created by carving away martial or adding material to the top.  Way back in January, I posted this photo from the Nashville Library. I did not know that was relief at the time. :) The photo above is of my letterboxing signature stamp. My sister carved it for me several years ago. Next to it are 2 stamps my kiddos and I found in Centennial park. Both were carved by the same artist. :) Who knew that my sister was a relief artist? ;)

March 27, 2012 - Golden Mean

So, math and I do not get along. When I started reading about the Golden Mean it kind of made my head hurt. However, the Golden Mean seems to be something that comes fairly naturally to many people and you can find it all over the place. I included a video at the end that gives some examples of the Golden Mean. One example is in any kind of spiral and it just keeps going and going and going like the spiral staircase Munchkin was on. :)

March 26 - Experimentation

Experimentation: Trying out a recipe for applesauce, doubling it, and testing to see if the apples are soft enough to mash.

Dictionary.com says experimentation is:

noun

the act, process, practice, or an instance of making experiments.

March 25 - Dada

So, when I saw the list for the month and saw Dada I thought it was a little strange since every other day was an art term or artist. It didn't occur to me that since ALL of the other terms were art terms that this one would be as well. Today I read June's blurb on Dada and checked out the link provided. The link is here . You can go read and come back if you need to. So...that is the story behind today's image of the day. :)

March 24 - Balance

March 23 - Juan Gris

If you check out google today, the Google logo is in honor of Juan Gris. He was a cubist that lived next door to Picasso. According to ibiblio.com he, Picasso and Braque were the three musketeers of cubism. Not only was he a painter, he also designed costumes and scenery for Serge DIAGHILEV's Ballets Russes. To see some of his work check out the links. :)

March 22 - Value

 

This one is a hard one for me today. I am having a bit of a difficult time wrapping my head around what constitutes Value in art and photography. June, who posted this month's challenge gave some great definitions defining the differences between hue, tint, shade and value. Those all helped tremendously!

I went with black and white hoping that this will fit for value.

According to Art in Canada: Shadows, darkness, contrasts and light are all values in artwork.

About.com Art History Glossary defines Value as: An element of art, value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. Value becomes critical in a work which has no colors other than black, white, and a gray scale. For a great example of value in action, think of a black and white photograph. You can easily visualize how the infinite variations of gray suggest planes and textures. 

So, go out and shoot some value today! :)

March 21 - Process

Little Man is in the process of learning to ride his bike. And he is doing well! :)

March 20 - Spring

We moved into our house in July about 10 years ago. Imagine our surprise when tulips popped up in the spring around  the tree in our front yard. Since then I have anticipated them each year because they are beautiful and because they are low maintenance...and I am a terrible gardener! :)

March 19 -Charles Russell

Today's image challenge was Charles Russell. He is known for his western paintings. If you are in Montana you can go visit the C.M. Russell museum.

I took this photo on 505 in New Mexico. There were cows wandering in the road and this lovely white horse on the side of the road. I loved being out on the back roads in New Mexico. It was a nice reminder that we do still have country/desert in our country. :)

March 18- Failure

One thing I fail at constantly is self discipline. I planned on eating 2 or 3 of these $1 mini chips ahoy, looked down and saw that this was what was left. Oh well.. even when I fail I can pick myself up and try again.

March 17 - Green

 

I actually shot this when I was working on taking photos for Capture Music City. I love not only the green in this photos but the lines as well. 

March 16, 2012 - Solitude

I actually shot this in the summer of 2010 while we were in Oregon. This walkway made me think you could find solitude at the end near the ocean.

March 15, 2012 - Foreground

Daylight Savings Time brings brand new flip flops, picnics, bike rides and open windows! :) 

March 14, 2012 - Illumination

According to Yahoo! Education illumination in art, is the decoration of manuscripts and books with colored, gilded pictures, often referred to as miniatures, historiated and decorated initials; and ornamental border designs.

If you look up the definition of illumination it includes the act of illuminating or a source of light. These shots are actually the same flowers from the Daylight photo, only a few days later and shot using my macro lens.

I love the sun shining through the back of the flower and illuminating what looks to me like stained glass windows.

I am also including a video of The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry. It is a little over 11 minutes long but showcases a beautiful medieval illumination manuscript. :)

March 13, 2012 - Pain

 Today was kind of a hard one for me. I don't take too many photos of people in pain. I have had a fair amount of physical pain...vertebrae out of alignment, popped tendon, migraines, other randomness. But, I don't have photos of myself from those times. The photo above is from when my poor son had a buckle fracture. My sweet boy has a pretty high pain tolerance so for him to say it hurt means that his ankle was really in pain. The boot helped him recover though. :)

The French word Pain means Bread in English. So, here is some Pain...or plain white loaves for your viewing pleasure. ;)

March 12, 2012 - Elaine de Koonig

Today's photo challenge is Elaine de Koonig since it is her birthday.  She was well know for her portraiture. This is a quick portrait of Iron Man at Halloween. I know, it is not a brand new photo but the light is horrible for portraits today. :) How can you resist those baby blues though?

March 11, 2012 - Daylight

March 10, 2012 - Chiaroscuro

If you are anything like me, you looked at the title of this post and went "huh?".
According to Wikipedia (I know, I know if you are one of my students, yes I used Wikipedia here which they got from the Glossary of the National Gallery, London.) Chiaroscuro is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted".

In this image chiaroscuro happens when there are big storms, no power, and your only light source is from a cell phone. ;)

March 9, 2012 - Shape

 

The image of the day is shape. These lovely interlocking circles were found at the mall while we were out and about today shopping for new dresses. :)

March 8, 2012 - Discipline

I used to be a pretty good flute player...way back when. If I am to rise to the level I once was I need to have discipline in practicing.

March 7, 2012 - Piet Mondrian

Happy birthday to Piet Mondrian! June posted this video on Facebook yesterday. If you have not seen Mr. Mondrian's work please watch the video.


I decided to post two photos today. Piet Modrian started painting trees and I like to take photos of trees. This is one of my favorites that I have taken.

The second is not really modern art but this is what I came up with for today anyway. :) Of course I thought about making something with my kiddos peg board...maybe I still will.

March 6, 2012 - Michaelangelo

 

 

March 5, 2012 - Commitment

1 yr of friendship, 2 years of dating, Just over 14 years of marriage. We have now know each other longer than we didn't and wouldn't have it any other way. :)

March 4, 2012 - Primary

I live in a very colorful neighborhood. :)

March 3, 2012 - Composition

Yesterday in the south was a day of high winds and many storms. I went out to take photos thinking about composition and how to convey emotion through the lens. I have another picture that I really like from yesterday that I thought I was going to use. However, after reading another article this morning I had to take another look at it and decided on this photo instead. Composition is definitely a skill I need to practice in my photography to make the art speak for itself. Now..off to see if there is a composition class I can sign up for. :)

March 2, 2012 - Preparation

Our preparation today includes getting ready for severe storms. Helmets must be worn!

March 1, 2012 - Line

Getting 21 first graders in a line is a task. But, here they are in a straight line...almost. ;)