Take a photo...then "Imagineer" Your Own Reality!

I am not a" great photographer.  I respect photographers and know that getting the right image is about planning, timing, study, readiness, equipment and technical savvy.  These days, it's also about editing know-how just as in the past it was also very much about dark-room know how.  Photography is art.  Photographs can be beautiful and complete as an art form. However, for me...photos are just the beginning.  That's why I am a painter.

Yesterday I was in Siena.  A town behind a massive wall on a hill...a description which could fit many towns in Tuscany.  This one has the distinction of being the owner of St. Catherine's head!  Oh, and her right finger too!  How grisly and medieval is that?  There she was today...what's left of her that is.  Not to disrespect her or anything, but as far as I'm concerned, cutting off her head and putting her decaying face in a box for all to see is not necessarily respectful  When I go, close the casket and remember me as I was.  She was very important to the residents of the city and they claimed her as their own...however when she died in Rome, they kept her remains as relics and charged for seeing them or being blessed by them.  Citizens of Sienna staged a guerrilla raid on Rome and chopped off her head...and her finger (how random!) and then brought them back in a box to her home town.  And here she is to this day...

Siena is very hilly and filled with old buildings, gelato shops, lots of tourists and beautiful little vistas wherever you look.  It's a great town to photograph and wander around, which is what we did today.  I was like a dog on the trail of a good scent...just following my nose (or in this case my eyes) from one thing to the next.  My new friend and roommate, Sally, was my partner in crime.  We stumbled upon a great site today with laundry on the line, shadows and cool architecture.  We stood there at the side of the road and drew it in our little pads...took photos and then kept on.

At one point Sally told me she had found a shopping mall.  I followed her in there and we saw lots of people but no shops.  We stumbled on some nice bathrooms, so we took advantage.  There were lots of bars to assist with mobility and pull chords for emergency on the walls...that should have been our first clue.  When we came out, we realized that there were all kinds of old people and nurses...Then it dawned on us...we had somehow found our way into a convalescent home!  We began laughing so hard and making fun of ourselves, but even so, I was taken with some of the cool faces and old people around us.  What was even more funny was that they weren't moving too fast, so it made taking their photos easier. I didn't feel comfortable taking obvious photos of the old folks, so Sally volunteered to stand in the vicinity of a couple of choice characters and I surreptitiously took these shots.

Photos are a very necessary part of my process.  They provide me with resources from which I can "imagineer" a painting.  For example, when we drew a spot on location I felt that it needed a point.  When you looked at the city landscape I had drawn, it didn't seem to have enough life for me.  I decided it needed people to give it some life.  

It was time to use a photo reference.  I was taken by the story which was told in a photo I took earlier in the day.  The little boy blowing bubbles was interacting with an elderly man on the street.  Charming!  I decided that those two characters belonged in my drawing in order to remind me of my experience here.  They were not in the same place in the same time at all, but because I'm a painter, they ended up right where I wanted them to be.  Photos are the reference, but the fun for me is found in the the ability to create my own reality.

Finished Painting
"Bubble Boys"- Watercolor/Ink on Paper

As a PS to my previous entry...I found out that the very spot I climbed to get the photo below was a former celtic place of worship.  There are stone circles on this site and as I sat upon one of them I was visited by my little friend the fawn.  How cool is it to think that this ancient holy place gifted me with an innocent spiritual present?  That fawn symbolized innocence, vulnerability, and being present in that place.  I am even more convinced that he was sent as some sort of heavenly affirmation.  One more reason to love Tuscany!

Villa Casa Nova- Chianti
Watercolor/Ink on Paper

Rebecca Zdybel

Artist, Instructor, Art-Travel Instructor

Art Lessons in all media

Myrtle Beach, SC

rebecca@artmyrtlebeach.com

Spread Light, Share Love, DO Art!

Feel free to share this blog post on your own blog or website, but I ask that you you include:

Rebecca Zdybel is an artist and instructor in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Follow her and see her work at http://www.artmyrtlebeach.com/

"Like" my facebook page: Rebecca Zdybel- Artist

Join me on Google+ Rebecca Zdybel Google+ Profile

New Class- Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain 

Now one of my favorite art books, by Betty Edwards, will be the basis of a new class I plan to teach on drawing. The best artists I know use regular drawing practice as a way to stay sharp, and to keep the connection between their hand and their eyes as coordinated as possible. Whether you are a beginner or a more established artist, I think this class may help you to set aside the time to improve the connection between your eyes and your hand.

Practice Makes Perfect

Pianists, string players, musicians of all stripes take lessons and practice regularly. Somehow as artists, we seem to forget the need to simply practice or warm up. We begin to think that we should somehow be able to come to our serious work and just DO IT. I am a firm believer that art class can be like having a personal trainer in the gym. It's a way to make yourself accountable for taking the time to do something you want to do anyway.  Your classmates will become someone with whom you share the experience.  It's all good!!

I'd love to have you join me and look forward to a few weeks of sharpening our drawing skills.  I hope you will come out for what is bound to be a great class.

Thursdays 12:30-2:30 PM 

Beginning in January 17 2013 through Feb 28 (no class Feb 14)

Minimum 4 required to begin.

6 weeks Cost $ 100    Call 843-839-2727 to register by phone or email me

Myrtle Beach, SC
Rebecca Zdybel

Studying Art Energizes Your Creativity

Studying Art

Energizes Your Creativity

I took a few weeks recently and went to workshops with various talented and generous instructors.  It was a dream to be in the company of so many people whose hearts and minds are preoccupied with making art.  

I made an effort to venture into realms I was not necessarily familiar with or comfortable with.  

Some artists take issue with me when I do this.  I have tried to share my excitement about new discoveries at times with some of my older and more celebrated art friends, and have been astonished at their complacency and disinterest in learning something new.  I literally had someone say to me," I don't need to know about that." ..."What in the world?!   How is it possible to be so comfortable?

When does one ever know it all?  

When does learning stop? 

I obviously subscribe to a different drummer.  New information and techniques excite me and stimulate me to work with them and experiment.  Perhaps working one way, and beating the same drum over and over is enough for some people, but I'm just not made that way.  That's why I think taking classes is so vital in my life.  I not only teach, but I study.  The way I look at it, when I quit learning, I will start dying.  The life of my mind is important to me, and that is not anything I wish to extinguish any time soon.  

The paintings on display here are some recent work born of my time spent in workshops this fall.  How exciting to be doing something new!  If you haven't taken a class recently, perhaps you might experience a similar sense of invigoration in your creative process by taking the time to absorb something new.  I'd love to see you in class and would welcome your contacting me for more information.