Seeing Red...

Red....the colour of love, passion, anger, and aggression. Did you know that at one time many fast food restaurants used the colour red in their interiors in order to create a passion and desire to eat more food. The funny thing is it also was used to hurry the diners up and get them out in order to have a greater turnover, thus more sales.

At home, especially in the 19th century, and early 2oth, red was often used in dining rooms. Red is a very flattering colour to most peoples skin tones, and combined with candlelight it made for a very cozy, flattering, and enjoyable evening. It was also used alot in drawing rooms, especially those with salon type walls chuck full of paintings, sketches, and photographs...Red seems to show off art work well. I believe there are even red walls in part of the exhibition spaces at the AGO here in Toronto.

Did I mention my kitchen is red? It is indeed. I always wanted a red room, and now I have one. I love it.

When I take a lot of my photos, especially when I focus on colour, pattern ,and texture, I always associate a feeling to the photograph. I also envision many of them hanging in people's rooms. Usually in large format, much like some huge painted canvas...I think colour is so important to each of us, and it often means different things to different people, hence the millions of colours available to us to purchase in the form of paint. There is an energy in colour, whether it is strong and vibrant, or soft and strong.. There is a colour pallet for each of us. Have you found yours? What is your favorite? How do you react to certain colours? It is such an interesting topic don't you think?

Enjoy your day, and I hope I have you seeing red..

Charitable Donation

I have been given the opportunity this holiday season to contribute a piece of my work to help support Eva's Initiative, an organization that help at risk youth develop their skills in order to find meaningful work. My framed image will be for sale at Olivia's at fifty three this Thursday evening. Olivia's at fifty three is the restaurant in Little Italy that I exhibited my first series in last May. (53 Clinton Street)

I thought I would share the image I chose to donate. It is from my new series "Surface Deep". I decided that due to its painterly feel I would print it on watercolour paper. I am quite happy with the result, and hope it sells in order to raise funds for Eva's. :)

Surface Deep

For most of you, it is not news that after my two solo shows I went through a period of feeling uninspired, and not sure what to focus on next. I do feel I did the right thing, and took the opportunity to not actually focus on anything, but rather learn, and practice a few new things on the camera. I have been concentrating on using different exposure times and have done what I feel are some nifty practice sessions around the apartment.

                                                                                                                                                                             Recently, I was feeling like I needed to get back outdoors and spend some time with nature, and of course the camera. I went on a couple of hikes and found myself drawn to reflections in the water. Within minutes, I was using my new skills with exposures, and am happy to say I have found my new project. It is a nice transition from my texture series which focused on colour, and patterns, and textures of solid items. The difference is that now the subject is water, but the focus remains on colour and pattern.

Welcome to my new series, my new work. I call it "Surface Deep".

susie

Made a much needed walk to the Brickworks to get my nature fix last weekend. I'm always amazed at how much work is being done at this former industrial site. It has become another great spot for the community, and this day was no exception. It was full of people out to celebrate the opening day celebrations of this new 'park'. One of the things I noticed was the great pieces of floral art that have been attached to the buildings. This shot is a portion of a black eyed susie mounted way up by the roof line. A great piece of art, and appropriate to the area. Well done!!

Still life...

Ok, so it is not a picture of  "Toronto" per say, but it is a shot from my apartment which is in Toronto. This photo was from one of those days I just pulled the camera out and started taking random shots. The flowers were left over from Hugh's birthday party, and I had just purchased the mid century piece of 'art' from a shop in Kensington market. (Seems to be my latest craze...mid century motel art!!) It is the moody colours I like in both the art piece and this shot. The daisies add a sense of brightness in my opinion. If I could paint, I would love to try and create this scene.....

Art or Reality

I went for a walk today to clear my head from some issues that have been bothering me. I decided to not do urban streets today, but rather spend the day being with nature. So with wool socks, and multiple layers on I headed to the Brick works. Towards the end of my hike, I met a gentleman who asked me if I was professional or if photography was just a hobby. We started talking about a whole range of topics, the pros and cons of digital vs film, etc. We finished the conversation with the question is a photo hung on a wall considered art, or is it merely reality? Are photographers considered artists, or are they just documenting? It is an interesting question, but I guess the bottom line for me is that I just like to share the image, regardless of what you call me. I will leave the title to the image rather then myself.

Public Art

This photo is one of the earliest photos I took, in early 2008. I know it has been photographed a million times, but regardless it is one of my favorite pieces of public art. (It stands outside Union Station) The fact it has been photographed so many times by so many people, tells me that it actually causes people to stop, and look, and create an opinion, and perhaps a conversation. It is in my opinion that there is a huge lack of wonderful art pieces such as this in the public realm. Not to say there isn't any, there are some great ones out there. But I would really love to see along with more green spaces, some really great art, sculpture, statues, that would make people stop and look, or converse. Dundas Square for example, cries out to me for a great art piece, (well and some real trees). The failed condo development at Yonge and Bloor would also be a great area for a green space, and public art. ( I believe, another condo developer has taken over...sadly.)

Regardless, I will do my best to show off from time to time the existing art pieces that stand amongst us. Do stop and take a look...

tattered and torn

Take a post that has had thousands of posters glued or stapled on it. Add time, and a rain storm, and you have yet another example of something ordinary that can stop me and make me photograph it. It's all about the colour. This has been framed with a bold black frame and it looks great. Trash into art.