Gallery2

I have been sketching and looking through lenses for a very long time.

I can remember playing with an old Brownie camera when I was very small,

I don't know that there was ever any film in it . . . and at some point someone got me one of those polaroid cameras - a large white thing that you 'pealed' your photos out of.

I continually borrowed from the library a big grey hard cover book of Da Vinci's studies of anatomy and inventions; and my "eye on the world in nature" was always facinated with roots, bark, light and shadow . . . I would learn later that black and white photography would be my favorite and Ansel Adams would be my photo "Da Vinci"

I took night courses for years

to have the opportunty

to use dark rooms

and learned that "my eye'

was for black and white photography

a facination for light, shadow, shapes, and textures - that then could be applied to human portraiture and figure form.

I carried around a full darkroom for ten years

but always having lived in apartments

and with the rising cost of supplies

eventually ended up selling it all off.

However

now, with the use of a digital camera,

and a computer - which is my darkroom

the artistic freedom is awesome.

Recently conversing with a young friend of mine

who is using one of my old SLR cameras

and discovering the joys of darkroom work

I share my passion with him.

Yes, I miss getting lost in time with my hands

in chemicals, watching the magic appear

in the secret darkroom light.

But, even so, I am grateful for any tools that allow me to create . . .

and though I paint in color, and the camera

shows me the brillance of violets and sunsets

I still look for the light and shadow

the shapes that inspire me.

I would recommend to anyone that if you want to feel the wide spectrums of the heart of an artist

to watch the movies "Frida" and

"The Girl with the Pearl Earring"

When I'm feeling dull I turn to Frida

then I listen to the Buena Vista Club

and Paint