Before reading this post you may want to view the exhibit in this interactive slideshow

Here it is…a photo journalistic approach to all 17 pieces in my solo exhibit at the Lynnwood Library Gallery. Each piece is either 8×10 or 11×14 in size, matted and framed with 11×14 and 16×20 frames, respectively.  They are framed with museum-quality solid black beveled wood frames that are ready for hanging on a wall.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the work you see here, please fill out the contact form.

From A Dream
Digital Art/Photomanipulation
8×10
March, 2005
$100

This piece was created after waking from a dream where I was lying in an open field of long grass, watching an aurora borealis-like show dancing and flowing in the sky. The display was so breathtaking and magical that I wanted to create a work of art to capture a little of the dream forever. I used a photograph I took of one of the trees in my back yard on a foggy night, and worked some digital magic in Photoshop to create the end result.

Dance of the Ice Queen
Digital Art
8×10
December, 2005
$100

Dance of the Ice Queen is part digital manipulation, part digital painting. The subject is from a deviantart stock artist named Dove-Stock, who has naturally brown hair. I wanted to create a winter-themed piece, so I turned her hair white in Photoshop and with a bit of digital painting. The ice was also created digitally, with fills and painting to create texture. The trees were from either a photograph or a digital brush stamp created from a photograph…I can’t remember. The moon is a digital brush stamp as is the crown on the Ice Queen’s lovely head.

Gwinn Estate Gardens
Photograph
8×10
September, 2002
$75

For my Advanced Photography project in college, I documented William G. Mather’s Gwinn Estate gardens in a series of ethereal photographs. This is a view from one section of the beautiful gardens that feature statuary, fountains, and pathways. The layout and architecture of the gardens were based on Italian design and create a magical atmosphere along the shores of Lake Erie. Sadly, in 2007 the estate was sold and is no longer available for the public to enjoy.

The entire series can be seen here: Gwinn Estate Series

Ancient Pines
Digital Art
8×10
October, 2005
$100

This one is near and dear to my heart. It’s one of the first pieces that was later to be included in my Maidens of the Otherworld series. I arrived home from work one evening, inspired after having listened to Loreena McKennitt’s “The Old Ways” at work all day. I set to work on this creation that I titled after a different Loreena song, “Ancient Pines”. While creating this, I was in another world listening to Loreena McKennitt, Celtic Legend, and Mediaeval Baebes, who the next day I traveled to Toronto to see in concert for the first time. Lots of nice memories with this one!

I used Dove-Stock again, though used another stock artist’s face in later edits. The trees were made from my own library of tree photography. The striking green and wonder in the subject’s expression led me to choose this for the Maidens of the Otherworld branding and logo.

The Meadow
Digital Art
8×10
March, 2007
$100

The Meadow is the last digital creation created before Solstice Queen was created this past December. The main photograph used here is a wonderful image of tall grass in the field behind my former place of employment in Mentor, Ohio. A perk to getting through the day was an occasional lunch out in my car facing this field…staring out across the open space to the train tracks in the distance, dreaming of adventure. I have a thing for fields and meadows! I added an “aged” overlay to the photograph after some mindless experimentation, then later went back to it and added digitally-created curtains and carefully placed a few gossamer faeries around the meadow.

Gwinn Estate Gardens II
Photograph
8×10
September, 2002
$75

Another selection from the Gwinn Estate Series.

Hills of Oregon
Photograph
8×10
August, 2008
$75

Taken during my first trip to beautiful Oregon at the Secret House Winery in Veneta, a town just outside of Eugene. I love Oregon!

Forest Fey
Digital Art
8×10
April, 2006
$100

Part of the Maidens of the Otherworld collection, Forest Fey was created with a stock portrait from Odessa-Stock and my own photography. At the time I made this I was also experimenting with a fractal program called Apophysis, which was used to create the wings.

Lake Erie Sunset
Photograph
8×10
June, 2000
$75

This was a beautiful mistake (and was even titled so for awhile). In the summer of 2000, while spending time with friends on a neighborhood beach by my home near Lake Erie in Northeast, Ohio, I was taking pictures with my Canon Rebel X 35mm camera. After one evening spent at the beach, I developed the roll of film and was pleasantly surprised to see this appear in one of the frames! Also a bit confused, because I didn’t remember taking a long exposure shot like this. My only guess is that I accidentally hit the shutter at some point when the camera was around my neck, and it captured the flowing tide of the water and the midnight blue color of the cloudy sky. I have no idea which way is up! I like this photograph because it’s a mystery.

Space to Breathe
Photograph
8×10
December, 2006
$75

A photograph taken at the Chagrin River Park in December, after a light snowfall. You’d never know it from this image that there are electrical towers and wires running through this large field right next to the frame.

The Swan
Photograph
11×14
November, 2007
$150

There is a pond behind my parents’ neighbors’ rural Northeast Ohio home, where a family of swans live. It’s like a fairy tale.

Paradise
Photograph
11×14
August, 2008
$150

Moving the the Great Northwest has its perks. This scene was photographed at Paradise on Mount Rainier, about 5,000-6,000 feet up. The hills and cliffs are covered with wildflowers!

Mystic Woodland
Photograph
11×14
March, 2007
$150

First of a series of photographs by the same name, Mystic Woodland features the forests of the Brecksville Reservation at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the Cleveland, Ohio area. I took this hike with my husband after watching the movie 300 in the digital theatre in Valley View. While my mind was still wrapping itself around such a brilliant, dark, gritty fantasy world from the movie, I tried to capture the real-world fantasy that was right in front of me. With a little sepia-toning in Photoshop, I achieved the desired effect.

Leave and Vines
Photograph
11×14
Autumn, 2007
$150

My favorite season is Autumn…a time when Mother Nature dons her most beautiful cloak before the crumble and decay of Winter sets in. Autumn is also the season I was born. Since I first picked up a camera, I’ve been photographing Fall colors. This particular time I was hiking through the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks, near Buttermilk Falls. As I was approaching a vast meadow, my eye caught an intricate design of leaves and vines coiling around and in between the trees.

Bound Cherub
Photograph
11×14
September, 2002
$150

One of my favorite pieces from the Gwinn Estate Series, Bound Cherub features one of the many beautiful sculptures seen at the Gwinn Estate Gardens of William Mather’s Mansion in Bratenahl, Ohio. For some reason, steel braided wires were stretched across the carving, making it seem as if this mischievous cherub were bound to Earth forever.

Mystic Woodland IV
Photograph
11×14
March, 2007
$150

Fourth in the series of twenty photographs from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This is also one of two photographs of beautifully intricate tree roots exposed along the sides of the pathways.

The Swan II
Photograph
11×14
November, 2007
$150

A second scene from the fairy tale pond seen in The Swan, this photograph features two baby swans seen in the distance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 4:14 am and is filed under Gallery, News & Updates, Solo Exhibit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.