Announcing New Mini-Series
North of 49 - ©2008 Carol Cooper
Golden Fractal Flakes- Mini Series
[ Fractals in Nature ]
This is a little mini-series of Golden Fractal Snowflakes I worked on the week of November 3, 2008. It was inspired by the fact that we are expecting our first snow fall of the season. Also it ties into the AEDM project where I am exploring circles & squares.
Click HERE if you would like to view the mini-series of 10 works. Thanks in advance for peeking :o)
The Snowflake Man
“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”
- Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley 1925 - snippet from his website: www.snowflakebentley.com
Perhaps you would like to view his snowflakes gallery - Snowflake Man” - Mr. Wilson A. Bently
“If a golden snowflake kissed my eye . . . would I then see your love?”
- C. Cooper
Announcing a New Series
uvularia-sessilifolia - bellwort ©2008 Carol Cooper
from the In-DIGI-flora Series
I am happy to announce a new series:
In-DIGI-flora: on the wide side of Lake Superior
I would like to extend very special thanks to Mrs. Erika North, Curator of the Claude E. Garton Herbarium at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and also to Mr. Mark Nisenholt, Chair / Visual Arts Department, Lakehead University, for their encouragement, supporting words & belief that I could bring this series to life.
The series is comprised of 28 works (12″ X 12″) that I have uploaded to the In-DIGI-flora album in the “New Works Gallery” for viewing and future reference.
Direct link to gallery album, if you would like to take a peek: In-DIGI-flora album
Thanks Carol :o)
Prelude to: In-DIGI-flora Series
In-DIGI-flora: on the wild side of Lake Superior
In: in·dig·e·nous - adj. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. Intrinsic; innate. [From Latin indigena, a native.]
DIGI: short for Digital
flora: flower/plant
As an update on the In-DIGI-flora series, I would like to share as a prelude, the story behind the series and how it came to be. I am almost finished with the 28 works and with just a few more tweaks here and there, I will be uploading them within the next week.
This series ties into the “Hyperborea Series” that I completed earlier this summer:
“Where next you will find the “Indigiflora” (flowers indigenous only to Hyperborea) that grow wild in The Garden of Apollon, series to follow.” - July 12, 2008
The first inspiration for the In-DIGI-flora series began one chilly February 2007 evening when I was surfing the internet in search of some soothing colourful wildflower photos to bring a smile to my face. I fell upon a website where I was in awe of a lady from Grand Marais, Minnesota - Mrs. Lorraine Anderson who sometimes, along with her friends, explored the Northeast region of Minnesota in search of wonderful local (native) wildflowers.
Her website was brimming with beautiful photographs which she and her friends had taken, along with very informative detailed reports of their wildflower adventures. As I read through some of her weekly reports, I somehow felt as if I were tagging along with them, as I felt so wrapped up in her recollections and cheerful statements when they had encountered a new or long lost wildflower.
I thought to myself, well we, meaning Grand Marais and Thunder Bay both share the same lake (Lake Superior) so I wondered how I could find out if the flowers that Mrs. Lorraine Anderson saw might be also found around our Canadian part of Lake Superior. Could it be possible that we share the same wildflowers?
I wondered how I could find this information out, so I surfed some more and came across a new found gem that I did not know existed in Thunder Bay. The Claude E. Garton Herbarium at Lakehead University. A treasure of information right here in town!!
I contacted the Herbarium’s curator: Mrs. Erika North, who welcomed me when I went to visit her on Monday, February 12, 2007 to ask her for information regarding my proposed art project. The Herbarium was simply amazing! What seemed like a gazillion of file folders each meticulously labeled with a sample of the flower, plant or shrub nestled flatly inside. I was in my glory!!
My mind started reeling with thoughts and ideas of how I could creatively bring these dry, flat flora specimens back to life with bright colours and multi-faceted textures. I immediately asked permission and made a subsequent appointment with Mrs. North to come back and photograph a selection of flora that are known to be indigenous to our area.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 @10:00 a.m.- I was welcomed once again by Mrs. North, who had a stack of folders already pulled out that held specimens of the flora I had sent her a list of via email. We had a wonderful time chatting as I photographed each sample, making sure to include the information regarding it’s proper botanical name.
When I came home, I loaded the photos, cropped them and made a master list: 28 different specimens that will be digitally painted and will form the series titled:
In-DIGI-flora: on the wild side of Lake Superior
I have been working on this particular series for the past 19 months or so, off and on. As with any large project, a good chunk of the time was spent in the preparation. Experimenting with different renderings, just thinking and going back to look and examine previous results. I must confess honestly that I am now FULL UP with flowers…I am laughing, and I am now just about ready to move on to other subject matters and thought paths. As a final remark, series are not so easy to do, at least for me. It requires tons of focus and no room for procrastinating (although I find oodles of reasons to fall off the road). Please stay tuned, I will post when they are up in the New Work Gallery for viewing!
Carol :o)
Announcing a New Series
Uberflora001©2008 Carol Cooper
The Uberflora Series consists of 24 works that were completed over the summer months - 2008.
Each master image size: 16″ X 20″ - With so many “Uberlicious” blooms this season, it was pure joy to create!
The series can be viewed in the New Works Gallery: click here
p.s. I kind of liked the above flower vertical format, so I switched it. :o) I caught the bug that is going around, nasty, nasty stuff!!
Announcing a New Series
©2008 Carol Cooper -Title: “Enkomia” - from the Hyperborea Series
Yea . . . I did it!! :o)
I am happy to announce that I have finally uploaded a new body of work titled: Hyperborea Series to my New Works Gallery. There are 37 works (so far) in the series. I will continue to evolve and expand HYPERBOREA this fall to include the sub-series titled: “Indigiflora” - The Garden of Apollon.
“Never the Muse is absent
from their ways: lyres clash and flutes cry
and everywhere maiden choruses whirling.
Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed
in their sacred blood; far from labour and battle they live.”
(Pindar*, Tenth Pythian Ode, *522BC Ancient Greek Lyric Poet
- Richmond Lattimore, translator)
Click HERE to view the New Series: Hyperborea
and thanks in advance for taking a peek! :o)
Update on Hyperborea Series
©2008 - Carol Cooper - “Bibble01″ - part of the Hyperborea Series
I am putting the finishing touches to my Hyperborea Series (still not decided if I want to spell it Hyperboria or Hyperborea) and hope to have them uploaded to the gallery by the end of the week. The series represents over 6 months of work, . . . phew! I enjoyed every minute of it!! :o)
Three works are presently on display at Definitely Superior Art Gallery until July 19, 2008, part of the Annual Member’s Exhibition.
Reverse age a photo
©2008 Carol Cooper - Experiment reverse age a photo
I was just experimenting tonight to see if I could take a colour photo and give it the look of a photo taken about 100 years ago. Not wanting the browner “sepia-ish” tint, I tweaked it a bit with this yellowish, softer tone above.
Palisades, abstractly speaking
Palisades ©2008 Carol Cooper
Just a little something new I did last night.
Do you ever find sometimes when you look at your photos, that the composition is wonky, or the lighting stinks, and your just about ready to click the DELETE button. BUT somehow the colour pallette is bang on!
Well this is what happened with this particular photo, so I decided to recycle it, and out came Palisades! :o)
New Works-Creole Series
Creole001 ©2008 Carol Cooper
I am finally getting around to uploading various series of works created this winter to the New Works gallery. I’ll get them all up there…slow like molasses!!
This series is titled “Creole” and it includes 12 miniature geometric abstractions, each is 4″ X 4″. Based on symmetrical investigations & explorations.
Creole = Latin-(creare “to produce, create”)
The series can be viewed: here
