Monday...

First off a little family promotion:  If you are interested in some good fiction and better advice please tune into Crimson's blog. Interested in the Shadoe Stone's product line? Remember that we don't have a webpage yet, so see us on Facebook.  Finally, my mother is an amazing crafter and has turned her crochet into an amazing business on Facebook, Handmade by Phyllis by name.

Now onto our Monday...

3Ps is the MWF theme, we are only a few weeks in so there isn't much feedback and even less of a conversation about what you would like to see more and/or less of; so I shall continue in what has started.  Please always feel free to comment here or contact me directly.

Shades of Grey, Dawn Cowan

Speaking about black and white photography and poetry by colors in the last few weeks inspired this piece.  Sadly, it did not photograph well from my tablet.  The texturing of the paint is part of what makes my works compelling, if you believe they are at all, and in this one the red seems to be climbing out of the black and grey.

Color is great for making things pop out at you.  While the grey-scale photo with a red rose is almost trite now, the opposite is just as effective if properly done.  A riot of color is great, drop in a grey-scale aspect and suddenly you have stillness within chaos.  My favorite play with color in photography  though is when the colors are soft and still crisp and clean.  A photo shot in the night shadows, with spots of light for instance.

Spanish Moss at Night-Dawn Cowan

I have almost run out of my "found" acrylics and I am done with the canvases afforded to me by the sale (except, maybe, the one I am painting over) so I am done with painting for now.  It makes me sad when I can't get out what is in my head.  Okay fine, it pisses me off that it's money that is causing the problem.

I have dreams about the amazing things I can do with canvas and paints.  I drool over wall sized canvas and buckets of acrylic paint.  I would adore being able to create mixed media art pieces using my camera, paintings and some of my craft work.  Heck, I just want an easel, canvas and some paint too.

Love what I am doing and want to see more?  I am now on Patreon.

The 3 Ps of Creativity

First things first:  Happy Birthday Lennah!  My sister is having her birthday today-Check her out at Photos by Lennah.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you are going to be reading about paintings, pictures or poetry.  Some days it will be just one P, some days it will be all of the Ps!  Today we are going to look at a couple of pieces of mine. This is our first day, but it shan't be the last!

All content on this blog is original and it is mine, unless otherwise noted.

Black and white are opposite ends of the spectrum; but there is so much in between.  When we are in the middle of a muddle it's hard to remember that there are so very many shades of grey.  Words are insistent.  Sometimes coming easy and sometimes hard.  They can keep you up all night or they can help you describe the indescribable.  So here are some words for you.

Black & White
Life is black and white,
Because those are opposites
Composing the spectrum
Not defining it.

White means
All colors run together
Black means
All colors run away.

Why can we not
Just join together
In those lovely
Shades of grey.

I am fascinated by black and white photography.  When film was still available I would find intricate textures and strange scenes and define different perspectives by leaching out the color.  With digital photography that is both easier and more difficult.  The starkness stays, but we loose a little bit of the soul of the photo.  Taking a photo on black and white film means that there was never any color to define it.  The black, white and shades of gray have to create the entire photo.  Shadows and highlights create interest and emotion that is lost when shot in color because all of that color is turned black for the shadow and the highlight is turned white and there are fewer shades of gray.  Ansel Adams was a master at black and white photography and in one simple and stark photo shows all of the reasons you want to shoot in it.  I do NOT claim to be Ansel Adams.

Honestly, I love both of the photos below; but it does help define what I am speaking of as a digital piece.  The color photo is intricate and quite fun, but when turned to black and white and cropped it turns spooky, but if you look closely you see detail that is lost in the shadow once drained.

                                                -The Root of The Problem, Dawn M. Cowan