Archive for October, 2007
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Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Male Cardinal
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Cardinal ~ 24 x 24 inch Acrylics on canvas
* (1st phase below) ~ experiment with different effects for branch patterns; used two separate applications of masking medium, used traditionally in watercolor paintings. Second phase: trying to highlight the bird’s interaction with its environment and hoping to find a way to do more than providing the expected sort of portrait of a cardinal. Addition of a Pthalos Blue wash changes the mood and the season, maybe even the time of day…interesting what one or two brushes of color can do.
City Streets
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Three Photos will be on exhibit and available for sale at the City Streets Exhibition at Studio 333, Sausalito, CA October 25 – December 6, 2007
Burnt Offerings #1 – From Burnt Offerings the photographic series consisting of ten images of the devastating results after an explosion that rocked downtown Dallas on July 25, 2007, in an acetylene and propane warehouse. In the distance: the famous Reunion Tower.
Phase to Grey - series pending. With a history and reputation for competing with Houston to attract visitors to stay in a beautiful, safe, and interesting downtown area, Dallas makes room for new buildings and upgrades existing ones. This photo: Demolition on the corner of Commerce and S. St. Paul Street, across from the infamous Dallas Grand Hotel which has been vacant and in a serious state of disrepair for many years, now planned to also receive extensive renovations.
True Colors #63 – The original photo of one of the digitally manipulated images in the True Colors website series. This photo: A cow wanders the streets of San Antonio, Mexico. Nonchalantly meandering through the neighborhood, tether rope dragging on the road beside her, it’s as if this cow has simply left for a short walk and no one, even the owner, ought to worry about her finding her way home.
All photographs printed on 11 x 17 100 lb. Satin finish cardstock high quality photographs are one of a kind, signed, most with white mat and a 3″ wide black frame. Please contact nikki_coulombe@hotmail.com for details about this or any Artwork you wish to purchase. (thanks!)
North Carolina
Monday, October 1st, 2007
Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days ( a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it!) We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington (NC) through old, old towns (it takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass!) …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.
There is a lot of history in NC - fossil, human/settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed - too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.
Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses.
On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal.
Great fun to watch the behaviour for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.
Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.
NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia.
Part of the huge contraversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and unrepairable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snowgeese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDmC1LD1Kc
…and what Nikkistory is complete without a moon?