KETCHUP: Edward, Henri and the Norman art experience

Last night was my first Norman Art Walk. After scouting for the wedding I'm shooting today-it's going to be B-EAUTIFL by the way- Shevaun, Terence, Gary-a friend of T's and myself popped over to the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery to see Carol Beesley. She's a friend of Shevaun's and also a New Mexico frequenter. Her paintings reflect the NM influence. Such beautifully saturated salmons, blues and marigolds. Also showing were the talented Alan Atkinson and Debby Kaspari. Oddly, I was pouring myself a glass of water at the bar and saw a face watching the gallery flow from a laptop. I stuck my head over and asked "Are you live?". It was Debby Kaspari, skyping from Massachusetts where she was a resident artist at the moment. We chatted about this and that. It was such a wonderful simple human experience.
I love mingling and hearing the stories of artists. There is such passion whether gregariously portrayed or subdued, I am addicted to the art driven soul.

After the showing, we met up with a gathering and I was not only introduced to more amazing souls but lead into rooms containing original photographs of photographers I admired from the pages of my art history books. This is the one that completely shook me. The Henri Cartier-Bresson portrait of Alfred Stieglitz not long before he died.
Subtle and simple, the portrait of a well-lived soul.

Alfred Stieglitz, New York by Henri Cartier-Bresson 1946

And this Edward Weston image called Johnny. I've never actually seen this before but it has all the soft curves characteristic of a Weston. And can you get enough of that texture? I think not. Again, such subtle, simple beauty.

Johnny by Edward Weston 1944

I've been composing an email for some time now, intending to update family and likewise friends of where I've been popping around since Paris and where I could possibly be now.
It's just not the same without photos. So, please bear with me if you are already informed or are otherwise uninterested in my wee comings and goings.

I was emailing around Oklahoma for freelance assistant work while Sam settled back in from Afghanistan and I prepared for a move to NYC. My plans suddenly changed when I was offered a full-time position at Shevaun Williams & Associates and ever so quickly become the Associate Photographer of the studio. With a commitment to stay for at least a year and a very busy season ahead, I also found myself a new resident of Norman, Oklahoma-moving into one of the spare rooms of my boss, her husband, Terence and their cat Johnny. It is evident kismet. I couldn't have fallen into the lives of more active Norman residents. Terence and Shevaun are true "promoters". They give the DL of every little thing and I can't deny the true pure inspiration I've experienced here. Shevaun was recently awarded the recognition of the 2011 Celebrated Artist of the Mayfair Arts Festival. More ART.

In a whirlwind of events after only a month, I found myself in the newspaper next to my new boss and roommates in my new place of residence, Norman, Oklahoma.


I feel like I've found another version of my beloved art community in Seattle. This time closer to my family and with the promise of daily inspiration to get out and execute all the shoots and ideas I've been carrying around with me. I know when this chapter comes to a close I will be just as heartbroken yet hopeful as I was leaving the Evergreen State but with the kismet in the air, a killer portfolio to knock the next chapter dead.
Thank you world.
Kiss Hug
V

Random #301

"Wall of Queens"

"Be Still Life"

And goodnight.
V

Hiroshi Tanabe

Talented illustrator.
These are a few favorites from his portfolio.










Find your own favorites here.
A featured artist of The Fashion Illustration Gallery in London.
Enjoy.
I'm off to bed.
XOV

Lap giraffes?

No way. Can you believe...that is a real live minature giraffe?
Live video here.
Sokoblovsky Farms.
This commercial cracks me up!
And of course I clicked on "I WANT GIRAFFE".
This is a screen shot of my place on the waiting list. :)

766,992!
Yay, I can't wait!!! :)
There is no way this is for real (the giraffes at all) but I can't help being giddy excited!!!!
Happy Friday!
V

Lovely Chance

O lovely chance, what can I do
  To give my gratefulness to you?
  You rise between myself and me
  With a wise persistency;
  I would have broken body and soul,
  But by your grace, still I am whole.
  Many a thing you did to save me,
  Many a holy gift you gave me,
  Music and friends and happy love
  More than my dearest dreaming of;
  And now in this wide twilight hour
  With earth and heaven a dark, blue flower,
  In a humble mood I bless
  Your wisdom--and your waywardness.
  You brought me even here, where I
  Live on a hill against the sky
  And look on mountains and the sea
  And a thin white moon in the pepper tree.

Sara Teasdale

Yesterday I took a V day in Norman, OK. I haven't had much time to even think with Luna my sole charge. It's been three weeks since I had a Luna-free day, not complaining, just stating that a V day was in order. I started the day early with an interview and took the rest of the time exploring the most wonderful place I've thus found in Oklahoma. Great galleries, good thrift finds, a whole food personal grocer (where I found the most adorable multi colored, sombrero shaped pasta) and a great little bookstore. At the bookstore, The Book Stall, I bought The Quintessence of Beauty and Romance as compiled by Marjorie Barrows from the poetry section. I had to purchase it because it contains five Sara Teasdale poems, my favorite poet, and I don’t have any of her poems in print. The book is full of great short stories, prose and poetry. Luna always asks, “Auntie V, are you happy?”

I’m happy.

I dedicate Lovely Chance to my dear friend Asha. The new mother to a beautiful daughter named Alana and the marvelous human being that first introduced me to Teasdale.

I hope many lovely chances continue your way.

XO

V

Nightstand Rescue!

Not even out of the neighborhood for our adventure and I had to knab this nightstand from someone's dumpster pickup. If just for the knobs, this had to be done! Of course we don't have a place for it and it's purdy dinged. Yet, I sat out on the patio to write about my last post with coffee in hand and I thought, "I need something to set my coffee on". Lightbulb: Nightstand, just right. Then it's only natural that I want to take pictures of it, so I have to go find pretty little things to photograph it with. It's like that kid's book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. If you give Vanessa some old junk, she must put a knick knack on it. If she put a knick knack on it, she will need some color. If you give her some color, she will always need a pretty rock.





I definitely get my dumpster-diving, rock collecting, odds and ends layering from my mom.
I can't take credit for the great stuff. The killer reindeer bell she found at Goodwill, the foliage and rocks she's gathered and this magnificent vase montage is all her. The vase is half-full of bird seed then pine cones to hold the berries in. I'm in love with it.

If you love it too, you will likely drool over the site Lost and Found I came across recently through Randi Brookman Harris' blog.
Ok, drool away.
Love.
V

A walk with Winston

Yes, I shot that last one while we were driving. It was a long, open road! He just looked so happy with the windows open blowing all his fur around, tongue out, just enjoying the day, I had to take it just then.
The weather is just so beautiful now. No body just landing in Oklahoma would believe we were in a blizzard just over a week ago. I'm sitting out on the back patio, watching Winston play (he's such a perimeter dog, always doing his rounds) and fiddling with a nightstand I just picked up off the the side of the road. I'll post those photos next.
Toodles. Hope you make it outside today.
XO
V

Italy by the moon

I'm aware that I never put up Italy photos.
I'm in the process of rectifying that.
This was the most beautiful memory, the smell after a heavy rain.
The sound of the rain wetting the smooth cobblestones.
Everywhere is more beautiful after it rains and Florence was no different.
Without that blessing, I never would have gotten this shot of the church reflected in the puddles.
Love love love.
V

Best General View

Sherwin Rivera Tibayan is one talented individual and I want to share. Showing works right now in Norman, Oklahoma...this series, Best General View, exploded with originality. Tibayan takes unknown family photos and reinvents the travel experience by mixing in a projection screen and some ingenuity.

"I'm interested in the fact that more often than not, when we travel through the American West looking for a personal and unique response to the land, our evidence of the encounter is a picture we already know."

Read more and check the other phenomenal photos here.










All images ©SherwinRiveraTibayan

Stay tuned.
XOXO
V

The Pidgeons of Notre Dame

Paris...I actually miss you.
XO V