Exhibit Glimpse 4

Sondra Diepen

"Shadow Weavers"
Original archival digital print
25" x 19" framed • $350 + S&H

Today's post features the work of Sondra Diepen, who is originally from California but relocated to New Mexico in 1974. Sondra majored in art at University of California-Davis, where she befriended Louise Pryor, Ellen Van Fleet, and Joanne Kamiya—artists whom you've met in this blog over the past few weeks as exhibitors in the "Be Leaf It or Not" exhibit at the Harwood.

Sondra is a fine painter, a world traveler, and an wonderful photographer. I've spent many an evening enjoying slides of her adventures in New Mexico, Utah, Alaska, Florida, and her off-the-beaten-track trips to Mexico, Peru, Egypt, Turkey, and Nepal, to name a few.

Over the past few years, Sondra has focused mostly on producing photo-based digital prints. As exemplified by "Shadow Weavers" featured in today's post, Sondra has an intuitive sensitivity for color, pattern, and light that is deeply felt. In fact, I have worked up paintings of my own from several of Sondra's photographs that she has given me (along with permission) to use.

As the curator of "Be Leaf It or Not" Sondra's own personal love of Nature was the guiding force for this exhibit. As she states in her Artist Statement, "I love the vast landscape and the delicate detail Nature provides. A leaf edged in sunlight, a reflection captured in a sandstone pool, or light filtering through the rain forest prompts me to get out my camera and see if I can preserve that moment....When I see something extraordinarily beautiful, I have this strong desire to press it into my body. I want it to become a part of me. Photograph and painting are the closest I can get to doing that."

Thanks for taking a moment to read this entry (which I apologize for posting a day late). If you would like to leave a comment about Sondra's work, please do so by clicking the COMMENTS link below. Or you can email me and I'll forward it to her.

I hope you are enjoying a great weekend. See you Monday. ——————————————————————————————————————————— Image ©Sondra Diepen. Text ©Carol Adamec 2008. All rights reserved.

Art Making in the Digital Age

Kathryn's Chair, 2006.

Original oil, alkyd on canvas available for purchase.

Available as a LE giclée on canvas or

open edition Art Print.

Contact Artist for purchase info
_____________________________________________

It's fascinating to me to see how artists work — which resources, methods, and tools they employ to create their paintings.

As a realist painter, I rely on quick "idea" sketches, photographs, digital images, pictures in art books, and "Googled" resources for visualizing objects and pulling together ideas for paintings.

My digital camera is my new sketchbook for creating preparatory "drawings," since I can shoot several photographs and then edit, enhance, and manipulate the pictures in PhotoShop until I get the composition I want. Other times, I'll print out several copies of a photo to cut and paste the various elements by hand to create a composite collage of the painting to-be.

If the painting will be small, I make an inkjet print to work from. If the painting will be large, I use Kinko's services to have an enlarged black and white printout made to transfer the image to canvas. In the studio, I can display the photo on my laptop computer to check on colors and to zoom in for details.

However, as the painting nears completion, I end up using the tried-and-true "traditional" tools of art — memory, imagination, intuition, and the experience of painting.

"Kathryn's Chair" was painted in 2006 using the tools and methods described above. Measuring 22" x 20" the painting is rendered in oil and alkyd on stretched canvas.

Thanks for looking. Your questions and comments are welcome.

See you Friday!

____________________________________________________
"Kathryn's Chair" 2006
• Limited Edition giclée on stretched canvas: Price upon request.
• Open Edition Art Print: $24 (unframed) on ETSY: www.caroladamec.etsy.com
For additional information, contact the Artist: CAdamec@juno.com
____________________________________________________
Images and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.