Cross training

Recently, I've cut back the number of paintings I've been doing and worked on other creative stuff. Also, we've been doing a bit traveling as well. Frequently, I do a bit of sketching while traveling and maybe some small watercolors. But there is one thing I always do. I take a lot of photographs. Although the premise is usually a "reference " photo, as in reference material for a painting. So, I have a lot of photos which are never used as reference. But invariably while viewing some of the reference photos I would see subjects that I thought could have been better photographed. I'm not a photographer, but a fairly good weekend painter. So, I'm thinking that I can use some picture making principles and photo editing software to improve the pix. Look at these photos. The one of the left is the original and the other is the edited version. This what I changed using Photoshop. I thought the dancing girl was the center of interest.

• I cropped the photo to put the center of interest, the girls face, in upper 1/3 of the left side.





• I gave her a darker value.





• I lightened, reduced the value of the foreground.





• I blurred everything except the center of interest.

P-s-s-t, pass the popcorn!

Just recently watched some good and one not-so-good films. From bad to good.

• My New Gun (2002) R When Gerald Bender (Stephen Collins) buys his dutiful wife, Debbie (Diane Lane), a gun for her protection, she hesitantly accepts the gift, but has no idea how much trouble it's about to cause. Gerald's plan to protect his wife fails when their handsome but zany neighbor Skippy (James LeGros) swipes the weapon. Before long, chaos ensues as strange people start showing up without warning and bullets begin to fly. (from Netflix) This movie never seems to get going. There is the lacking of a plot, although movies don't necessarily need a plot, they need something to keep the viewer interested. We don't even have dazzling special effects to keep us entertained. The laughs aren't there either.
• Lost in Translation(2003) R Set in Tokyo, this subtle, nuanced film played Bill Murray against type and earned director Sofia Coppola an Original Screenplay Oscar. Two lost souls -- the young, neglected wife (Scarlett Johansson) of a photographer and a washed-up movie star (Murray, in an Oscar-nominated performance) shooting a TV commercial --find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company and away from their lives in America. (from Netflix) This is a character piece. At some point you think maybe writer/director Sofia Coppola is day-dreaming. I felt that the characters could have been developed a little better. However, the story of ships that pass in the night is well told. The location shots were great as well as how modern Japanese culture was depicted.
• Body Heat(1981) R In a sizzling-hot Florida coastal town, attorney Ned Racine (William Hurt) becomes involved with the sultry Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) -- and schemes a way to get her wealthy, much-older husband (Richard Crenna) out of the picture. Ned's knowledge of legal matters may enable both conspirators to escape scot-free -- and Matty is craftier than anyone ever dreamed. Lawrence Kasdan directs this throwback to the early days of film noir. Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke co-star. (from Netflix) I had not seen this hot drama from the 80's. I was good to see Hurt with hair. I really liked this movie--I'm a sucker for a surprise ending. I think I'm losing my taste for sex and violence. ...maybe not!
• Moonlight Mile(2002) PG-13 Moonlight Mile is the story of a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who's taken in by the mother (Susan Sarandon) and father (Dustin Hoffman) of his recently deceased fiancée, as he's the only living connection to their daughter. Even as they're all still grieving, Gyllenhaal begins to fall in love with a woman (Ellen Pompeo) whose boyfriend has gone missing. But will Gyllenhaal's former in-laws-to-be accept the new girlfriend? (from Netflix) I really liked this character piece. There are some great subtle effects such as using the seasons in parallel with the story. And extremely well dome film with a great cast. This is a relationship film for everyone.

Continueing...

Pursuant to yesterday's thoughts of the decline of America, I thought it would be a good time to consider succession again. But what to name our republic? I took a note of the folks in the Florida Keys. They wanted to call their country the "Conch Republic". I would suggest the new republic the "Donut Republic". This is partly to insure adequate law enforcement for the lack of laws. Or maybe all this verbal garbage is just an excuse to design a flag.

Where will it end?

Recently I met a man who worked on Wall Street. He is a fourteen year veteran of one of the biggest firms receiving bale-out money from the government. Although he is thankful to still have a job he is critical of some of the corporations operating procedures. For instance, his boss, a lady, still receives fresh flowers for her desk daily. If he has an appointment over two blocks from the office there is a car service to transport him there. Isn't it good to know that our tax dollars are still delivering the flowers and providing limo service?

Once upon a time

I don't have much to blog about today. Yesterday we visited the Hunterdon Museum of Art and saw some interesting stuff. The work by Marion Held was very interesting. A lot of her pieces were organic in nature whether two of three dimensional.The upstairs gallery was of student print work. Quite a bit of originality here. One piece was a video. It was composed of photos as well as line art. Since I have been investigating this media I found this most interesting. I have video effects that I think would have improved it. The art used in the piece were on display nearby. I'm not sure this contributed to the piece except in "this is how I did it" note.
Museums to me are always learning experiences. I don't use the word educational because it doesn't mean the same to me.