Awake Photo Artistry Course – Update

I thought that it has been awhile since I did an update, so I would cover off a few things.  We are currently doing a little introspection on WHAT we want to achieve, this involves looking back at some previous assignments and work we have done, looking back over journal notes and ideas and really condensing it down into what we want to pursue with our art (and to some extent our life).

It’s funny, it is always being discussed about procrastinating and people always finding excuses for not doing what they love to do. I actually have the exact opposite, I never seem to need an excuse, I work a little (sometimes a lot) every single day. Some days I take photos, some days I make textures, some days I just play and some days I make serious art…………but I am always working at it. It’s the rest of my life that I need to work on. Sounds silly doesn’t it? Do an artistic online course to help get your shit together? A near death experience really does change your outlook on life.

I’m not really a huge people person, I have been let down a few times and tend to be a little withdrawn. But I do like people and I like to go out and have fun, I just needed a little push. This blog was just the start of it, my photography and in turn my art did the rest. Somedays I have to put my art aside to spend time with family and friends, even to spend time making new friends. Thats where I tend to procrastinate…The other area, (and please don’t laugh) is my housekeeping. I’m serious, I am quite house proud, I love my house, my gardens, and I have learned slowly that, well…the weeds, dust and dirt comes back, so if I don’t dust this week it’s ok. The dishes can wait a day(or 2), grocery shopping can hold out for another day. Sometimes a quick and easy meal is not a deadly sin! I don’t even feel guilty about shutting the front door to go exploring instead of vacuuming, or washing floors, anymore. A toasted ham and cheese sandwich is perfectly acceptable meal, as is oatmeal (and not just for breakfast).

The other area of my life I need to focus on is my health, honestly I have been in and out of hospital having one surgery or another every year for the last ten or so years, even when I think I get a break I do something silly like the tear the meniscus in my knee and require surgery to rectify that! I want to get out and walk, I really do, but I fear that it is getting harder to do, every time I go out with the camera it is getting more and more difficult to get around. I am using a walking stick to steady myself, my knees and my hips are so full of arthritis, sleeping has now become an issue. My hands aren’t affected as yet, but sometimes I find holding the stylus difficult and need to revert to my mouse. I am taking steps to counteract the issues, but these things take time, and as we head into Winter, I am getting a tad concerned.

But enough about my complaints………..to the art!

So I have been encouraged by my peers to progress with my Mask series, as well as my Still Life, they are so very different; my Still Life is contemplative and soft, mostly photographic, whereas my Mask series is reactive and subjective, trying to capture in my mind a fleeting moment in time, almost like trying to capture a memory? I am circling an abstractive idea of the Mask Series creating a feeling of state of self and wellbeing, from childhood innocence to feeble old age, who is the monster behind the mask? Happy, sad, love, loss, broken, madness, lost, indecision and depression. I looked at the five stages of grief, perhaps that is too simplistic.The person in the mask is a metaphor, for the Personality Masking each of us inherently do. Each image is subjective, most are mysterious; they are meant to conjure feelings and emotions and I am sure differently in each of us. I have also touched around my beleive that there is also good and evil in all of us, just as there is beauty and strength in all of us as well. Some people are loving this series and there are some who simply just don’t understand it……..that’s OK not all art is meant to be understood by all people. Oft times it is not meant to be understood but felt, as an emotion.

Midnight Madness

Lost

Inner Peace & Calm

Hopes and Dreams

Indecision

In some cases the mask is figurative and in others literal………not every image in my Mask Series has an actual mask, some are hiding their faces, their feelings and emotions. Each new one that I work on is my favourite, ‘Hopes and Dreams’ was a fav for many weeks, it is now ‘Midnight Madness’ which holds my pride. What do each of these images say to you?

On a slight side bar I was recently asked if I thought the Awake Advanced Photoshop Course was worth the money? Hell Yes! I have never regretted a single penny spent on either Photoshop course I have done, if in doubt………don’t be they a both truly awesome, the Awake group is truly inspiring and creative and SO giving of the time.

Til next time…

-Julz

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