Going Forward

My black and white prints are framed and up on my studio wall.

This was a good exercise. I think it shook things up a bit and earlier today I was working on a different Paris image that I can’t wait to hand-color.

It’s funny how that works – I felt stuck, stagnated and frustrated. Working on these images as black and white prints and nothing more, made room for something. It felt like I had to take a couple of steps back before I could move forward.

Rue Suger ©2009 Dianne Poinski

I have ideas, visions, and excitement about what I want to be working on next. Not sure how it will all turn out, but I am willing to stretch a little and move out of the box I feel I have created. Stay tuned…………….

Second Saturday

This Saturday, November 14th is the Second Saturday Art Walk in Sacramento. Every month “The Artists Upstairs” (the unofficial name of those of us with studios upstairs from the Art Foundry Gallery) join galleries and other studios in welcoming visitors into their spaces.

Second Saturday has been around for quite a few years. It began when Michael Himovitz, along with his partner Chuck Miller noticed how other large cities had made an “event” out of gallery opening receptions. This observation sparked in them the desire to create a similar experience in Sacramento. In 1992 the first “Second Saturday” was launched and continues to be an important part of the Sacramento art community. To read more history, see this 2008 article at Sacramentomonthly.net.

The article touches on a little bit about the evolution of this event. The scene in midtown Sacramento on Second Saturday has developed into quite a party. I have mixed feelings about this. I love the energy of midtown and the chance for more people to be exposed to art, but I am not sure how many are there for that reason.

My studio is located in downtown Sacramento as opposed to midtown. While we enjoy a nice turnout every month, the numbers in no way compare to what they are seeing elsewhere. This is ok with me - the ones that do visit are usually there to experience art and talk with the artists.

Our local PBS station recently aired a documentary on Second Saturday that includes footage and information about the various activities available each month. Two of the “Artists Upstairs” were also featured – Taylor Gutemute and Merle Axelrad Serlin. If you missed it last week, you can still watch it on the KVIE website.

For those of us that participate in Second Saturday each month, the benefits are many. Every month is an opportunity for people to see my work, ask questions and maybe sign up to be on my mailing list. I have also had quite a few people register for one of my workshops because they found out about them on Second Saturday. Knowing that I am showing every month motivates me to make new work. We get many of the same people visiting each month - if I don’t have new pieces to show every once in awhile, they may stop coming. This month for example, I will be showing a few of my new black & white images from Paris.

Getting ready for Second Saturday includes making sure I have enough cards and other promotional material out as well as the "treats" I sometimes buy for people to eat when they visit. One priceless benefit of Second Saturday is that I am forced to clean up once a month, insuring that my studio doesn’t get completely out of control with tools and materials covering every inch of my workspace.

If you live in the Sacramento area and have never experienced Second Saturday, I encourage you to give it a try. Go to midtown and enjoy the energy and excitement that is generated there, or visit other areas for a more relaxing art experience. Of course, if you are anywhere in the vicinity of 10th & R be sure to stop by and say hello. I sometimes have candy………………

Autumn Stairs

I love this time of year. The colors are beautiful, the air smells good, and here in Sacramento the cooler temperatures are eagerly anticipated all summer long.

My image "Autumn Stairs" was actually one of the first black and white photographs I hand-colored. I had been printing strictly black and white images for a few years but had always been interested in hand-coloring. When I printed this image the first time, I liked it, but something was missing.


©Dianne Poinski

In my last post, I wrote about working on some of my new images as straight black and white photographs. This is quite the departure for me. Since I first hand-colored "Autumn Stairs" almost 15 years ago, I have hand-colored every image I have shown.

What happened with "Autumn Stairs" was the exact opposite of what I found myself experiencing with some of my new images from Paris. "Autumn Stairs" (in my opinion) is a much stronger image in it's hand-colored version. Again, this is just my opinion, but after my observations this week, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this subject.

©Dianne Poinski

One reason I believe most of my images work as hand-colored photographs is that I shoot with that end result in mind. Once I started hand-coloring, my photography changed somewhat.

I think most of my photographs could work both ways - hand-colored or not - and most of my images from Paris fall into that category. Discovering that it doesn't always work that way has given me a fresh perspective as I continue to edit photographs from that trip. Only good can come from a "fresh perspective".................right?

Black & White??

The Palace - © 2009 Dianne Poinski

With everything else that has been going on recently, I feel like my trip to Paris quickly faded into the background. I also feel frustrated by the lack of finished work from that trip.

When I got back from Paris, I quickly got to work printing, coloring and sharing images. These first pieces were all small prints that I worked on. Since that first burst of inspiration, I have only enlarged, colored and scanned two images - “Morning in the Park” and “Bateau à Giverny”.

For the last several weeks, in between workshops and other events, I have been combing through all the files from that trip and revisiting the ones I had already worked on, trying to find something that excited me enough to complete. I made quite a few large prints, started to color them, and with frustration, put them away unfinished. Something was missing, nothing was working. Why was this happening?

Two weeks ago, in another attempt to find something to work on, I kept coming back to a couple of images from our first day in Paris. Our plane had landed early and after unpacking and washing up, I grabbed my camera bag and walked over to nearby Luxembourg Gardens. As soon as I walked through the gates I took out my camera and decided to just have some fun.

One of the images from that day, “L'auteur Grec”, had caught my eye more than once. This time however, it hit me that the reason I had never printed it was because I could not see where hand-coloring would add anything to it. In fact I felt color would detract from the composition. Then I had the most interesting thought – what if I printed it and did not hand-color?

L'auteur Grec- © 2009 Dianne Poinski

At first I dismissed that idea – I have colored every image I have shown in the last 15 years. However, the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. I started looking at my other images with a different eye.

With this shot of inspiration, I am excited to announce that I am working on a body of work from my trip to Paris that will be black and white, toned, but not colored.

It’s been liberating to make this decision. Of course I still love hand-coloring and will continue to do it. Some of these new black and white images may even end up hand-colored some day. (On the flip side, some of them have already been colored but will be shown as black and white images.) But right now I am looking forward to stretching myself a little bit and I have a feeling I will have more to share about this experience…….

Checking & Comparing

I am tired of writing about money and my computer, but I feel like sharing an observation I had this week.

In my post about my hard drive crashing, I told the story about how I lost a year’s worth of Quicken transactions and I am no longer able to call up numbers with the press of a button.

Most of you also know that I chose to take a break from doing art festivals in 2009. A very large percentage of my income over the years has come from doing these shows, but on the flip side, most of my expenses (and my debt) are a direct result of my time on the circuit.

With the help of Quicken, I developed a bad habit this year. I found myself checking my “numbers” regularly. Comparing what I made and spent last year to what was happening this year. I believe I was using this information to convince myself that I had made the right decision about the art festivals. Since I have lost most of the transactions from this year I can no longer check those figures.

At first I noticed a little anxiety about this, but gradually I came to the conclusion that I have been spending too much time obsessing about the business side of things and not enough time thinking about my art. I am really embarrassed to admit this.

This realization has given me a lot to think about. Only good can come from this. Whether or not you believe in this sort of thing – I am convinced that losing my “numbers” was not an accident. It was a wakeup call and I am listening.

In a related development, something has gone wrong with my “Google Analytics” so I can no longer check how many people are reading my blog. Again, I think this is probably a good thing and possibly another sign that I need to stop checking, comparing and obsessing and just go take some pictures!

P.S. I wrote most of this yesterday. This morning I was also unable to check my website stats…………….. It’s Halloween – right?

You are Beautiful!

I am a walker. I walk almost every morning. When I started this, the main objective was to get in some exercise, but over time it has developed into a morning ritual that includes listening to my iPod as I contemplate and plan the day before me. Another benefit has been the seasonal visual delight I experience walking pretty much the same route all year long. I have learned to notice when the tulips start blooming in the spring, the hydrangeas in the summer, and of course the autumn colors this time of year.

A few weeks ago I purchased a digital point & shoot camera - the first point and shoot I have owned in 20 years! I mentioned in one of my posts about my trip to Paris that there was more than one occasion where bringing all my “equipment” was not practical, so I missed capturing moments that will forever be in my memory, but are hard to describe verbally. I don't want that to happen ever again - which is one of the reasons I bought this camera

This morning I decided to bring my new camera with the intention to record some of the sights I see every day – just for fun. I barely walked a block when I came upon this written on the sidewalk. What a great way to begin my morning! I was so happy to have my camera!

When I became more serious about my photography (and my camera bag became heavier) I think I slowly stopped capturing the everyday wonders around me. Having this little camera as my constant companion is helping me learn to seek out and record sights that somewhere along the way, I had begun to ignore.

My routine this morning was changed dramatically by the simple fact that I was really “looking” at my neighborhood instead of just walking to get some exercise with my iPod plugged in.

I will probably wait until the time changes next month to take my camera again. It was still pretty dark and most of the shots I took did not turn out, but I had a lovely time taking them anyway – and isn’t that why I became a photographer in the first place??

Recycling - one more time

I promise this is the last time I do this.

I am still feeling overwhelmed and a bit grumpy about this accounting mess. I am also preparing for a class I am teaching this Saturday.

Instead of just messing up my self imposed schedule of blogging twice a week, I am posting a few links to blogs I wrote early on when I only had a couple of readers - with one being my daughter - thank you Nichole!

So here are just a few:

How Did I Get Here?

In Search Of........

The Fight is Over

Next week I hope to share something new I have been working on. That's the plan anyway.....................