When I signed up for a challenge to create banana art, I had reservations. I was not at all sure what to do with bananas. My first thought was a fruit bowl with bananas. But I decided I wanted to limit my images to just bananas.
Rustic
I started out simple with a bunch on a wooden background. I liked the textures of the wood. The first image is a very simple image, with an emphasis on the horizontal lines contrasting with the organic, curves of the bananas. The image with the single banana has an even more rustic feel withe dark red, heavily worn wood and heavy shadows. Either of these images would look great with rustic frames or even printed straight onto wood.
Shabby Chic
After shooting the banana partially peeled, I thought I’d slice it and play around. Using the peel as a banana bowl felt unique. The blue and white vertical stripes really compliments the curvature of the banana. These images would look great in a shabby chic kitchen.
Modern
These images have a more contemporary, modern feel with the highly reflective background. These images would look great on acrylic or metal, something smooth and shiny.
Thanks for visiting! You can purchase prints and other gifts of any of these images here. Want to see my full gallery? Visit my Pixels page.
I participate in many image challenges on Fine Art America, where I sell my art. The latest challenge was for images pertaining to vegetarianism. I debated on whether I should use vegetables fresh or cooked. Or maybe even try something with some of the meat substitutes. Instead, I decided to use uncooked beans and rice. I wanted to create images with a rustic feel like you are visiting an old general store where those items would be sold in bulk.
Background
First I had to decide what type of background I wanted to use. Did I want to use a simple white background? Or something darker? Looking around my house, I noticed this old table that I was using for some other work. I had covered it with fabric because it is so scarred and rough looking. But I knew it would be perfect for this!
Rice
I had a bag of rice already. But did not have beans. So, until I could get beans, I decided to start simple with the rice. And while I wanted rustic, I also wanted something smooth and shiny for the container. I found two stainless steel compote dishes and this double handled cup.
The Light
My studio windows face east, so the morning light is intense and just fantastic. For a lot of my still life work, I use strobes. But I decided to use this great natural light for these. The light created a single line shadow from the window and then the shadow of the compote bowl in the rice images. Very simple yet eye catching and effective. The problem with natural light is that is not always consistent. There were mornings when the light was not quite right so I did use a strobe as a fill light for some of those.
A glass full of multi-colored beans spills out
Beans
I had a debate with myself on the beans. I could not decide if I should just use dried pinto beans, which are a staple where I am from, or something different. While at the store, the fifteen bean mix practically threw itself into my cart! And I knew the black beans would look great on that table. The Anasazi beans actually came from a local country store called Pratt’s Country Store. I went in looking for honey and came out with these beautiful red and white beans. They actually have an interesting history.
Vintage Style
I wanted some of them to have a truly vintage look, so I finished them with a rough texture and a sepia tone. The image of the black beans is finished in simple black and white.
Thanks for visiting and reading about my beans and rice photo shoot! Stay tuned for images of the cooked items! All images are available for purchase. Visit my gallery or visit my pixels page.
My latest obsession is encasing items in ice and photographing them. This requires patience and planning. It started when I was wanting to do some drink photos and I started researching how to create nice, clear ice. Yes, fake ice is available, but I wanted to try making my own first. Also, I’m cheap and don’t like spending money if I don’t have to. Yes, real ice melts faster. But since I’m using strobes, the space doesn’t get as hot as fast and so the ice can last longer. So, I got some molds and did some practicing. Then, I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to put something in the ice?
How?
In order to get the ice clear, I boiled it twice before freezing it. I had to boil it, cool it down, boil it again, then cool it down. Then put in the molds. I let it freeze a little before placing the fruit in. That created some interesting bubbles and patterns in the ice.
Fruit
I experimented with several different types of fruit, but liked the cherries the best. The strawberries on a black background are nice. But the cherries really grab attention.
Flowers
I wanted to try some flowers in ice. I got a nice spring bouquet with all different types of flowers. I decided to try the tiny buds in a round mold. I admit that I did not like these at first. But when I revisited these several months later, I liked them more. Then I found roses on sale, read about that here. I put some buds into the molds and poured the water around them. I think I prefer the squares. They have a nice uneven shape that I really like. And the buds popped out a little after putting them in water. So, they looked like full blooms when frozen. I absolutely love these!
Thanks for visiting. These and other icy gifts are available in this gallery!
I went to Publix the other day and they had long stem roses on sale. Buy a dozen, get a dozen free. I had been wanting to do some rose images but didn’t want to spend too much money on them. So when I saw them on sale, I grabbed 2 dozen and had some fun.
Bunches
I started with shooting them in bunches. But pretty much hated the images. So, I decided to do circles. For this one, I thought it would nice to show the large bloom in the center of the unopen buds. I’ve been trying to be more intentional with my art. Often, I create images because they look cool. But when I look further into the reasoning and purpose, I find I really am representing an idea. This image discusses the idea of holding up and supporting. The center bloom is larger, but cannot stand on its own. It needs the outer ring to stand.
Single Buds and Stems
Of course, I had to do some of the individuals. I really love the simplicity of the single rose with the very intense shadow. And the orange and red rose reminded me of a torch with its flame blowing in the wind. I had to make one of the red ones purple because who doesn’t love purple?!
Icy
I have previous experimented with items encased in ice. So, I knew that I wanted to do some of these in my ice molds. The large round blooms worked well with the square mold. The single bud image is after the ice started to melt and all that was left was the shape of the rose and the ice bubbles.
Thanks for visiting! Prints and other gifts are available in my gallery.
I went to Minneapolis to meet some women brewers for my Alewives project. While there, I had some great food and drink. FYI, my sister-in-law was also in town for work, so for once, I was not traveling alone!
Red Cow
On our first night in town, we decided to just walk around and see what we might find. It was a Sunday evening and downtown Minneapolis was not very busy and lots of places were closed. But we wondered into the Red Cow North Loop and found great burgers and excellent service! Red Cow is a regional chain with several locations in the area. This location was right downtown and had a nice patio. Of course, we had to try the Wisconsin Cheese Curds. Delicious! How can beer-battered, fried cheese be wrong? They come with a side of triple berry ketchup, which is fancy speak for a slightly sweet berry dip. The dip was the perfect pairing for the beer-battered treats. The menu has lots of great healthy looking bowls, salads, chicken sandwiches, and other options. But we had been traveling all day and needed something serious. I went with the Barcelona Burger. It comes with manchego, prosciutto, piquillo pepper & smoked pepper aioli. My SIL chose the Ultimate with Wisconsin cheddar & red cow sauce. These burgers were amazing! The beef was definitely fresh and had a great flavor. The perfect side? The truffle-parmesan fries. These were so crispy and flavorful, they could have been a meal on their own! I tried the Pragmatic Pils, a czech style pilsner from Pryes Brewing. It was a great refreshing drink for a warm summer evening. This is a great casual place!
EaTo
EaTo is an Italian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. I had eaten a heavy lunch, so was looking for something light. LOL! The salad Italian Chopped Salad was huge! But it was delicious! SIL got the pizza Margherita. Look at that crust, nice and crispy. The beer is an Utepils Golden Hefewiezen. FYI, Utepils has a female brewer that I visited with for the Alewives project.
NOLO’s Kitchen and Bar
Nolo’s Kitchen & Bar had a great menu! Pizza, pasta, entrees, burgers, etc. We started with the burrata (sorry no pics). Burrato is basically a big ball of mozzarella & cream. It’s usually very soft, almost like ricotta. Most come with a salty meat of some kind, like prosciutto. But this is served with avocado, strawberries, jalapenos, fresh basil, and saba (like basalmic vinegar). Delicious! I had a the apple pecan salad with piece of grilled salmon on top. The salmon was fresh and cooked to perfection! The Lonely Blond from Fulton Brewery was the perfect pairing.
Clay Oven
While walking over to the Weisman Art Museum, we spotted an Indian restaurant. We timed it perfectly, they opened for lunch just as we were coming back. The Clay Oven was clean and well lit. I had the Palak Paneer, pureed spinach with cottage cheese. SIL had the Chicken Tikka Masala. The garlic naan was fresh and crispy and everything naan should be. The service was as good as the food!
Hen House Eatery
An absolute must in Minneapolis is the Hen House Eatery! I had breakfast here twice and both times, the food was perfect and the service excellent! The first time I visited I had a build your own omelet. I chose spinach and feta cheese. There was indeed plenty of spinach! When I first cut it open, I thought it might not be great because that’s a lot of spinach! However, it ended up being the perfect combination. It came with toast and their fresh berry jam. That jam was so good! And it was indeed fresh. It had big junks of fruit and wasn’t too sweet. I went back later with my SIL. This time I went big with the Crab-baby Benedict. It comes with a Cajun hollandaise sauce, so I didn’t even have to put hot sauce on it! SIL had an egg sandwich, which looked pretty good too! But more importantly she ordered the Avocado Coffee Refresher – Avocado, espresso, oat milk, cream of coconut, vanilla, ice. Y’all I can’t stop thinking about this drink! I took a sip and fell in love! I am currently in the process of trying to find this somewhere in my area of East Tennessee. I may have to make it myself. It is that good! So, if you are in Minneapolis and looking for something different, stop by the Hen House and get one!
Thanks for visiting! I know it’s hard to find a good spot to eat when traveling, so I hope that when you visit the Minneapolis area this helps!
As I have said before, I love photographing fresh produce. One of my favorite fresh fruit images is Overhead Blueberries. I froze the berries so they would have extra texture and color. It also keeps them from getting mushy and smashed when I’m moving them around for shooting. The background was originally a simple glossy white piece of acrylic. I created the radiating lines in Photoshop and added a blue tone.
Overhead Blueberries
This image has been accepted into several galleries and exhibits. It is currently hanging in McGhee Tyson Airport https://flyknoxville.com/programs/as part of the local Arts in the Airport. I was recently fortunate enough to see it in person as I was on my way to Minnesota. It’s exciting to see my own art in such a visible location!
The Challenge Addicts Club over at Fine Art America had a seven day mystery letter challenge. The challenge was that each day a letter would be drawn and your image of an item starting with that letter would be created and uploaded that day. So, it would not be possible to create ahead of time. We had 24 hours to get it finished and uploaded. You can see all the entries here.
Day 1
The first letter was “W”. I googled a list of words that start with W. It was not very inspiring, so I headed into the studio. I found these “W”hite beads and put them on a white background. I set up one strobe, thinking to have a soft directional light. But hadn’t put the diffuser on yet when I shot this one. I kind of loved the hot highlight and heavy shadow, so I decided to keep it.
A heart shape created using white beads with colorful reflections on a white background.
Day 2
The second letter pulled was “P”. I started to go with purple here. But instead chose to do a little food art. I had some pears, so I wrapped in them in a string of lights and put them on white acrylic so there would be a nice reflection. I finished it in black and white for a moody feel. I darkened to the pears to almost black so they look almost like velvet. I love this image!
Two pears paired
Day 3
“H” was the letter on day 3. Funny story here, the person pulling the letters actually pulled a “Y” but thought it was a lower case “h”. I often can’t understand my own writing, so I can relate! H was an easier letter anyway! I had been thinking of doing some honey stuff and this was the perfect opportunity. In addition to this pic, I got some other really nice ones that I will share later. But a word to the wise when working with honey, that stuff can get messy! LOL! I love the gold of the honey with faded blue stripes. There is so much happening in this very simple image. Horizontal lines, heavy vertical shadows, and that golden circle almost in the center.
A glass teacup with honey
Day 4
This one should have been easier for me. There are so many options for “C”. I decided to do charms. Then I found a cookie charm. I like the contrasting, delicate box and brick wall. But the charm gets a little lost. I may revisit this idea.
A charm that looks like a cookie jar
Day 5
“L” is for Lettuce. It was a good idea. But I think my lettuce was a little wilted. This might be one of those things to revisit with better produce in hand! Again a lot of different lines, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal creating a contrast with the organic shape of the lettuce.
Three heads of lettuce
Day 6
“A” was a little more difficult for me. Then I remembered that I am actually doing a project called “Alewives and Brewsters“. So I donned my flowy dress, pointy hat, and with a golden lager in hand, created an “A”lewife. The background is not my house, just FYI.
Alewife with golden ale
Day 7
The last day, I was actually at the Renaissance Festival and did have access to my camera or computer. So, I used my phone and went with what was around me. The letter was “M”. I spotted this gazebo with its moss covered roof and thought perfect!
Moss covered gazebo
I really enjoyed this challenge and I think that this is something that I will continue to do on my own! You can visit my gallery to see more of my work here. All of the images above are links, so if you like them and want to purchase prints or other gifts, just click and it’ll take you to the page in my gallery! Thanks for visiting!
The first time I visited Boston, MA, I was able to visit Chinatown (read the blog here). It also cold and rainy, but I still walked around and took photos. I’m glad I did! I’m proud to announce that my Empire Garden image is going to be in a new venue in Boston! It’s called View Boston. The tower will have a 360° view of the city. It will be opening sometime this year and will allow visitors to curate their itinerary while sipping cocktails and enjoying the view. Be sure to send me a pic if you see the image!
Why a pic of a Chinese restaurant?! The building once housed the Globe Theater. In the 1940s, it became Loew’s Center Theatre. Before it became a restaurant, it was the Pagoda, showing Chinese-language films.
Prints of this image are available. If you click on the image it will take you to the gallery page. Thanks for stopping by!
A friend recently showed me one of her seed catalogs. The images in the catalog were just beautiful. So many beautiful images of fresh produce! I decided I needed to go get some fresh veggies and do my own photos. I headed out to the market and got some lovely beetroot, carrots, bok choy, and an heirloom tomato.
Background
The background is my back porch. The ones that have more paint are in a covered part of the porch. The shadows are from the wood slats in the door and an additional baby gate that is used to keep the dogs from digging at the door. I noticed that the late afternoon sun created some great shadows when the door was closed. The images that have a weathered wood background are shot on my back steps on a more cloudy day. Except that lonely carrot. I really liked the way the shadows of the slats mirror the angle of the carrot. These vibrant prints would look great in any kitchen, dining room, or breakfast nook!
Black and White
I love the color images, especially those beets! But some of these just look amazing in black and white. The absence of color allows the shapes and textures to really stand out, creating a very classic feel. I can see this images on a farm house wall. They emphasize the dirt from which they came. I can almost envision the working hands pulling them during harvest.
I have had an Etsy shop, Purple Rosemary, for years now. I only sell prints in that shop. It’s been easier for me to do it that way. But since I am currently a working artist, I can put the time in to create better listings and more options! In the past, I have not sold canvas prints in my shop, but often get asked for them. So, I decided now is a great time to add canvas prints. At first, I was a little unsure. Mostly because already stretched canvas prints are much more expensive than prints, especially for shipping! But I also love the way my images look on canvas!
Most Requested
This image of the Tennessee Theatre Marquee is my biggest seller and the one I have the most canvas requests for. Yes, I send people the link for my Pixels shop, where all of my images are available on canvas and other cool gifts. But most people are hesitant to leave Etsy and purchase from a different location.
I currently only have some of my more popular prints available as canvas. But hope to have more set up and available soon! If you visit the shop and see something that you would like to have as canvas, just contact me and I’ll be glad to set it up! See what’s available here.
Save some money too!
For a limited time, I am running a 10% discount on canvas prints in my Etsy shop! So head on over there and check it out! Don’t want to use the link? Just type in CANVAS10 as the promo code. This offer is valid through May 31, 2023.
Other Prints
Don’t forget, I also offer print sizes from 5″ x 7″ to 24″ x 36″ in glossy, matte, or luster finish. Thanks for stopping by!
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