Swap the sable brush for a … potato!
Potato print by Miranda SofroniouI always say chips, french fries, frites – whatever you call them in your common parlance – are one of mankind’s greatest culinary inventions. But the delicious potato has other uses too.
Who remembers the potato printing many of us must have done in art class in primary school? Simple spots and geometric shapes stamped in bright pop colours on butcher’s paper. For some reason this primitive printing method came into my head shortly before I went overseas, and I did a quick search online.
‘Spring Flurry’ potato print by ‘Brianchi’Scroll past the children’s experiments and be inspired by the adults out there who are turning the humble spud into an artist’s tool, and plan to get crafty like me. But don’t stop at potatoes – there’s a whole world of vegies out there!
Click images for links.
Onion cushion by Vicky Williams
Portrait of a Lady
Heinrich Matvejevich Maniser’s ‘Anna Karenina’I deliberately didn't take any books to read overseas with me because I didn’t want to weigh down my luggage (more room for souvenirs!). I thought, well, I have books on my iPhone, I can read those … forgetting that I would be saving my battery to use the Hipstamatic camera.
Anyway, eventually the time came when I was desperate to read something, (on the train to Marrakech from Fés) and I opened up one of my favourite books apps, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. I read until the battery was almost flat.
When I arrived home and pulled out my hard copy version, I was surprised and impressed at how much I had managed to read on that tiny little screen: about half the book.
In an idle moment last night, I found myself wondering what Anna might have looked like. Had anyone painted a portrait of her? I was thinking Renoir, Manet, or John Singer Sargent. A quick search online turned up very little, and the most popular portrait of her was painted by Heinrich Matvejvich Maniser in 1904. I couldn't even find any information on him.
I also learned that there is a new film being planned, with Keira Knightley in the title role, and Jude Law entirely miscast as her husband, the unattractive Karenin who is 20 years older than his wife. Somewhere I read an opinion that she (Knightley) is not pretty enough to portray the dazzling Anna Karenina.
This painting by Sargeant suits my notions more: a languorous, seductive Anna enfolded in silks and cashmere, reclining on a settee.
John Singer Sargent’s ‘Nonchaloir’
Oh my! It's July!
A pinch and a punch for the first of the month: happy July to you! I've been back from travels just a week, and the holiday lustre has at last worn off. It’s a bit of an anticlimax, and a little bit sad, but come Monday I'll be back into the swing of things.
I came home and turned over a new leaf, and was confronted by this picture of summery relaxation, just to rub in the fact I’ve left the Moroccan sunshine far behind. So here I bring you July's calendar picture, Beauty Number by Georges Lepape. It first appeared in British Vogue, in August 1934. If I close my eyes I can feel the caress of the sunshine, the crisp grains of sand beneath my feet of Immessouan beach, and hear the roll of the ocean waves. Aaah.
Playing With Toys
A real autumn :: Jimmy // Float // No flash + Tilt Shift Generator + iDarkroomWacky colours and light effects, strange distortions and happy accidents – what’s not to love about a toy camera? Or at least, their descendents: the toy camera digital apps for iPhone. A loyal fan of Hipstamatic for a long time, of late I have started to cheat … I mean, experiment with other camera apps.
Last month I stole some photos of a pretty Asian woman who was decked out in a red evening gown, and having some portraits taken by a professional photographer in the Botanic Gardens. The woman was standing under an elm tree, golden with autumn; the grass underfoot was carpeted with leaves; a lake, glimpsed through a golden curtain, was the backdrop.
A real autumn :: Jimmy // Float // No flash. The Jimmy combined with Float washes out the golden yellow leaves.So, as I mentioned, I snatched some photos of the woman in red (and wasn’t the only doing so, mind you) using the Hipstamatic app, set on random. Later, I chose one of them, shot with the Jimmy lens on Float film (above), and took it into Tilt Shift Generator. I applied some radial blur, and adjusted the contrast and saturation (below).
A real autumn :: Jimmy // Float // No flash + Tilt Shift Generator. Add some blur, pump up the saturation and contrast.But I knew I could make it even more vibrant and evocative of autumn. I took the altered photo into iDarkroom, and changed the colour with the Cross Process Yellow filter (top). Wow! Now that’s what I call an autumnal image! iDarkroom allows you to give your photos texture, light effects, frames, vignettes and surface erosions, such as scratches, as well as applying different colour filters.
Ducks in the Botanic Gardens :: Watts // KodotXGrizzled // No flash. The original Hipstamatic photo.I really like warm tones in photos, and tried turning up the heat in another image shot on the same day (above). I also gave it a blur, this time with a linear effect. Next I applied the Cross Process Yellow, and also tried the Faded filter for a vintage look. (Scroll down for the series.)
I love the Hipstamatic so much, it’s easy to forget to play with my other toys, but the results are rewarding.
Ducks in the Botanic Gardens :: Watts // KodotXGrizzled // No flash + Tilt Shift Generator gives blur
Ducks in the Botanic Gardens :: Watts // KodotXGrizzled // No flash + Tilt Shift Generator gives blur + iDarkroom gives Cross Process Yellow effect
Ducks in the Botanic Gardens :: Watts // KodotXGrizzled // No flash + Tilt Shift Generator gives blur + iDarkroom gives Faded effect
Modest Misses from the Outer Planets
Huge by nature, huge by name, Sue Huge is a humble secretary from Indi Lea, one of the larger rocks in the Minor Planets, and is one of our tallest contestants. Admittedly she has drab taste in clothes, but certainly knows how to show off her assets – those legs go for miles! Just as well; with such a high forehead as she has, Sue has come to terms with the comments on her constantly surprised expression.
A full 20cm shorter than her rival, hairdresser Leala Marns from Mars has green-coloured skin, proving that traditional adage about little green men from Mars. Leala likes to match her costumes to her hair and skin-tone, a common combination of olive and emerald on Mars. She is just branching out her business to include beauty and styling tips to other similarly complexioned ladies, and has already given some very sound advice to the Misses Bottlestar and Lorna.
A cast eye has not deterred Greta Grand, a piano teacher, from trying her luck and entering the Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant. Apart from this serious flaw (which makes her somewhat of a freak on a planet famous for both its goodness and beauteous inhabitants), hers is the typical physique of the Plutonians: the women are tall and slim, and the men are well built.
Next time on the Inter-Universe Beauty Channel we’ll meet a pragmatic air-force pilot; a fair maid who has risen above her humble origins … and a very shiny young woman with a penchant for expensive jewellery.