Blu is a non-binary model, or gender fluid model who loves to transform. For those who are unfamiliar with these gender terms, Blu has a fluid or unfixed gender identity and does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Usage of singular 'they', 'their' and 'them' pronouns are what resonate with Blu. They were used for this series because Blu has mentioned sometimes feeling ugly inside, that a demon is within.
Their feelings reminded me of the riots at the U.S. Capitol because the people who participated must have a demon inside, they must have an ugly aspect to themselves that allowed such delusion and hate to take over. I felt that by doing these pieces, I would be able to let go of some of the stress, anger, the pent up negative emotion that I hold inside due to these attacks upon our Democracy and the continued belief in unfounded conspiracy theories and reprehensible acts of sedition.
Blu | Arrival, Blu | Ugly Inside, Blue | Demon
Cactus Filigree - 12
In this series I started with another piece of Prickly Pear Cactus skeleton due to the nature of it's filigree-like structure. I find the structure quite mesmerizing, despite the fact that it is in the process of returning to the earth, through Mother Nature's beautiful and intricate means.
Grass Shadows | Beatrice In Blue
This piece is part of my Grass Shadows series and this one in particular was named Beatrice In Blue because when I was taking the photograph of the grass shadows, I heard someone whisper the name Beatrice to me, but when I turned around, nobody was there. #kindacreepy but maybe Beatrice was a spirit and I captured her essence here?
Wraithspeak
This work came out of experiments for my Wisps Series, but I felt that it was a departure from that series due to the deep colors, when the series that I was working on was a more pastel palette. With Halloween coming up in a couple of weeks, I felt this piece was a tad scary in the way that it surfaced, the darkness, the deep color and shadowy effect. It was interesting, different and seemed worthy of keeping. I’m posting it as this may be a departure piece, but it came out of experimentation, of seeking something new and exciting, of wanting people to explore their creative sides as I feel that there is creative energy that flows through everyone. If you get nothing out of my work, that is totally fine, just know that my works from my love of being creative, out of outlet that keeps me sane and I hope that it makes you think about exploring your own creativity if you aren’t already.
Wisp | Into The Light
This work is part of a series that I call Wisps. I have a feeling I will be doing many more for this series as I like the complexity of the works and the contrast of that detail with subtle color and the depth that the wispy lines add to the work. I see these works in rooms that are quiet, soft-toned, a luxury bathroom, an elegant hotel, a zen space where you do yoga. Alternately they work well as contrasting works against a dark or deep colored wall or concrete. If you are interested in following these works, I will be adding more to the Wisps Series page on my website. Link below.
Blooming Ivory
I have been obsessed with digital art for the last three years now and have produced well over 1000 pieces that can be found on my website for purchase. I have done a lot of experimentation in that time and have come up with, what I believe to be, some unique techniques that I’ve not seen in other digital art. One of those techniques in employed here and in many of my new works. If you look at the second image, you will see a detail of this work, Blooming Ivory, and notice the tiny lines or wisps, as I call them, that weave throughout the piece. It really gives the piece a lot of depth and creates a lot of opportunities for pareidolia as well. The original art for this piece was a photo that I took of a Passion Flower, which I uploaded into Dreamscope and applied an original filter. The result of that filtering was brought into Photoshop for the final techniques to be applied.
Cottonmouth 9 Revisited
This work, and others in the series, was created from a photo that I took in our gardens at Tanglewild Gardens. It was early season and the snake was likely looking for a place to lay eggs and it was crossing our driveway. I decided to take a few photos of it and use one of them as the basis of a series and this is one of the resulting works.
For those of you not familiar with Cottonmouths, Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States. As an adult, it is large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite. This excerpt thanks to Wikipedia.
Chandelier | Cyan Aura
This piece was created from an original photo of a chandelier in a Singapore hotel. I thought that it would work well as the basis of a series, which I am working on. I use photoshop to manipulate the imagery and push colors and textures to create something abstract and otherworldly. This was the first in the Chandelier Series, Cyan Aura.
Tinted Claret
This work was done from a photo of a Tetrapanax Leaf, also known as Rice Paper Plant. I worked with layers and filters to arrive at the final piece that you see below. I tried to capture the color of the sky at the time with both the clouds as well as the slightly greyed, robin’s egg blue shade and there was some interesting red/claret marks on the leaf that I wanted to keep in tact as it added a depth to the piece that I was hoping for.
Clematis Tapestry
This was an experiment in applying a Renaissance Tapestry to a photo of Madama Le Coultre, a Clematis that we grow in our moon garden. I used the Dreamscope app for this experiment and then brought it into Photoshop to further detail the piece and make it into a high-res final work for printing.
Balance Of Power
This piece was created from a series of experiments with layering various works created from multiple flower images. I wanted to create something otherworldly and unique and with this piece I am getting closer. I stopped at this variation as I liked the complexity of primary colors and shades between. It’s a step towards a new direction and I learned a great deal from the experiments leading up to this work.
Goan Leaf | Courtyard Pattern
This series was created from a photo of a leaf that I found on a path when we were walking through a spice plantation in Goa, India. The leaf struck me because of the beautiful patterning on it, so I decided to use it as the basis for a series. You can see the entire series on my retail site at the link below my work.
Pauper No Longer
This piece was created from a photo of a canna lily blossom in our garden. I enjoy manipulating photos to the point where they become something quite different from what they started and take on an almost surreal beauty, with strong opportunities for pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus. This often leads to people assigning human characteristics to objects.
Imagine More
This is part of a small series that I did using a wrinkled and dried Tetrapanax Leaf. I loved the veining and the textural quality of the leaf and played with color to push the image in different directions.
Bearded Blue
This piece was done from a photo of a bearded daylily hybridized by Brad Best. His flowers are incredible and I wanted to capture its essence in a watercolor. This was the result.
