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Monday, February 18, 2008

A DAY AT THE MARSH

For as far back as I can remember I have lived near water and loved watching birds. One of the places I most love to visit is the Arcata Marsh. This marsh is an innovative use of wetlands that not only promotes bird watching but also water treatment that has been showcased on PBS and many other ecologically oriented magazines. Last week the weather was sunny and still warm after work, so I headed over to the wetlands to smell that delicious aroma of water and decaying vegetation. I was mostly looking for texture to offer John Mora for more of our ongoing collaborations.

What I have been learning in this process that John and I are sharing is that the vision in my art is shifting again. It is a time for me both of excitement and frustration, as I reach for the right combinations of photoshop techniques to match my internal vision. What I suspect is that there are techniques I haven't learned yet. I am stretching toward the spring sun.

Don't you love the cattails and catkins?

arcata marsh
I love John Mora's interpretation, a New Yorker still influenced by overlays of winter frost and blue grey slush. What I love about John's work is his geometry which translates so well into my circular meanderings.

johns marsh
See what I mean?

mandala marshMarsh Mandala - (Circles of Fun) - Mora/O'Kieffe collaborative effort 2008


I wanted to add some color and mystery to this image. I have been really attracted to colors in the purple/burgundy/rose family of late, something that I associate with this time of year and Aquarian/Piscean energies
plum lusciousPlum Luscious Mandala - (Circles of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration


Today I discovered on Marianne's Mandalas and More blog a link for plug-in filters that are compatable with both Photoshop and PSP. (Irene, are you paying attention?) I created a kaleidoscope from a dahlia image and merged it with the marsh mandala first
marsh wreathMarsh Wreath - (Circles of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration 2008



and then introduced it to the second mandala image above.
spring flingSpring Fling Mandala - (Circle of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration 2008


Here's to things melting soon in the North and anywhere else where snow persists. Im so ready for the rejuvenation of spring, aren't you?

13 comments:

John M. Mora said...

Sue, these are amazing - need to get ready for work - Tuesday, Tuesday but will comment later....

Cate Rose said...

Sue, your work amazes me. It is so inspiring. Thanks for sharing it with the world.

Irene said...

Sue, I am completely in the wrong frame of mind now, but I have bookmarked the link in my map "weblog related items" and will look at it more closely when I feel better. It seems that it can do lots of interesting things, but I lack the proper amount of enthusiasm right now.

Love all of your mandalas. Very beautiful.

Rima said...

keep making these amazing, spring-beckoning mandalas, Sue! maybe you can break the winter spell... please! can't take it anymore

John M. Mora said...

Sue, these are just amazing - each glows and is distictive, magical and alive. They giv e off most powerful energy and may further induce more global warming.

I just love them. Need to look at tutorial - work work work nasty today and tomorrow too.

The Artful Eye said...

Sue as always I love seeing what you create with your mandalas and look forward to your posts.

One of these days I'll have the luxury of time in order to utilize your tutorials and learn from the expert, and you will get paid. I just want to say thanks for the time you take to put together this information to share. I know I've mentioned this before but it's worth repeating.

Lovely, wonderful images.

Bobbie said...

I am so thrilled to see the collaboration between you and John. It is very, very exciting to me. I just now turned my monitor so dh could see this wonderful transformation and he was in awe :)

I think my favorite mandala is the blue and white one, but also I was impressed by the last one as it looked like it had many slices.

This work cheers me and I hope that it has the same effect on you.

Unknown said...

thank you all for you kind and encouraging comments. this process of synergistic collaboration is exciting to me and providing me growth in my vision and skills. you help me grow and i am blessed indeed.

my favorite of the images is the second. it is closest to the vision of what i see in my mind's eye when creating, searching for both depth and luminosity. the play leaves me satisfied with the curiousity of experimentation fulfilled.

~sue

Miriam said...

Now this is interesting to me....I was over on my xanga checking out your site because Sharkey suggested I do so, and I clicked on something over there that took me here. I, too, have a blogspot and I, too, have been so interested in the "creative every day 2008" thing, and posted that button on my site. I've been lackluster about posting every day, but am keenly interested in the spirit of the whole thing. I've often wondered if there was anyone else out there that actually posted to two blogs like I seem to want to, and lo and behold here you are. :) Also, your words on xanga reminded me of the thoughts I've been feeling while reading the book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. I wonder if you have read it, or are reading it too by chance? Though not a big Oprah fan in general, I was struck by the theme, and knew this book would be for me. Perhaps my openness to read that book is leading to my openness to look at other people in a way I had not before...it all seems to go together, doesn't it? I'm sure I must have run across your site before somehow, with so many mutual blogging friends, but for whatever reason my eyes were not open to the experience. It is exciting to become open to it now. I hope you will understand what I'm saying....I know this is kind of lengthy...but I just had to share my thoughts! Hope you have a beautiful day!

Irene said...

Feeling much better now, I can appreciate the wonderful beauty of what you made and I am glad for it. Such lovely mandalas! You never cease to amaze.Please, continue always...

Miriam said...

I would be happy to set up a way to subscribe. Truthfully...I don't really quite understand blogger...I thought you could just RSS it, but then again, I don't use RSS because I don't "get" it. I tend to figure these things out on my own, and they usually take me forever between taking care of my son, who is four, and everything else that goes on. But I like the way blogger works for posting...anyway, I'll figure it out and I'll ask my husband to help me since he understands this stuff way more than me. I will need to do something like bloglines myself, I guess, I would like to in turn, "subscribe" to you! :)

Irene said...

Sue, there is an award for you over at my place, come and get it.

healingmagichands said...

I am so in awe of your work, Sue. I love your mandalas, every where I go I look at things with new eyes because of your work. I keep thinking, "What would Sue do with this image?"

Then I come over here and am inspired by the beauty of the combinations you come up with. I love the marsh images.