Thursday, November 12, 2009

. . . scanned fall detritus




My friend Leslie Miller posted some photographs of her hosta leaf collection on her blog a few weeks ago. She inspired me to go out into the yard and find art inspiration.





I found these marvelous seed pods outside. Unfortunately I have no idea what plants provided them. . . whether they were weeds or actually garden plants. . . although there's not much difference right now.



I scanned them and these are the photos I came up with, and I love them. The grays and neutral tones in the last two are so appealing, and the contrast of the gold against the black in the first one is amazing. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but I'll think of something artful eventually. There are marvelous videos on You Tube showing how to make multi-level stencils from photographs using PhotoShop. Or how about tracing these onto a foam/plastic meat tray and using it as a printing plate or a stamp? There's always some kind of photo transfer to try, but I have absolutely no luck with those techniques. What would you do with them?

8 comments:

Anna said...

Oooh, I like these.

Jazz said...

That top one is spectacular!

Leslie Avon Miller said...

Oh, I have seed pod envy! These are yummy! The Photoshop idea is appealing. I just wish I knew how. Must learn that program someday, really must. It will be fun to see what you do Mary!

nancy neva gagliano said...

that last photo is PERFECTION!! nice...

mamadoc said...

Yo, Mary,
1)I think those are milkweed pods, aren't they? The kind that erupt and discharge shiny brown seeds suspended by silky white gossamer fibres?
2)I love every single thing on your "weird news" page (11/3?).
3)Re Tweedlee, Tweedledum, and the Smallest One: GET THEM VACCINATED (specifically, FluMisted). Please.

Later.

Anna said...

OOHHH, I love these photos.

Gina said...

Oh, these scanned seed pods are very cool, Mary. I like your meat tray stamp idea and also the photo transfer. You could also use their form and make a stamp from heavy cardboard and string, using gel medium to glue the string. Then, you could use it to stamp into modeling paste or thick acrylics. Whatever other inspiration they bring, it’s all good!

paula said...

fantastic