Exhibit: 100 West Busway
In 2006 I came up with the idea for a totally different exhibit from the usual exhibit of just paintings. I decided to turn my bus ride, explained below, into a multi-part exhibit of 125 4″ x 6″ photo prints and 13 finished 2-D works, each in a different medium, created from one of the 125 photos. The numbers of photos and works organized themselves; I culled the 800 photos I’d taken on one bus ride, June 22, 2006, chose 18, then got as many done and framed as I could between then and July 27 when it opened.
I wanted as much uniformity of presentation so that the images could stand out even more. The original and digital paintings were different sizes, but all were matted with plain white mats in 1″ matte black frames, and hung above the 4″ x 6″ photos, all horizontal, each of which was mounted on foam core and then mounted on the wall 2″ apart about 4′ up from the floor in a line around the room so it was like a dotted line on a street. The painting created from the small image was hung above as close to that image as possible. In 2008 I hung the show a second time, in the front entryway of a coffeehouse in Carnegie with big glassed-in display areas on either side of the door, the paintings on the walls and the small photos in a line on the glass, facing outward. I also had them in a digital photo frame in the corner of the window. I sadly have no photos of either exhibit—I couldn’t take any, and forgot to ask anyone else.
Just below my original text to describe the show I have the slideshow of small images (when I had this set up on an old HTML site I actually had a slideshow that let the images creep across the page so they looked a little like the dotted line, but that isn’t available on this template). You might wonder what inspired me at the beginning of the slideshow but as we travel on you’ll see the interesting people and buildings and flower sellers and graffiti and unique views, and then overall you’ll see what is always fascinating to me, beginning in a very green and treed neighborhood where I live, along the Ohio River and into Pittsburgh’s downtown, then around behind old neighborhoods to where all the colleges and universities and grand old buildings live, then back along the Monongahela River, to the trees, and back home again. Below that is each of the original and digital paintings in the order they hung. I hope you enjoy looking at this.
WHY?
Views of the rivers and city streets and tree-covered hills and the activities of people have always provided entertainment for me while riding the bus. I’ve long carried a camera to capture my everyday surroundings, and now my digital camera allows me to snap even more photos.
A ride on the West Busway, my usual route, shows a variety of scenery from the verdant hills and open space of the still-suburban areas through small neighborhoods and shopping districts to the bustle and congestion of downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland and the open vistas along the rivers.
Those extemporaneous images have often been the subject of artwork done in my studio, either rendered in traditional 2-d media or in digital techniques on the computer.
This show is both a simple document of the ride and of the visual inspirations to be drawn from the places and people along the way. Don’t trap yourself in your car and sit in traffic. Ride the bus and look out the window and see your world.
Original and Digital Paintings
“Misty River Morning”, watercolor, 9″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“MISTY RIVER MORNING”, VIEW THROUGH THE WEST END BRIDGE, ALWAYS ONE I LOOK FOR WHEN RIDING INTO PITTSBURGH, FOR MORE READ HERE
“Our Golden Gate Bridge”, digital image, poster edges and color saturated, 12 x 18 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“OUR GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE”, FT. PITT BRIDGE,DIGITAL PHOTO, FILTERED IN PHOTOSHOP, FOR MORE READ HERE
“City Textures”, collage, 10″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“CITY TEXTURES”, LACE CURTAINS, SOCKS AND UPHOLSTERY FABRIC ON FOAM CORE, ALL PAINTED OVER WITH GESSO TO ENJOY THE TEXTURE, FOR MORE READ HERE
“Flower Cart”, digital image, posterized, 12 x 18 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“FLOWER CART”, LIBERTY AT MID-TOWN TOWERS, DIGITAL PHOTO, POSTERIZED (THIS ONE TECHNICALLY SHOULD NOT BE IN THE SHOW BECAUSE I TOOK THE PHOTO IN THE SPRING, BUT IT’S ONE OF THE ONES THAT INSPIRED THE SHOW, AND I LIKE IT A LOT.)
“Where? and When?”, black and white photo, 12 x 18 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“WHERE, AND WHEN?”, LIBERTY AT SIXTH, DIGITAL BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO THAT JUST LOOKED LIKE AN OLD PHOTO OF PITTSBURGH BECAUSE THE ROW OF BUILDINGS IS UNCHANGED
“Pennsylvania Station”, ink and watercolor, 10″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“PENNSYLVANIA STATION”, INK AND WATERCOLOR, FOR MORE READ HERE
“Waiting Bench”, watercolor, 10″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“WAITING BENCH”, WATERCOLOR, I LOVED THE COLORS AGAINST THE LIMESTONE
“A Trip to the City”, pencil, 9″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“A VISIT TO THE CITY”, A MENNONITE COUPLE ASKING DIRECTIONS, PENCIL, FOR MORE READ HERE
“Old Oakland”, pastel, 12″ x 18″” © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“OLD OAKLAND”, A BLOCK OF FIFTH AVENUE NOT YET “IMPROVED”
“Sah Side Slopes”, photo, 12″ x 18″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“SAH SIDE SLOPES”, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM BOULEVARD OF THE ALLIES ACROSS THE MONONGAHELA RIVER, BECAUSE I JUST LOVE THE MIX OF HOUSES AND TREES ON THAT NEARLY VERTICAL HILLSIDE
“Gateway Clipper Reflections”, oil pastel, 12″ x 18″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“GATEWAY CLIPPER”, REFLECTED ON THE RIVER
“Tunnel Vision”, photo, 12″ x 18″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“TUNNEL VISION”, JUST A FUN ABSTRACT SHOT
I hope you’ve enjoyed this exhibit! Originals are available as marked; if you’d like to purchase one or a print of one, please send an e-mail to bernadette@bernadette-k.com. See other annual solo art exhibits here on Today.
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Inspire Me Monday
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Refractions, Coming Into Focus
Refractions 1
No, look at all three photos, and you’ll see.
Refractions 2
Almost there.
Refractions 3
They are plastic beads on black wire, intended to burn a candle inside, but in the angled late afternoon sun they are portals.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Cool and Warm
Cool and Warm
Abstract patterns in a shop window.
Those alien-looking organic shapes weren’t the only things I found on my gray day walk this week. Walking down Main Street in the dusky dark I also passed shop windows with bright lights inside, and holiday decorations just illuminated for the evening.
One of the shops has strands of silver beads and flat coin-shapes hanging in a curtain across the entire front window. The cool gray light caught the edges of silver beads and baubles in a shop window with flecks of warm yellow light inside flashed on the edges.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
That Green One in the Back
That Green One in the Back
I actually photographed these marbles back in March, just as the days were really lengthening and very, very bright. I have about 60 photos, and I like them all, and every so often I pull one out for my “Lost My Marbles” series, especially when I need a good dose of sun and color, like today.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Blue Shadows
Blue Shadows
Autumn light is special, filtered through layers, to reach the blue door.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Magic
Outlying Planet
More bubbles from the festival.
Foreign Sun
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
Traffic
Traffic
Traffic, at night in the rain.
I managed not to be hit by any cars though I was standing on the double yellow line in a construction area.
I love night photos and rain photos. Just for fun, you could go to my old website and look at a gallery entitled “At Night in the Rain”.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Conversational Patterns
Conversational Patterns
Photo taken through frosted glass with a hammered pattern makes for an interesting abstract of two people conversing in a parking lot.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Autumn Lights
Autumn Lights
Simply so beautiful, just the right moment as the sun shone directly down the street, illuminating the layers of birch, burning bush, azalea and forsythia leaves, the pavement of the street in shadow providing the perfect slate blue background, the birch twigs a silhouette. I’m not sure what reflected onto the sensor to create the two circles on the left, one with a branch silhouetted into it but that’s beautiful too.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Moon with Branches
Moon with Branches
A few quick shots of tonight’s full moon. Since I have so many of just the moon already, I’m looking for shots that are just a little different. Here I photographed it through the near branches of a tree. A little later I photographed it through leaves…
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Enjoy the Unplanned Outcome
It’s Okay
Sometimes things don’t turn out as you’d planned, but what did turn out is fine, in some ways better than what you’d been trying to do.
Perhaps this is a rationalization for why I forgot to change the manual settings on my camera, but it’s true for me in this one. Enjoy it for what it is.
Unexpected Patterns
Unexpected Patterns
My room is mostly in darkness for the heat and the trees outside cast a good shade, but one little beam of light made an interesting highlight on an everyday object.
It’s just a roll of frosted transparent tape on the holder with the sun shining through the window screen and leaving the shadow pattern on the roll and an the little tail over the sawtooth edge. The rainbow? Refracted light, on the tape perhaps.
I had only my basic lens with me, but if I’d had my closeup lens I could have caught the sharpness of the shadows, which were truly stunning, but when I took a few seconds to stand up and get ready to run downstairs, the rainbows were gone, though the pattern was left, and in a few seconds even that had faded. Capture that moment.
Random Smiles
Random Smiles
Sometimes what we have hidden inside comes out in unexpected ways.
Make sure what you have hidden inside is a smile.
You never know.
Recycling Is Beautiful
Recycling is Beautiful
From a distance it looks like an abstract expressionist painting, perhaps a collage of images cut from printed materials.
Look a little more closely at the actual objects.
Yes, bottle caps, plastic water bottles, plastic containers, green glass, amber glass, cans, lids, pull-tabs, little bits and pieces of the refuse of our lives.
I stopped at the recycling drop-off on a sunny Earth Day morning in 2007, and the pile of mixed recyclable metal, glass and plastic that had been crushed was in an outdoor processing area, as big as my house, glittering and colorful as a pile of gemstones in the morning sunlight.
Orange
Orange
You just never know what you’ll find when the snow melts and the sun shines. This color was so intense and the glass so interesting I actually saw it from far down the street on the edge of a gravel parking lot. It’s very thick and oddly shaped and I really can’t figure out what the original object was unless it was a clear glass object or sculpture. In any case, it’s in interesting composition on it own, and a sight for sore eyes this time of the year.
My Paint Rag
My paint rag.
Sometimes when I’m done watercoloring I like my paint rag as much as I like my painting. Most often it’s a swatch of an old t-shirt or washcloth, as long as it’s absorbent cotton. In this case it’s a folded paper towel because it was handy, but that adds to the visual interest because the layers are so saturated with water and transparent color that they have become translucent and blur together.
Crystal
Crystal
A collection of crystal glasses on a mahogany vanity looks like ice, the patterns and shapes ephemeral in the transparent glass and patterned cutwork and changing as I walk around them.
Umber Patterns
Umber Patterns
The sun shines through a dense clump of many-flowered aster, whose dried flowers and leaves create a rich random pattern of warm winter umbers.
Industrial Abstract
Industrial Abstract
A few hardy wildflowers still hold shriveled, faded leaves and just the seeds left from abundant flowers blooming around industrial debris. The debris itself is most interesting, a huge metal spool alternately rusting in various patterns with a few flecks of turquoise paint left for effect. The contrast of the delicate, brittle flowers washed by the sun and the solid, heavy object held in shadow is perhaps the story of how nature will always try to find a way back when it’s been pushed aside and buried, renewing itself slowly but surely, while manmade things slowly but surely sink into the soil.
Aliens Have Landed
We are Watching You
What is this? Are those eyes in wrinkled skin?
It’s funny when you take things out of context that a familiar item can appear to be something else entirely. And when the leaves fall from the trees and suddenly you see the eyes in the bark of the silver maple you’ve walked past every day.
The Three Amigos
The Three Amigos
Industrial objects often have a beauty about them, whether clean and new or rusted, peeling and battered. It’s not often they have a sense of humor.
3 Amigos
Wheels and Spokes
Wheels and Spokes
Long shadows of bicycles on my front porch in the late afternoon sun.
Today 