Shadows and Light
Shadows and Light
As the season begins to color up from the greens of summer to all the colors of autumn, a black and white photo of waning summer sunlight.
It looks so mysterious, but it’s just my round galvanized tub with carrots growing in it and a few leaves around it, shadows, shapes, angles and lines, the wanted and unwanted, expected and unexpected, a new view on a common thing.
This photo is on traditional black and white film, taken with my Pentax K-1000 to capture the huge variety of textures and patterns without the distraction of color. I scanned the print, and someday may scan the negative.
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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.
Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
Breakfast for the Bumblebee
The morning’s brilliant sunshine belied the cool air, but the bumblebee, sluggish at breakfast on the spent seed head, foretold the change to come. The season had been awaiting the moment and the moment was here, and even as the day warmed and the bees efficiently bumbled on their way, grand and beautiful clouds appeared on the horizon, slowly, quietly parading across the sky, their size and numbers more dense each hour until by afternoon the blue overhead was hung with dreamy cotton and the voice of the wind whispered high in the treetops of what was to come. The day grew darker and more quiet until by early evening all was so still and dim that when the first few whispering patters of rain began their sound was clear, though unintelligible, as if speaking a language, like that of the trees, not of this place.
The rain fell quietly all night, lovingly soaking the hardened earth of late summer until, sated, it slept. As the next morning dawned the rain slowed and stopped, the clouds parted and cleared in a reverse of their arrival the day before, leaving the sun to shine brilliantly in the blue dome of morning, but the heat was gone from the earth, once again, for another season.
Before the Change
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Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
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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.
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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This post is shared on Inspire Me Monday on Create With Joy
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.
Gone Haywire
Gone Haywire
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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.
In Another Context
In Another Context
Big snowflakes on the floor, shadows of paper snowflakes taped to the window. I found them fascinating.
On the rug.
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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.
A Shared Past
A Shared Past
Two ancient apple trees guard the entrance to a farm that no longer exists. What memories do those trees hold in all the years they’ve been welcoming visitors? And the land itself?
Another shot found in the moody light of a dark winter day after snowfall. Still glad I got lost chasing a tree on a hill.
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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.
Incoming Storm
Incoming Storm
The sun dims, tiny crystals fill the air on a cold softly whistling wind, objects blur and night replaces day, and a feeling of infinity.
In the quiet of a winter afternoon I stood and watched as the storm did not approach so much as silently change the scene from a clear sunny afternoon to a dim and dark landscape, sounds muffled, objects disappearing.
This is another photo from the roll including yesterday’s photo, on black and white film with my fully manual Pentax K1000. I remembered it from that time, and it stayed with me from yesterday so it needed to be shared.
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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.
Walking Past the Fence
Walking Past the Fence
I often felt I wasn’t alone on the sidewalk as I walked past this fence. Perhaps this photo captures that feeling.
It’s a long-ago photo using black and white film with my old Pentax K1000, and the 50mm lens with the adapter that I typically use for extreme detail. I decided to walk around one bright and sunny early December day and see how the world looked through that lens. I’ve always felt this lens was more sensitive than most.
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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.
Shadows and Light
Shadows and Light
As the season begins to color up from the greens of summer to all the colors of autumn, a black and white photo of waning summer sunlight.
It looks so mysterious, but it’s just my round galvanized tub with carrots growing in it and a few leaves around it, shadows, shapes, angles and lines, the wanted and unwanted, expected and unexpected, a new view on a common thing.
This photo is on traditional black and white film, taken with my Pentax K-1000 to capture the huge variety of textures and patterns without the distraction of color. I scanned the print, and someday may scan the negative.
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If you are interested in purchasing this painting or any other originals I have posted here on Today, please contact me. I will also have prints of this painting after the exhibit.
Entering Reality
Entering Reality
Not so much what it looked like in life but the way my camera recorded images at this spot, all the figures outside the shadowed area looked vaguely abstracted, kind of cubist or sometimes just a shadowy rectangle because the sun was so bright on the pavement and on the river beyond. As they walked toward the shadow they gained detail. Interesting.
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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.
Elongated Patterns
Elongated Shadows
The winter sun’s low angle creates dramatic elongated shadows as the afternoon wanes crossing the McKees Rocks Bridge, a a steel trussed through arch bridge over the Ohio River near Pittsburgh (you get to know bridge types when you live in a city with, well, 446 bridges within the city limits–three more than Venice, Italy–in a county with nearly 3,000 bridges and a state with 22,280 bridges, and that’s not counting the ones shorter than 20 feet that carry local traffic across streams or deep ravines). The double steel arches and criss-crossing trusses make an interesting pattern of light and shadow.
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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.
A Straight Line
A Straight Line
From last year, but something I saw just today.
Possibly a good way to begin the year, but virtually impossible for most of us.
But train tracks always fascinate me in their absolute perfection of line in this part of the country. This line variously clings to the side of a hill before running along the edge of a hill and crossing a number of tunnels and trestles. The topography is everywhere here—hills come in every shape and size, creeks and streams run down every hill and along the bottoms of hills, little back roads wind back and forth with creeks and yet the railroad lines predictably go in a straight line off to the horizon, aside from ones that make lovely gentle curves like another local line I photographed last week.
This line actually does go gently around a curve where it disappears in the distance.
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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.
Rainy Window
Giuseppe watches the rain.
These are two photos from a series I took of one of my black cats looking out a rainy window. Today is rainy and contemplative and I thought I’d share them here; you can read the post about them on The Creative Cat.
Giuseppe looks away from the window.
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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.
A Shared Past
A Shared Past
Two ancient apple trees guard the entrance to a farm that no longer exists. What memories do those trees hold in all the years they’ve been welcoming visitors? And the land itself?
Another shot found in the moody light of a dark winter day after snowfall. Still glad I got lost chasing a tree on a hill.
. . . . . . .
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.
Gargoyles Await Your Entrance
Gargoyles Guarding
These gargoyles guard the entrance of the Outlet Barn garden and gift shop. They are friendly with people and animals but can detect any evil spirit seen or unseen. I have merchandise there and I’m sure no evil spirits will enter the building while my goods are there.
PhotoShop desaturate and diffuse glow applied, lots of film grain.
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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.
Different Opinions
Different Opinions
Each of these windows has something different to say about the condition of this building.
I’ve been watching the Thepitt Building in Carnegie slowly fall to pieces for years. The brick walls are sound for the most part, but each of the classic old 6/6 wooden-frame double-hung windows has weathered the time in its own fashion, from broken panes to missing panes to those remaining reflecting its own little section of the sky, some windows with dilapidated blinds still hanging and others with chairs and desks visible and even views of the sky through the roof, or where the roof should be. It’s just fantastic in its downfall, though only a few years ago there were still businesses in this building.
Interesting how different it looks in color, less stark, possibly more details, yet it’s the same message.
Different Opinions
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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.
Shadows and Light
Shadows and Light
It looks so mysterious, but it’s just my round galvanized tub with carrots growing in it and a few leaves around it, shadows, shapes, angles and lines, the wanted and unwanted, expected and unexpected, a new view on a common thing.
This photo is on traditional black and white film, taken with my Pentax K-1000 to capture the huge variety of textures and patterns without the distraction of color. I scanned the print, and someday may scan the negative.
. . . . . . .
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.
Mewsette in Morning Shadows
Mewsette in Morning Shadows
Mewsette deeply contemplates something as the leaves outside cast random shadows in the sun through the screen door in the basement.
I post images of my feline household each day on The Creative Cat and like to share one here now and then.
Sunny Main Street
Main Street Carnegie
Well, it was sunny, but instead of leaving it in its natural colors, I desaturated it to approximate a black and white shot because I liked the close-set details of all the buildings and light poles and bollards and bricks. I then added a yellow filter because it seemed to help define things better.
Left Outside
Left Outside
Someone left a number of quart-size canning jars outside their door for most of the winter. They don’t have the lids, only rings, so rain and snow fell inside, melted, froze and did all the things water does. I’m surprised only one jar is shattered, but it looks like four friends who are a little worse for the wear.
A Straight Line
A Straight Line
Possibly a good way to begin the year, but virtually impossible for most of us.
But train tracks always fascinate me in their absolute perfection of line in this part of the country. This line variously clings to the side of a hill before running along the edge of a hill and crossing a number of tunnels and trestles. The topography is everywhere here—hills come in every shape and size, creeks and streams run down every hill and along the bottoms of hills, little back roads wind back and forth with creeks and yet the railroad lines predictably go in a straight line off to the horizon, aside from ones that make lovely gentle curves like another local line I photographed last week.
This line actually does go gently around a curve where it disappears in the distance.
Ancient Fishes
Ancient Fishes
Seen along the trail, perhaps washed up eons ago in the ocean that created our layers of limestone and fossils here in Western Pennsylvania.
Really just an old weathered tree trunk. But they certainly looked like ancient fishes at first.
Gargoyles Await Your Entrance, 2011
Gargoyles Guarding
These gargoyles guard the entrance of the Outlet Barn garden and gift shop. They are friendly with people and animals but can detect any evil spirit seen or unseen. I have merchandise there and I’m sure no evil spirits will enter the building while my goods are there.
PhotoShop desaturate and diffuse glow applied, lots of film grain.
Wheels and Spokes
Wheels and Spokes
Long shadows of bicycles on my front porch in the late afternoon sun.
Today 