Artdog Quote of the Week

May the year to come be a time of success for you!

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

Photo of Interest: Questions

How many times have you asked the question? Did you think you were setting Fido up for anxiety?

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the ever-fruitful resource known as the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page. :-)

Waiting for Santa

Here's a sentimental Christmas Eve greeting for Ol' St. Nick:

IMAGE CREDIT: Much gratitude to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page for this little gem! And PLEASE REMEMBER the holidays offer few breaks for our emergency responders. Many thanks to them--and may they be safe out there, keeping our holidays peaceful!

Artdog Quote of the Week

On this, my birthday, I am rededicating myself to making sure it's not boring.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Word Porn's Facebook page for this quote and its graphic presentation.

Artdog Photo of Interest: Happy Birthday

I'm not saying how young I am, but just know that many awesome people have been born in December. Including me.

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page, created by law enforcement officers with a great sense of humor, who clearly appreciate their K9s. 

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

Photo of Interest: When you see it . . .

I don't have a "Like" button on my page (I'm tempted to try to rig one, but I'm not up on my Flash programming), but I thought you still might get a kick out of testing your powers of observation:

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page.

This Week's Art Fair Delight: Kevin Erhard

I encountered the artist Kevin Erhard at the Art Westport show in Kansas City, MO. I'm a dog-lover anyway, and his whimsical pooches just totally made me smile. I hope you'll enjoy them too. 

The whimsy of the ceramics was what pulled me in; the variety, expressiveness, and lively sense of humor kept me happily looking for a while. 

Not only did Kevin agree to let me feature his work, he also has a website where you can see more than just this small collection. Take a look at his gallery on Earth & Cloud Studio's site.

It’s better to see original artwork in person. Kevin and his wife Machiko, who also is a talented potter, live in Overland Park, KS and have a studio in their home.

NOTE: Earth & Cloud Studio is hosting a Studio Sale THIS WEEKEND! Meet Kevin, his potter-wife Machiko, and more of their work in Overland Park, Friday through Sunday Dec. 12-14, 2014, or Saturday Dec. 20! See their "Event" page for more details.

Earth & Cloud Studio is represented in the Kansas City area by The Phoenix Gallery on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO, and in Colorado by Pinon Hill Art Gallery in La Veta, and The Pottery Studio Gallery in Littleton.

According to the Earth & Cloud Studio website, “Kevin Erhard was born in Minnesota and grew up in Olathe, KS. He attended Johnson Community College for his Associate degree and worked for Ceramics department as a studio technician. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He was an Artist in Residency at Pottery Northwest, Seattle, WA and now is back in Kansas enjoying making his art work.” 

IMAGE CREDITS: All artwork featured in this post is the work of Kevin Erhard, and the images are posted here with his permission. These artworks and others may be seen Kevin’s website. A visit there will be time well spent!

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Word Porn's Facebook page for the graphic presentation of this quote.

Photo of Interest: Pearl Harbor, 1941

73 years ago tomorrow (Dec. 7, 1941) was the "Day that shall live in infamy."

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the LA Times for this image. To see a Pearl Harbor slide show go to their tribute page.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

Photo of Interest: Solar Receptors of the Future

This image received an Honorable Mention recognition from National Geographic as one of the best science visualizations of 2009. Here is their description:

"Honorable Mention, Illustration: "Back to the Future"

"Created at the Second University of Naples in Italy, "Back to the Future" illustrates the principles of biomimeticism—the idea that nature’s creations can guide the design of future technology.

"Computer-generated drawings of future solar panels, 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 165 feet (50 meters) across, stand behind the organisms that inspired them—the microscopic marine algae known as Licmophora flabellata.

"Shown attached to sand grains in a scanning electron microscope image, these biological solar collectors have a flat, wedgelike form and a glasslike wall—features that allow them to absorb as much sunlight as possible for photosynthesis." 

IMAGE CREDIT: Mario De Stefano, Antonia Auletta, and Carla Langella, Second University of Naples, via National Geographic.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Night Humor for this reminder to all writers who are tempted to make their heroes "perfect."

Photo of Interest: Fog at Dawn

Here's another image from the Telegraph Online. They describe it this way: 

"The sun rises as early morning mist covers the landscape of Zaans Schans near Zaandam in the Netherlands."

IMAGE CREDIT: Wim Denys/Solent News, in the Telegraph Online, Photos of the Day for Sept. 10, 2014.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

Photo of Interest: Cliff House

"Cliff House," by Modscape of Australia

Here's another image from the Telegraph Online. They describe it this way: 

"Anyone wanting to live on the edge need look no further - architects have designed a cliff house. The five storey modular home is inspired by the way barnacles cling to the hull of a ship, and was developed to hang off the side of a cliff as opposed to sitting on top of it. Australian design company Modscape say the design, aptly entitled Cliff House, is a theoretical response to clients who have approached them to 'explore design options for extreme parcels of coastal land in Australia'. A spokesman says: 'The home is visualised as a natural extension of the cliff face rather than an addition to the landscape, creating an absolute connection with the ocean.'"

You know the view has got to be spectacular.

IMAGE CREDIT: the Telegraph Online, Photos of the Day for Sept. 10, 2014.

Artdog Quote of the Week

Here's a Veterans Day love letter to all who have served. THANK YOU!

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Facebook page, for this image!

Photo of Interest: Cantigny Park Luminarias

Luminarias at Chicago's Cantigny Park: illuminated in honor of Veterans Day.

IMAGE CREDIT: Read an article in the Chicago Tribune, about this annual tribute to veterans. I thought it was way cool. And don't forget to thank a vet!

The Evolution of an Internet image

A recent "IMAGE 
CREDITS" example.

If you follow this blog regularly, you'll know that I try to document my image sources as scrupulously as possible, using link-backs and attribution as a "default rule." I always have a bold-face paragraph at the end of every post, for IMAGE CREDIT(S). 

This is in keeping with my "Internet Intellectual Property Philosophy." I think anyone who is on the Internet a lot realizes that any image that is published on the Internet is available for re-use, whether we want it to be or not. 

Screen-capture programs abound, and most images can be clicked on and dragged to a file very easily. Copyright law has not yet caught up to this reality.

I use TinEye to help track down
the origins of images I use.

Consider it publicity, if you like, curse the reality if you're so inclined, but there it is. The only way to keep your images truly "safe" from re-use is NOT TO PUBLISH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. If we publish it, it's available. 

The photos, design images and other things we can so freely and easily download were created through the skill and work of an artist. Someone bought and learned to use the camera, the illustration program, or whatever, and spent time (sometimes many hours) creating it. I believe that, as intellectual property, these creations (and their creators) deserve respect and acknowledgement, so I publish image credits. 

I recently started a new Saturday Serial feature called the "Photo of Interest." In preparing a post I'd originally intended for the Saturday before Veterans Day, I used my old friend TinEye to help me locate the source for an image I'd found on Facebook in September.

I've posted this large, in the hope you can read the words.

 I found an interesting evolution. The oldest version TinEye could find dates to December, 2012:

The oldest version of this image shows ONLY the image,
which is pretty cool on its own.

The next major change came last May: 

First Change: Words added. But not the words I found,
when I saw it on Facebook.

Next Change: a border. Still not the version I found.

The image above has borders added--still clearly not the one I found. 

It seems to me that this is exactly the kind of boundary-blurring "collaborations" the Internet facilitates best. A person who wishes to express an idea with the perfect image doesn't necessarily always have to create it "from scratch" and in fact may not even have the idea until s/he has one part (for example, a poem) and then stumbles across the perfect match (in this example, a photo). 

Oddly, TinEye didn't find the Facebook image I tried to match. Worse, I myself didn't note the source when I first downloaded the photo (for private use, several months ago). I've scrolled through the photos of my favorite K9 and law enforcement Facebook pages for several hours, looking, and I've come up empty.

So--whoever you are, who found the perfect image to match your poem, I can't track you down at this time. But I appreciated your "Dedication to a Fallen K9," and I hope my readers have, too.

IMAGE CREDITS: The snippet from the Oct. 29, 2014 "Artdog Adventures" post is my own screen-capture image. Thanks, TinEye, for the logo and also for all your help! As noted, I have lost the trail to the source of "Dedication to a Fallen K9." And the final three images are screen captures of parts of my TinEye search.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

A New Saturday Serial: Photo of Interest

The Shard, with Super-Moon

A full September moon passes behind The Shard, a famous skyscraper in London.

I chose this moon image in honor of the just-passed Halloween, and I hope you'll enjoy it. For now, anyway, I'm out of two-sentence horror stories.

For the next several weekends, I'll share a photo I have found, that I think is interesting, funny, or exceptionally beautiful. The Internet being the Internet, sometimes I won't be able to credit the original source, but whenever possible I'll at least try to tell you where I got it. Today I can!

IMAGE CREDIT: This was one of the "Photos of the Day" for The Telegraph Online, Sept. 10, 2014. It was taken by Peter Macdiarmid, for Getty Images.

This Week's Art Fair Delight: D. L. Homola

I am a total sucker for lampwork glass beads. If I were an avaricious dragon, my treasure hoard would include a lot of them. As it is, however, I have to legitimately buy them, which means I don’t have nearly as big a hoard as I’d like. 

Bright Blue and Silver Bracelet is available on Homola's D.L. Homola Glass Art website.

As of the Summit Art Festival in October 2014, my hoard finally does include some of D. L. Homola’s work! I’ve been following her career for a while, now, admiring (and, I admit, coveting) her wonderful glass work.

Homola's Color Play Necklace gives a sampler of some of her skill.

I could show you my own recent acquisition, but instead have chosen to focus on items that (at this writing) have not yet been added to someone’s hoard. In case you’re adding to your hoard, too, they may be purchased from her website, D.L. Homola Glass Art. There are direct links to the specific pieces in the photo cutlines.

These are Homola's Burnt Orange Earrings, also available on her website.

If you’d like to know a bit more about Debbi, she has a bio page. If you’d like to know more about her lampwork technique, please watch her demonstration videos, including one created in 2013 for KOLR TV, Springfield, MO.

Homola's Fall Color Mixture Bead Set is available for use in jewelry or on its own.

It’s better to see this work up close and in person. Please look for Debbi at an art fair near you! Stay current with her calendar of her upcoming appearances. If there isn't one coming up as soon as you'd like, please enjoy her website in the meantime.

One more before closing: this is Homola's Soft Peach and Sterling Silver Bracelet.

IMAGE CREDITS: All artwork featured in this post is the work of D. L. Homola, and the images are used here with her permission. These pieces and others may be seen and purchased on her D.L. Homola Glass Art website. A visit there will be time well spent!

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Artpromotivate's "99 Inspirational Artist Quotes."

Two-Sentence Horror Story

In the run-up to Halloween this year, I am sharing a collection of Two-Sentence Horror Stories with you, one per week.

IMAGE CREDIT: Ty's Shufflings on Tumblr. See the whole collection here.

My Art Fair Dilemma

I go to a lot of art fairs. I don’t create artwork fast enough and in enough quantity to be viable as an exhibitor, but I appreciate those artists who can and do, so I go to all the art fairs I can.

Here's a view from last month's Kansas City Plaza Art Fair.

But I have a consistent, intransigent problem with art fairs. They’re too big for me.

Here's one "arm" of the 2014 Summit Art Festival in Lee's Summit, MO.

It’s not that I want fewer artists to be juried in! No way! I think there are many wonderful artists in our world, and I want as many as possible to have a chance to show and sell their work to the tasteful and intelligent folks who come to art fairs.

Another view of the 2014 Summit Art Festival.

It’s just that I, personally, never seem to have the time or the strength to get all the way around your average art fair without having to cruise by and give only cursory glances to many of the exhibition booths these artists have spent years, driven hundreds of miles, and plunked down thousands of dollars to bring to the fair.

Here's part of the Prairie Village (KS) Art Fair, held in June 2014.

As an artist myself, and as a person who has friends on the art fair circuit whom I hope will prosper and make more art, that seems wrong. I know what it takes to create the work, build a unique approach, and bring an attractive exhibit to an art fair. It’s a LOT of work! It deserves respect and attention.

Another view from the 2014 Prairie Village Art Fair.

It has always frustrated me as a blogger, too. How can I possibly do justice to all of the artists whose work I admire at a given art fair, when I have a limited amount of time and space to post something before it ceases to be "timely"?

This is the 2014 Art Westport show, in Kansas City's Westport area.

I hope I’ve finally found a way. I’m starting a new series on this blog, called “Art Fair Delights.” In each post I will feature one artist whose work I have seen at an art fair recently, and whose exhibit broke me out of “cruising by” mode so I couldn’t resist crossing the sidewalk and weaving through the crowd to look more closely.

Another view of the 2014 Prairie Village show.

I have spoken with each of these artists personally, introduced myself as a blogger, and received permission to feature their work. They all have websites or a web presence of some sort, from which I’ve obtained images of their work. My posts will include links to them, for any of my readers who want to know more.

Another view of Art Westport in 2014.

Please come along with me. Let’s cross the sidewalk, go inside the booth, and take a closer look at the work of some of these amazing, talented folk! Watch for a new “Art Fair Delight” in this blog space very soon.

IMAGE CREDIT: All of the photos in this post were taken by me at art fairs I have attended during the past 4 months.

Artdog Quote of the Week: Honest Abe on Happiness

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.

Two-Sentence Horror Story #8

In the run-up to Halloween this year, I am sharing a collection of Two-Sentence Horror Stories with you, one per week.

IMAGE CREDIT: Ty's Shufflings on Tumblr. In the interest of keeping them fresh one at a time, I'm going to make you scroll down till you find them, however.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Artpromotivate's "99 Inspirational Artist Quotes."

Two-Sentence Horror Story #7

In the run-up to Halloween this year, I am sharing a collection of Two-Sentence Horror Stories with you, one per week.

IMAGE CREDIT: Ty's Shufflings on Tumblr. In the interest of keeping them fresh one at a time, I'm going to make you scroll down till you find them, however.

Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Wedding Photography + Design.