TiltShift, ToyCamera, CameraBag ooolala!

I love the camera Apps on my Iphone. I was browsing LK Ludwig's blog, The Poetic Eye, the other day and stumbled across her excited blogs about a bunch of Iphone camera apps. TiltShift, ToyCamera, and CameraBag are the ones I latched onto.

I stayed up WAY too late taking pictures around my dimmly let bedroom and pulling existing photos to tweak. I LOVE IT! My Iphone has just taken on a new dimension for me. I often do strange lighting, vignettes, and filters in photoshop on my desk top, but that process is removed because it is often days before I download the picts from one of the cameras. This is instant and fun! I can immediately email them to the people I am snapping.

A note about LK Ludwig. I took her 2-day class at Art and Soul Retreat a few years ago. She is magnificent teacher. On top of being an talented artist you can hear her academia background coming through. I have enjoyed her books immensely but nothing replaces taking a class from her. I learned so many basic yet flexible techniques that I could incorporate into my tool box. It looks like she is now teaching classes over the web...could be interesting. I think I might try one and report back.

On the Desk

I am working on some new Bedouins. I am attempting to do an assembly line method of constructing three at once. However, I seem to have stalled. Maybe I should give up the ghost and just finish up the hare before moving onto the wolf and the raven.

Mom gave me some detail brushes for Christmas. I cracked them open last night and OOOOlala! I have to say that if one is considering what art supplies to spend money on- brushes! For me I prefer a short handled 1-1.5" synthetic and the tiniest detail brush I can get my hands on, also synthetic. I use a big brush for most every thing. Mr. Hicks taught me long ago that if you learn to manipulate the brush CORRECTLY you can paint anything with a nice fat 1.5" brush. His mantra was "the fewer brushstrokes the better".

Over time I have come to appreciate a good detail brush for a good reason. I often want to write or draw on my work with a pen, but all of the layers make it VERY difficult. Often time I just end up ruining a good pen because it picks up paint off of the piece. So a detail brush allows me to create fine, yet dense lines that somewhat mimic pen lines.

Artist Statement

Sugar Skulls for my Office Day of the Dead Alter 2009

Here is a stab at my artist statement. I am going to revisit it this weekend so feel free to comment.

Artist Statement

Taska Sanford

My aesthetic is a defense mechanism. Places and objects that are clean, crisp, and brand new make me crazy because they appear empty to me. These pristine things drive me to crumble the edges; rub dirt, paint, wax, and oil into their corners; tear them to pieces; rearrange; and reassemble. I feel the need to fill every inch of space with color, symbols, words, and mystery. I am compelled by a burning need deep inside me to transform the objects that come into my grasp and the spaces I occupy.
Currently I am exploring two themes in my work, my relations ship with myself and with animals. I create art about myself in an attempt to explore the surprise, anger, frustration, and disappointment I feel when examining my lack of control over my life and my body. In turn I create art that reveals my relationships with animals, and how I hold them sacred. They act as my guardians offering comfort and guidance when I am at most vulnerable, examining myself. From this body of work also comes the crossover pieces that reconcile the division I experience as I swing from one state of emotion to another and back again.

What Rizo is Up To

Rizo doesn't work at Timbuk2 anymore. He got a job in the East Bay. Good for him. Sad for me. I miss him terribly. Here is is out having fun at Tahoe. Photo courtesy of May, his mommy.

And here is the bear he danced with at the Christmas party.....