Week 4: Professional Photographer's Challenge. For Art's Sake: Surreal Children's Photography

For Art's Sake: Surreal Children's Photography

Imagination. Wonder. Adventure. These were my inspiration for this week. Sticking with the surreal I decided to go a different direction with an image of a child. Having a 2 year old has taught me so much about wonder, imagination, and enjoying simple pleasures. The way her mind works is so intriguing. She can spend hours with a blanket or a balloon creating all kinds of games and things to do. We could all learn a little something from that. We need such complex entertainment as we get older and especially in this highly advanced age of technology.

We stopped the car the other day on the way home because there were 3 hot air balloons setting up to take off in a field by our house. Those are the kind of things that can make even us adults revert to a more child-like state of awe. My daughter was so fascinated. All of us were. I like to imagine that something like this image was going on in her head when she got home....

Disclaimer: Kids don't try this at home  ;)

For Art's Sake Photography Challenge: Surreal Children's Photography

This sweet little miss here is getting ready to float off into the sky for an morning adventure. As any good pal would do, she lovingly ties each one of her friends to their own balloon, and off they go. I imagine they tease the squirrels in the trees, someone needs to. I am sure they go down the street to the neighbor's house with the pool and land right in the water. Those furry critters must get hot in the Southern summer heat.

I needed a bit of that contrast I love in there so the overgrown boarded up house contrasts the clean innocence of the child and the animals. I am going to stick with the child based surreal for next week too, there is something I really love about this. It is good for my soul too to have to put myself in the mind of a child. I learn so much from their curiosity and wonder. My jaded old mind is starting to appreciate the simple joy of balloons, turtles, and lightning bugs too.

Hope to see you next week!

xoxoxo

Meghan Aileen

The Shoppe Photoshop Actions Used: 

Matte from the In Vogue Actions Collection

Tea Time from the Nostalgia Actions Collection

1600 Film from the Nostalgia Textures Collection

For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey ~ Week 3 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge - Steampunk Surreal Image

For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey

Week 3 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

Week 3 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

So this week I had some fun at a costume shop! I never knew how inspiring and fun those places could be. After searching through rows and rows of interesting outfits, gowns, and costumes, I found a steampunk outfit. I have always loved Steampunk. The textures, the mix of vintage style and industrial machinery.

I also decided that I would start to do some self portraits. I need to shoot something other than my child and arranging models is not the easiest thing when you live in the country and run 2 businesses full time. It just takes a lot longer to shoot yourself! I actually found it quite amusing, running back and forth from the camera. The background I used here is an old clock I bought at the flea market. I added the apple because I wanted a hint of something organic in the shot to balance out the industrial feel, and for the color of course. There is also a bit of the Adam and Eve symbolism with the apple as well.

I think what I love about the surreal is the lack of limits. I am not bound by reality. I have always liked to push the boundaries of what is possible and this allows me to do so. I love environments and landscapes. This allows me to create any environment I want and to put anything I want into it. After so many years of creating what other people wanted, it is no surprise to me that I am landing on the surreal when doing art just for me.

The magic in these surreal images really happens in the final editing. Running an action over all the layers really brings them together. Adding a texture really adds a more illustrative feel to the image which I love. My background is in illustration and painting so I have always tried to blur the lines with my photography a bit. I plan to work on blurring them even more, so stay tuned as I experiment with that some more this week.

Edited with: Vintage Natural from the Memento Actions Set

Edited with: Old Painting Texture from the Nostalgia Textures Set

I hope you are creating with me. If you are finding yourself stuck please let me know and I will help however I can :) Sometimes we get stuck in life, but we have to just keep moving. Life is movement. Art is the same way I am finding. My inspiration is constantly in motion and I need to just keep creating if I want to keep up with it. If I stop, it seems I fall out of sync with it even more.

Keep up with me on Facebook and like my page HERE to follow my journey...

See you next week!

xoxoxo

Meghan Aileen

For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey ~ Week 2 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

 For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey

Week 2 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

Week 2 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

During week 2 in my professional photographer's challenge, I think I have found a medium and a process I feel inspired by and I think that is helping a lot to create the right environment in my head to find some inspiration. There is so much freedom in not having to have this art have a purpose, or a marketing plan. There is no client that needs to approve of it.  It doesn't have to mean anything if I don't want it to. It seems to be turning out that it does anyway, without intention. This one I feel has the kind of contrast that I have always loved. I used to do this in my wedding work. I would shoot a bride in a dark or even burnt landscape. It has a moodiness and a darkness along with a bit of lightness and innocence. If you look closely you can see a face in the rock.  He has a sadness to him and seems alone in the flat landscape. The little girl that stands on top of him represents youth, innocence and freedom with her umbrella she seems she could just float anywhere she pleases off into the clouds. They are facing away from each other, though they are touching, they do not seem to be really connected. A common problem in our society these days, even in our families.

 For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey

Week 2 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

I think that work has a great deal to do with this disconnection. The cost of living has skyrocketed and the average salaries have not. We don't rest enough, at least here in American culture. We don't value rest, in fact, we tend to look down on it as lazy and unproductive. But if we don't rest, we eventually end up even more unproductive. We become unhealthy and unhappy, and as creatives, we end up uninspired and bitter. I know it is hard to do for some of us. It took me having a child to force me to learn to slow down a bit. Sitting and doing something simple with her made me crazy at first. And yes it still does a bit sometimes :) But I am learning to enjoy life's simple pleasures, that spending time with people and resting is also productive, or at least it is purposeful. This project is only one step in this journey for me. Maybe by the time she is in college I will have this whole work, life, art balance on lock down. I have some time, she is only two years old. ;) I am sure I will need it!

If you are doing this along with me but struggling to find inspiration, it might be the lack of boundaries I talked about last week. This week if you are having trouble, maybe create something that, to you, represents how you feel about your work/life balance. Are you frustrated? How can you show frustration? Do you feel like you are on a journey? Make something that represents your journey, or any journey if that is too specific. We are all on many journeys….

Hope to see you next week for week 3 in a professional photographer's challenge.

xoxo

Meghan Aileen

For Art’s Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey ~ Week 1 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

Week 1 In A Professional Photographer’s Challenge

As I sat down to work on this project this week, I of course felt stuck, with no idea where to start.  I knew week one would be the hardest. The first week I wanted complete freedom so that I could see what would happen. But as I go forward I am going to give myself some more guidelines I think, the complete freedom was a bit overwhelming. I had no idea what medium to even use.! Should I draw? Paint? Shoot? I stared at this robot on my desk. I bought him on Ebay for another project and I think he is just fantastic. I love old industrial textures, form and colors. I then took a walk outside to think about what else inspires me. The skies around here in the South, especially during the spring, are amazing. I missed them so much when I lived in Los Angeles. This is significant because I also think that living in Los Angeles is where this disconnection to art began. People love the blue sky all the time there, they move there because of it. I missed the clouds. So with no thoughts in my head of meaning or interpretation, this is what came out of my efforts. I sat back and looked at what I had just created. I started to laugh to myself. As I stared at this robot in the clouds, I noticed that he looked as if he was dreaming of being free. This of course reminded me of my current state of mind, feeling like a robot longing to be free.

   

I was struck by the magic of art, and the reason we do it. It is living inside of us even when we are feeling detached from it, or not putting time into it. It is longing to come out, to be expressed. Is this my best work? Not by far. Was I nervous to show this to anyone since it is not my best work? Absolutely. Putting ourselves out there as an artist, especially when we are in times of struggle or self doubt, is one of the hardest things to do. It is a subjective thing to begin with, as well as a highly personal thing. Not a good combination for sensitive folk like us artists. :) But that is part of it, taking the risk to put yourself out there so that you can possibly inspire, help, or bring joy to someone else. Some people won't like this, but that is ok because I made something for art's sake, and I am putting it out there. Hope you will join me and make something this week. Anything. For Art's Sake.

Hope to see you next week for Week 2 In A Professional Photographer's Challenge. If you have stuff you made that you want to share please post them on our Facebook page. We would be honored for you to share then with us!

Products used: Light Leak Overlays Memento Action Set

xoxoxo

Meghan Aileen

For Art's Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey ~ A Professional Photographer's Challenge

For Art's Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey to Rekindle the Love of Art

by Meghan Aileen

When I was a child I loved to paint. I used to sit in the basement with oil paint, canvas, and the smell of turpentine for hours and hours, happy as could be. I painted landscapes. Bob Ross taught me techniques on the TV. I would get so frustrated that I could not finish a masterpiece in 30 minutes like he did, but I kept trying, not because I had to, but because I had passion - there was a rawness to what I was doing. I was not tainted by the difficulties of combining art with making a living. I did it because I loved it and only because I loved it.

I eventually went to college and learned the business of commercial art. I could make money making art. What could be better than this? Don't get me wrong I am very grateful that I have made a living only from the world of art, in some way, for 15 years. I do not take this for granted; however, it is not without difficulties. It changes the way you view art and after awhile it is very hard to have it continue to be your passion when it is also the thing that pays your bills. We must take jobs we are not inspired by or even dislike. We must take input from others, and many times, do what they want over what we want. We are forced to be creative even when it is not how we feel, and to keep going even when we are just burnt out.

I woke up one day and realized that I did not remember why I was doing this. I would listen to people talk about art inspiring them and and I felt disconnected, like I could not relate. This scared me. It was such a huge part of me, how could I lose that? I know how. I lost it when I was worrying about how many Facebook fans we had, and how many sales we got this week… I lost it worrying about what products/designs people would buy…. what style would be popular. I lost it paying attention to what my competition was doing.

I say all of this as a photographer and a designer, but most of all an artist at heart. I started as a painter and an illustrator. I mostly taught myself photography and graphic design and then eventually I got lost focusing on the business aspect, the marketing and promotion, taxes and calendars, and employee payroll. These things are important for sure. This project is not designed to get us all to go live in a cabin in the woods and not run a business. (Although right now that is tempting!) It is designed to remind us why we do what we do. To help us discover/remember who we are as artists, and maybe even what style represents who you are now. As we know life is movement, art is as well.

Join me if you feel you need this. I will create something each week: Art for Art's Sake. It may not be great, it might not even be a photograph, but I will create something and talk with you about the challenges I face on this journey and the challenges I have faced over the last 15 years. And hopefully, at the end of it, I will remember the passion I felt as a child painting in the basement. I will revive the gifts that God gave me, I will make my business better, and hopefully help someone else on the same journey.

To begin my For Art's Sake Project: A 52 Week Journey to Rekindle a Love of Art I share with you 3 paintings I did my senior year in college. They were illustrations done with oil on wood for fictional book covers. It was a made up project, so to speak, for school it is the last time I remember having complete freedom in my art. Sometimes freedom means just the right kind of boundaries, not no boundaries at all. We can get lost as artists with NO boundaries as well...

Hope to see you next week,

xoxo

Meghan Aileen