Well, week number one of my 52-rolls project is finished. I feel like I'm off to a good start. 

As I mentioned before, I'm using the Plastic Filmtastic Debonair camera from the Film Photography Project store. It's lightweight, simple to use, and fun to experiment with. I've got a boatload of 120 film, mostly expired, and one of my resolutions for 2013 is to bust that film stash!

The film I used for week one was Agfa Portrait XPS 160. I bought a lot of it a few years ago and I love using it in my Dianas.

When the film came back from the lab, I noticed quite a few really wicked scratches on it. Once I finish the next roll I'll open it up and see what's going on. A few scratches can be kind of interesting, at least to me, but yikes! These are some serious scratches!

This was actually the second roll I ran through the Debonair. For some reason, I only got six images out of the first roll. (Maybe I forgot to take the lens cap off? I've since tossed it.) With this second roll, I got 15 out of 16 images. Not bad! And I'm happy with them. You can see the entire roll on Flickr in the set The 52-Rolls Project: Week 1.

This roll was shot during a morning walk around the west end of the National Mall in Washington, DC. It was cold and sunny, the perfect day for playing tourist.

I think the Debonair and I are going to have a lot of fun together this year.

Take a look at what the other 52-Rolls Project photographers are doing for the first week at 52Rolls.net.

This time of year I find myself thinking about new year's resolutions. While I don't see myself as a super goal-oriented person, there are usually a few things I'd like to accomplish over the course of the next year.

For some reason, coming up with knitting resolutions is a lot easier than coming up with photography-related resolutions.

I called 2011 "The Year of Knitting for Susan," and I made lots of socks and a couple of sweaters for myself. For 2012 my resolution was to knit through my yarn stash as much as possible and not add any new yarns. I managed to knit my way through a fair amount of yarn and I sent all the acrylic in my stash to my mum who is knitting blankets for shelter animals. I also didn't add any new yarns to the stash, which meant I went an entire year without visiting my favorite local yarn store, Fibre Space. Now that's an accomplishment!

My knitting resolutions for 2013 includes spinning. I'm calling 2013 "The Year of Knitting Socks" (to help bust that sock yarn stash I've still got) and "The Year of Spinning Fiber Stash." Knitting goals are easy to set.

Photography is a different story. I didn't really set any photographic goals for 2012. I acquired quite a few film cameras and increased my film stash by a gazillion, especially Impossible Project and Fuji instant films. 

After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to shoot a roll of film a week using the Plastic Filmtastic Debonair camera from the Film Photography Project. That's 52 rolls of film. I've got a fair bit of 120 film in my stash so I'm going to mix it up --  color and black and white, expired and fresh.

I was inspired to take on this challenge by several photographers whose work I admire. One is Nate Matos, who created The 365 Project, "a photo a day task for 2012 using expired film from Polaroid and new film for old Polaroid cameras from The Impossible Project." Nate's project ended up as a very cool photo book.

Another photographer who inspired me to consider what I wanted to do for 2013 is Urban Hafner, who's also planning to shoot a roll of film a week for 52 weeks using his Yashica Mat loaded with Fomapan 100, and do the developing and scanning himself. Urban was inspired to have a go by Alex Luyckx. Seems like quite a few of us have caught the shoot-a-roll-a-week fever for 2013!

So here are the rules for my version of the challenge: 

• For one year, I will shoot a roll of 120 film per week using the Debonair camera. 
• The week runs from Sunday to Saturday.
• Each week's roll will have its own set on my Flickr page and highlights from each week will be posted on my blog. 
• Once the film has been developed and scanned, the photos will be added to the set and posted on my blog. Obviously there will be a delay between taking the photos and the developing and scanning. 

What about you? What are your resolutions for 2013? 

Sometimes I enjoy reading biographies and autobiographies of artists. The subjects don't have to be photographers. I like reading about painters and sculptors and writers, too.

Last month I was on a Diane Arbus kick. I read "An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus" by William Todd Schultz. I also read Patricia Bosworth's "Diane Arbus: A Biography," and "Revelations," which was published in conjunction with a large exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in October 2003. "Revelations" contains at least 300 images and lots of previously unpublished excerpts from Arbus' letters, notebooks, and other writings. 

I started off not liking Diane Arbus' photographs. I'm not really sure why I didn't like her work. It certainly wasn't because they're weird, or dark, or make me feel uncomfortable. Those are actually the reasons I've come to like them -- and respect her as an artist. I suppose I didn't know much about her and her work before I read the three books. (I did see the movie "Fur" a few years ago. Talk about horrible!)

I started with Schultz's book, what he calls a "psychobiography." Here's the summary:

"Schultz veers from traditional biography to interpret photographer Diane Arbus' life through the prism of four central mysteries: her outcast affinity, her sexuality, the secrets she kept and shared, and her suicide. He seeks not to diagnose Arbus, but to discern some of the private motives behind her public works and acts."

Schultz is a college professor and writer who writes "psychological profiles, or interpretations, of artists." I enjoyed his book the least of the three. I found it monotonous and uninteresting. And uncomfortable to speculate on such personal matters. Honestly, it felt a little cheesy to me. Maybe because I've never read a psychobiography before. (Note: I'm probably not going to seek out any others either.)

The other two books were much more interesting -- and more traditional. I especially enjoyed seeing some of her contact sheets reproduced in "Revelations," and reading the "In the Darkroom" chapter, a discussion of Arbus' printing techniques by Neil Selkirk, the only person authorized to print her photographs since her death. She did no dodging or burning when she made prints in the darkroom!

Arbus was a very focused and intense person. She comes across as almost maniacal, a slave to her vision.  She reverberated with ideas for photo subjects. She had guts. She was brave to push so hard to realize her raw, unflinching vision. She was a trailblazer.

While she's not my favorite photographer, after reading the three books and seeing more then just the most commonly reproduced images (the twins, the boy with the grenade), I have a new respect for her and her work.

Photo credit: Camera obscura ... Diane Arbus poses for a portrait in New York c. 1968. Photograph: Roz Kelly/Getty Images

The photo above is from Provincetown, Massachusetts. I loaded a roll of Konica 220 in my vintage Diana camera for the first time. I didn't count clicks to advance the film, I just rolled it until I felt like stopping and I ended up with a fat roll and lots of lightleaks. But that's okay -- I don't mind at all!

Want to know more about fat rolls and how to avoid them? Check out this post on the Smithsonian Studio Arts blog: Fat Film and Light Leaks.

My friend Marcia and I are spending eight Wednesday nights at the Arlington Career Center working in the black and white darkroom. Offered through Arlington Adult Education, the sessions are open to photographers of all levels.

There are quite a few old hands developing and printing, and at least one person is a complete film beginner! She's had a fair amount of experience with her digital camera, but feels compelled to learn to work with film. Good for her!

I shot and developed six rolls of Kentmere 400 in perparation for the Wednesday open darkroom. I've never used Kentmere before and I have to say I love it. I'm very happy with the way the film turned out.

The photo above is from my trip to Ohio in September. My parents' neighbor John has an unbelievable garden and every year his sunflowers are gorgeous.

Not too long ago, while I was living in Australia, I went to a few "shows," the Australian versions of county and state fairs in the United States. 

These shows offer midway games, rides, and fried foods, as well as competitions in all the usual categories: needlework, pies and jams, flowers, and animals.

At these shows I started wandering up and down the aisles photographing chickens and roosters in their cages. Some had already competed and had ribbons on their cages, while others were waiting their turn.

I enjoyed looking at and photographing these beautiful birds and every time I go to a fair I seek them out. Sometimes they're curious about what I'm doing. Sometimes the roosters carry on a conversation with each other. It's difficult to get a decent photo through the bars of the cages, but it's a challenge I enjoy.

Recently I wandered around the Mongtomery County (Ohio) fair. After leaving the poultry barn, I saw this young woman giving her chicken a bath. I guess that's how she keeps her white feathers so nice and white.

You can see more photos from the Montgomery County fair on my Flickr page.

Today I'm back in the studio working on a couple of photoencaustic pieces. This one is on Ampersand Claybord and I have to let it cool down a bit before continuing. I figured it was the perfect time to snap a photo and put it up on the blog.

The piece above started out looking like this:

She was part of a small lot of old photos I bought late last year. Most of the photos were from Germany and this little girl showed up in two of the ones I bought. This particular photo had writing on the back. (I don't know any German, so I have no idea what it says. Any translators out there?)

This is the other photo with the same little girl:

I wonder where she is now?

Last month's trip to Ohio wasn't at all what I expected, and I'm still feeling somewhat out of sorts.

The drive normally takes eight hours from our house to my parents' house. This time, however, there was an accident on I-68 at the Maryland-West Virginia border. It was around 6:30 or so in the morning when I got to the stopped traffic. We sat on the highway for two hours watching two medevac helicopters fly over and land somewhere ahead of us. And we sat. There was no traffic on the opposite side of the highway either. Both directions were completely shut down.

Early in the third hour, the state highway patrol started turning people around. Finally on the move again, I backtracked to the next exit and got off on US 40. It's a beautiful drive, with lots of fantastic old motels and signs. Some day I'd love to drive from Virginia to Ohio on US 40. But not on this day.

Long story short, I arrived about at my parents' house about 14 hours after I started the trip. 

The rest of the week hummed along just fine. I dropped my photos at the Dayton Visual Arts Center for the annual members' show, we went to the Golden Corral for breakfast, I helped Dad in the yard. And then I got a call from Wendell.

Four years ago, while we were in Australia, my brother-in-law was diagnosed with a rare and quite aggressive cancer. Over the last four months, his situation had been steadily declining. All of his doctors agreed: make him comfortable. Wendell called to let me know that he was driving back to Ohio because his brother was scheduled for a blood transfusion and surgery. (So much for making him comfortable.) Wendell drove overnight, arrived on Friday morning at 3:30 am, and immediately went to bed for a couple of hours. 

Later that morning, a phone call from Wendell's sister informed us of his brother's death. We immediately went to my brother-in-law's house and for the next four days, spent a lot of time with Wendell's family. The memorial service was on the following Monday and we drove back to Arlington on Wednesday.

I had planned on attending Analog's Pulse in Cleveland, but with the family situation, I didn't go. Here's a summary of the event. (You'd better believe I'm keeping August 2013 open!)

I've been feeling restless and out of sorts ever since I got back. The heat and humidity are unbearable this year and I haven't seemed to be able to muster the creative energy to pick up a camera or heat up the encaustic palette. Even my knitting is suffering. I think part of it might be that I finished the encaustic commission I was working on, and the Arlington Sing-Off and Night of Concert Music photo project is done.

Maybe I just need to take a break.

In September I'm going back in the darkroom as part of an adult ed workshop. I'll be doing some black and white printing -- which means I have to get out and shoot! I'm also cooking up a project with one of my photog buddies in Australia. Stay tuned.

Recently I completed three photo encaustic pieces for a client. She provided the old family photos and I turned them into encaustic works.

I'm thrilled that she and her husband loved the three pieces enough to commission another one! Above is the original photograph after I scanned it. And here's the finished encaustic:

Mum and Baby

© 2012 Susan Stayer

Encaustic, 8 x 6 inches

Private Collection

I really enjoy giving new life to old photos. I hate to see photos languish in a box somewhere, unlooked at and unloved. 

All this got me thinking about the current state the the photo print. While I was visiting Ohio, I was talking with my family about how kids nowadays don't really have small prints of photos in an album or a box. My sister-in-law said she's got almost no physical prints of her two kids. They're all images on electronic devices, unless someone happened to give them prints. When my brother-in-law's smartphone died, he lost all the images on it.

I think that's a real shame. There's something truly wonderful about holding a photograph in your hands or flipping through pages in a photo album. To me that's the difference between photographs and images.

I returned to Arlington on Wednesday after a little over a week in Dayton, Ohio. I was born and raised in Dayton, and my family and my in-laws are there. 

I made the trip back home to visit family and enter a photo in the Dayton Visual Arts Center's annual members' show. I've been a member for a couple of years, but this is the first time I've submitted any work. The theme of the show is "No Borders," and the photo triptych above is my entry. 

The three photos that make up the triptych are from the "Perception" series. They're small -- 5 x 5 inches each -- and are printed on aluminum. They've got a glasslike surface that I love because they're images seen through layers of glass. 

The members' show opening reception is on Friday, July 15, 2012, from 5 to 8 pm. The show closes on Saturday, August 18, 2012.

The DVAC's hours are 11 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. The space is located at 118 North Jefferson Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402. For more information, call 937-224-3822.

Stop by if you're in the neighborhood!

Here's the postcard for the show (with a very cool image on the front -- I love it!):

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a woman who saw my work hanging in the Alcove space at Stifel & Capra during the month of April.

The woman's husband liked my two photo-encaustic pieces "Mists of Time I" and "Mists of Time II," and wondered if I would do something similar with some of his old family photos. 

He chose three vintage photographs to turn into encaustic works. 

They've been a lot of fun to do. As I transfer the photos onto the wax, I love looking at the faces and the old car and imagining all the stories that go along with them. 

I hope they enjoy the pieces as much as I enjoyed making them. It feels great when someone likes what you do enough to commission work based on something as personal as family photos.

The three photo encaustics are heading to their new home in India soon. Bon voyage!

My photograph "Spanish Steps" received an Honorable Mention in the Deblois Gallery's annual open show. The theme for this year's show is "Step On It."

The photograph is from the Los Carmonas flamenco dance school recital shoot I did with my friend Lorna in Sydney. All the flamenco dancers were wearing black shoes except for one. It seemed to fit the theme perfectly.

The show runs from March 6 - 28, 2010.

The Deblois Gallery is located at 138 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI 02840. And on the web at www.debloisgallery.com.

There's a small pond near our house called Poplar Pond. It's part of Long Branch Nature Center, one of three nature centers in Arlington County. 

For some reason I'm obsessed with this little pond. I stop there at least once a week, if not more often. I love how the change in seasons affects the pond. Different critters are active at different times of the year and you never know what you're going to see. I think I've taken a bazillion photos there.

Earlier this week I was on my way to the library and I stopped by the pond. I was shocked to see a small snake gliding around on the surface of the water. I hadn't seen any snakes in the pond before. 

As I walked around the pond, I saw several more snakes, including a large one who came out of the water to lay on the platform. (You can see the platform in the two photos above.) Soon she was joined by two smaller snakes and they proceeded to mate. I counted six snakes total.

I went inside the nature center and asked the naturalist about the snakes. He said they were Northern Watersnakes, very common to freshwater here, and that it's mating season. These particular snakes give birth to live babies, usually between August and October.

This morning I went back to the pond armed with my camera, hoping to see the snakes again. One of them was resting on an exposed log, and there were two others swimming and basking in the sun. I walked all the way around the pond looking at the snakes, American bullfrogs, and Eastern Painted turtles.

One turtle climbed out of the water and walked over the top of the snake who was resting on the log. The snake didn't seem to mind at all!

Earlier I wrote about my previous and not-so-successful attempts at pinhole photography:

Mark Your Calendars: Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2012 Is Coming Up Fast!

And now, all that's changed. I finally got images on my film using a pinhole camera!

This was the first year I've participated in Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, which happened on April 29, 2012.  Just to be on the safe side, since I've had limited luck with cameras I've made myself, I used a MintyCam, an empty Altoids tin reborn as a fantastic little 35mm pinhole camera. I bought my MintyCam from Chris Keeney, a very cool guy who makes very cool photographs, and not just with pinhole cameras either.

The image above was the one I submitted to the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website. If you have time, I highly recommend taking a peek at all the great pinhole photos submitted from all over the world.

You probably already know that I LOVE finding film in an old camera. I've bought quite a few at thrift stores just so I can develop the film and see what's there. 

Two of my encaustic pieces were created using found film: Mists of Time I and Mists of Time II.

I can't resist old photographs either. The encaustic piece above, All Dressed Up, started out as an old photo I purchased as part of a small lot. Unfortunately there weren't any notes scribbled on the back of the photo. I'd love to know more about these people.

Here's what the photo looked like after I scanned it:

Through the magic of Photoshop, I removed the background and added a little bit of color. I printed the image on parchment paper with a laser printer, and transferred it to the prepared wax surface. Then I added a few additional touches of watercolor and oil pastel before sealing the whole thing with encaustic medium.

It's fun to incorporate these images in my encaustic work and create new stories with them. Have you used old and found photographs in your work? 

This is the companion piece to Grant's Roosters, I.

Encaustic work can be a real challenge to photograph. The clear wax on top of the rooster creates a kind of reflective surface that shows up cloudy or lumpy, especially in the darker areas.

I just love the expressions on the faces of the roosters. They have great personalities, too.

On a related note, I discovered the Arlington Egg Project while visiting the Arlington County Fair yesterday. The group's ultimate goal is to modify "Arlington County ordinances so residents can keep a limited number of backyard hens, while prohibiting roosters, and ensuring secure, proper, and humane enclosures for hens." 

The Arlington Egg Project website has great information on the many benefits of keeping chickens, including better-tasting, more nutritious eggs; teaching kids where food comes from; and protecting the environment. The project's site includes links to all kinds of articles and websites related to keeping backyard hens, as well as interesting hen facts and a link to sign the petition.

Oops!

I had the Holga set on the bulb setting by mistake, but I like the way it turned out. Think I should do more with it set on bulb.

Here are a couple more photos from the same roll.

And me too!

I just returned home after spending nine glorious days participating in the 2011 Fields Project in Oregon, Illinois.

On the first morning I was there, a few cows from a neighboring farm came by to say hi.

At the Fields Project Art Show on June 26th I was interviewed by Chris Johnson, a reporter and photographer from the Ogle County News. Here's the story: Unique Art Created During Fields Project

And here's a link a Flickr set where you'll find more photos from my time in Illinois. These are some of the ones I took of Grant, Kaitlin, and a few of their critters.

There's a pot of these cute little flowers on my parents' patio every summer. For some reason I just love them! I'm not crazy about their other name though. "Scabiosa" just doesn't sound very pleasant.

The photo is on aluminum and is 10 x 10 inches. Not all photos lend themselves to being printed on aluminum, but when I saw this image I knew it had to be!

See a different take on these very same flowers: Summer Glow. This version is an encaustic image transfer that I enhanced with watercolors.

I've been working on some new encaustics over the past two weeks. Inspired by the image transfer demonstration I saw at the encaustic conference back in June, I've been trying my hand at a few of these "water transfers."

The process requires patience, which isn't really one of my strengths! It's worth it though when the paper is rubbed away and the image has transferred nicely into the surface of the wax.

The piece above, Grant's Roosters, I, will be included in the Power of Color III show at Gallery West. The show opens on Wednesday, August 3, 2011, with an artists' reception on Saturday, August 13, from 5 to 8 pm.

I've been selected to be a visiting artist with this year's Fields Project in Oregon, Illinois, and I'm really excited about it. I'm especially excited to be photographing farm life. It's a subject I've been wanting to work on for a long time.

Visiting artists stay with a farm family for the nine-day event, and they're free to work on any project in any medium. Because encaustic is somewhat cumbersome to travel with, and I'd have to have access to electricity, I've decided to leave the wax at home and go with the cameras.

On the last Sunday of the event, Fields Project visiting artists will display and sell their work alongside regional artists at the Fine Arts and Crafts Festival at Mix Park, located on Rt. 2, south of Rt. 64 in Oregon, IL.

If you're in the area, please stop by and say hello!

I spent the July Fourth weekend in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains again this year. Our friend has a house there.

There's an old farmhouse on the property and it's so much fun to photograph. I feel like I can never do it justice.

In other news, I'm finally back in the studio working on some encaustic painting. The Fifth International Encaustic Conference I attended the first weekend in June In Provincetown, Massachusetts, recharged my waxy batteries and gave me lots of cool ideas to think about.

I enjoyed the talks I attended at the conference, too. "Taking The Leap" by Jhina Alvarado was all about selling yourself as an artist and getting work into galleries. Tania Wycherley gave a presentation on Advanced Image Transfer  that was terrific. She demonstrated how she divides images up in Photoshop so she can transfer larger images to a prepared encaustic surface.         

I left Cape Cod champing  at the bit to try out some of the techniques I saw. The Old Farmhouse photograph is one of the images I'm going to use in my large image transfer attempt. 

So, back to work I go.

Last June I spent a week in Illinois living with a farm family as part of The Fields Project artist residency.

During the week I visited different farms and made lots of photographs, including pictures of the three-Cs: cows, chickens, and corn.

One of my favorite photos from the residency was of a cow named Jazz. She was quite curious about me and what I was doing when I was photographing her. 

A few months after I got home, I decided to use that photo of Jazz as part of a mixed-media piece. Titled "All That Jazz," the piece was included in the monthly show at the co-op gallery I was a member of, and it sold almost immediately, but not before I received a commissioned to make another, similar one.

I'm excited about having the chance to work with Jazz again. I really enjoy her company.

It seems that every spring I have the overwhelming urge to shoot infrared images. I think it's because after the long winter, spring bursts onto the scene with lots of green, which is perfect for infrared photography.

At the beginning of April I got out my dedicated digital infrared, charged up the battery, and went for a walk. The trees in the park behind the house start slowly, with a kind of soft, green mist. Then BOOM! You wake up one morning and there they are -- green leaves. 

©2012 Susan Stayer, Blurred Vision iii

When I got home I also took some images through the faceted glass in our front door. The glass created some strange -- and fun -- effects.

Later, while downloading the photos onto my computer, I saw that it had been almost exactly one year since I had the infrared camera out. Time sure flies.

For more infrared photos, including ones from last year, check out my Infrared set on Flickr.

It dawned on me today that I've only got one week to get ready for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2012! The annual event takes place the last Sunday of April. 

I've never taken part before, mostly because my pinhole photography experiments have been complete disasters. Well, maybe not COMPLETE disasters. I did manage to get images. Just not very good ones.

My first pinhole camera was made out of one of those cylindrical cardboard Quaker Oats containers. I used sheets of 5 x 7 photosensitive paper inside to capture the image. I think I got maybe one picture that was halfway interesting.

A few years ago I built a pinhole camera out of a matchbox. (For a good tutorial, check out matchboxpinhole.com.) I carried the darned thing around in my pocket for a week. It used 35mm film, and I (stupidly) attached a roll of 36-exposure film to it. It seemed to take forever to use up that roll, especially since I was dying to see what I got, if anything.

This year I'm determined to have a pinhole photography success. I've got a Zero Image 6 x 6 pinhole camera, lots of film, a light meter, and the Pinhole Camera Exposure Guide.

Keep your fingers crossed!

I enjoy experimenting with photographs and finding new ways to use them. I've used my photos in printmaking, but I really don't have the temperament to be a printmaker. And since I'm definitely not a painter, using photos for reference is out.

When I started working with encaustic, however, I discovered how wonderfully photography and encaustic work together.

Up until now I've been embedding photos in encaustic or making image transfers. Recently I learned a new way of doing image transfers. Turns out I've been doing them the hard way!

I've been doing what Linda Womack calls "water transfers." I print an image is printed using a laser printer or a copy machine onto regular copy paper. (The cheap stuff works just fine.) Using the back of a spoon, I then rub the image into the slightly warmed and very smooth encaustic surface. Once it cools, I use water to help break down the paper and rub it off very gently, leaving the toner in the wax.

The water method is good for fine lines, and you can get good details in the transfers, but it's difficult and slow-going, especially for large transfers. Patience is key.

© 2010 Susan Stayer, ASTRAL OPHIDIAN II. Encaustic, 6 x 6 inches.

Earlier this week I discovered another way to do image transfers using ordinary kitchen parchment paper. It's so easy! The process still uses laser printer or copy machine images rubbed onto the wax surface, but it couldn't be easier. There's no dampening and rubbing off of the paper. It practically slides right off the parchment!

Today I got back into the studio and tried my hand at the parchment paper transfer for the first time. It was a lot of fun and I'm already planning to do more.

If you're interested in doing encaustic, Linda Womack offers in-person as well as online courses that are terrific. I've done two of them online. Her classes can be found at Womack Workshops.

Thank you to everyone who helped make last week's FIRSTFriday at Stifel & Capra such a big success.

I met so many wonderful people and thoroughly enjoyed sharing my love of photography and encaustic with everyone. 

And a special thank you to James George, a correspondent for the Arlington Arts Examiner, who wrote a brief piece about my work and included a few images: Some Things You Can't Do Without on Easter.

On Saturday morning I stopped by Stifel & Capra to hang another piece in the Alcove space. It was super busy on Friday evening during the FIRSTFriday and I didn't have a chance to look and see what's new in the shop. 

On the way out I saw a camera kit in a glass cabinet and had to take a closer look. It was a Voigtländer Bessamatic in pristine condition. It came with three lenses: 35mm, 50mm, and 135mm. It also came with a leather carrying case and little leather cases for each of the lenses.

This camera is really heavy! We're talking more than two pounds! It also had a roll of film inside. 

I think you know how this story ends. I bought the camera kit. Later that afternoon I took it out for a walk and finished the roll of film. Stay tuned for photos.

For more information on the Voigtländer Bessamatic, check out the Camerapedia page about it.

The space I use as a studio is a mess. A complete mess. It's so bad, I don't want to come down here! (The studio is in the basement of the house.)

I've been avoiding cleaning it up for awhile now and I don't really know why.

Maybe I'm feeling stuck. I've been spending a lot of time knitting and spinning. In fact, my 2012 New Year's Resolution is to get my yarn stash down to a more acceptable amount and not add to it. So far I've been doing well with that, but at the expense of other things I like (or need) to do. Books, encaustic, photography -- they've all been put on the back burner.

Yesterday I installed my photographs and encaustic pieces in the Alcove space at Stifel & Capra in Falls Church, Virginia. It's a really interesting shop/gallery space that has wonderful vintage clothing, toys, housewares, as well as original artwork by local artists.

My pieces will be on view for the month of April. Be sure to stop by on Friday, April 6, 2012, from 5 pm to 8 pm, for the FIRSTFriday event. There’ll be food, drink, LOTS of fabulous art, and great conversation with super-cool people!

I’m hoping to set up a table and do some painting during the month, and I’m also planning to do an encaustic demo. Stay tuned for the date and time.

So, with three boxes of artwork moved out of the studio and into Stifel & Capra, I've got a little more room to maneuver and get the studio cleaned up. At least that's the plan for this week.

Happy April!