Finding Shadows

“To think of shadows is a serious thing.” ~Victor Hugo

"If you stand straight do not fear a crooked shadow." - Chinese Proverb

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” ~Swedish proverb

Carl Jung believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity."

Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or a tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight. ~ The Talmud

If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. ~Buddha

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. ~Abraham Lincoln

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” ~Carl Sandburg

“Where there is much light, the shadow is deep” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"May your joys be as bright as the morning,

And your sorrows merely be shadows that fade,

In the sunlight of love." ~Irish blessing

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Serendipity

Strolling around The University of Arizona campus in the merry month of May:

Front Row Center

Arch

Border Dynamics

Great Baobab

Glyph

Jacaranda

Wildcat Family

Tortuga

Lesson of a Disaster

Lesson of a Disaster (detail)

A Trilogy

Standing Woman

Lunchtime

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Patience

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.

From the Tao Te Ching - Chapter 15, Written by Lao-tzu, Translated by S. Mitchell

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Zoo - Textures

Yesterday was free admission day at Reid Park Zoo in honor of Tucson's 234Th birthday. I was fascinated by the various textures, beginning with the lush velvety grass lawn, a treat for desert dwellers.

In the aviary, this friendly pair of Bleeding Heart Doves was building a nest three feet off the ground right next to the busy walkway. From the back, they look like common pigeons, but their fine chest feathers sport the shocking red spot that gives them their name.
Inside the cool air conditioned Lee H. Brown Conservation Learning Center, several docents were encouraging visitors to feel the spiny skin of the reptiles.


Folks of all ages enjoyed learning about these cold-blooded scaled wonders of nature.


Back outdoors, I noticed the warty, spiky surfaces of plants like the pachypodium.

I was surprised to find out that this deeply wrinkled pachyderm is younger than I am.

The fancy head feathers of these constantly moving Victoria Crowned Pigeons looked like frizzy blue clouds. I was reminded of Patty and Selma Bouvier, Marge's blue-haired twin sisters on The Simpson's cartoon.

For $2, one can feed a giraffe a biscuit or lettuce leaf and marvel at the animal's 18" long, black rough-textured tongue.

All giraffes have unique coat patterns. Like human fingerprints, no two giraffes are alike. This mosaic-like pattern sort of resembled the chain link fence.

Perhaps you're tempted now, to reach out and explore textures in your neck of the woods.

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Rufus pecanosaurus

When I first saw these tall red things at Reid Park in Tucson, Arizona,

I didn't know what they were.

Alien figures...exposed roots...giant blood vessels?

Later, I learned the full title of this playful life-sized 1988 piece:
Inverted Pecans in Ceremonial Red (Rufus pecanosaurus)

Stripped of their bark, five pecan trees
are painted red and installed upside down.

More information from Smithsonian Art Museum Research Information System (SIRIS).

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Classical Art Color Match

Have you ever wondered what some of your travel photos or favorite portraits would look like colored with the palette of famous paintings?

I learned about this cool photo editing technique to change the color scheme of photos from unfocusedbrain.com.

The process is simple. Load your original photo and artwork reference image into Photoshop*, then use "Match Color" under image adjustments. The artist's color palette is instantly applied to the photo and then you get to tweak 'Luminance' and 'Color Intensity.'

These are some of the results after playing around with this technique for a couple of weeks. Not all photos and paintings "work" together. This project takes a lot of experimenting, but it is fun! And, there is a practical side to playing around like this. If you want to make a painting, it could be helpful to do explorations on the computer first before committing to expensive art materials.

In these examples I used famous paintings of the masters, but the colors from any photo can be used. That opens up a lot of creative possibilities.

Sunflowers with color palette of Claude Monet's Poplars on the Bents of the Epte 1891

Creek with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885

Tree with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510

Bunny with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510

Canyon Rock Face with color palette of Albrect Durer's Self-Portrait 1500

Gary's Visitor with color palette of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks 1942

Track with color palette of Paul Gauguin's Woman Holding a Fruit 1893

Track with color palette of Andre Derain's Boats in Port of Collioure 1905

Cat with color palette of Pablo Picasso's The Weeping Woman 1937

Cat with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888

Bench with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885

Bench with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888

Click on any photo to see it larger.

*I used Photoshop CS2, but there might be some free web-based programs that can do this technique.
An article at makeuseof.com explains how to color your pictures like famous paintings with FlauntR.

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