Steven D. Foster ~ Photographs : The Departing Landscape website: 2023

12/22/23

12x12 Studies Collection, Book Five

12x12" Studies Collection

Book Five

Introduction

This is the fifth in a series of 12x12" blog publications I created in 2023 entitled 12x12" Studies BOOKS, Collections of Images. The selections I have chosen to include in this project were determined in a rather spontaneous, open-ended way in terms of subject matter or conceptual themes. All of the images are among my most favorites chosen from the rather extensive history of project in my online blog archive (numbering over 150 blog projects ranging from the late 1960's to the present). And, importantly, all of the 12x12" images you will see here and in the all the other 12x12" projects exist as 12x12" inkjet prints.

In 2003 I stopped making silver gelatin prints and began making inkjet prints of images I had created digitally, either with a digital camera, or by scanning my silver gelatin and color negatives. Then in 2011, after I initiated my blog TheDepartingLandscape.blogspot.com the desire to make inkjet prints of the images I had published in my blog projects feel away.

A few laters I began digitizing some of my earlier silver gelatin print projects so I could include them on my blog, which eventually I began to think of as an online archive of my life's work as a photographer. After I digitized more and more of my print projects, and at last succeeded in getting all of my important projects represented on my blog, I began to think it someday would begin to start making an inkjet print archive, in a highly selective way, of all the blog projects I created after moving from Milwaukee to Canandaigua, NY in 2008.

The urge to make inkjet prints of images I had included in my more recent blog projects peaked in 2023 after I found I had survived the Covid Pandemic, a series of eye operations, and had not heard a word from the Museum of Wisconsin Art regarding their publicly announced plan (in October, 2019) to mount a major retrospective exhibition of my work in 2021. (That exhibition was to be the Museum's first traveling exhibition, and there was to be a book publication as well).

(Note: see my Introductory notes for the Pandemic Inkjet Print project which includes lots of details regarding my decision to begin making inkjet prints and how that decision interfaced with eye problems.)

(Note: the Museum's curator for my retrospective exhibition and the publication of the book got married, then he and his wife had a baby during the Pandemic and moved out of state. Click here to learn more details about the Museum's public announcement of the retrospective exhibition.)

Perhaps making the inkjet prints of images from my more recent blog projects was my way of preparing for the possible future exhibition; perhaps it was my way of preparing for the real possibility that the retrospective was never going to happen. I have struggled with mixed feelings about this awkward situation. The time and the freedom to create new work is precious even more important to me than the retrospective. I have wrestled with the ego desire to have the kind of recognition that the Museum's show and publication might provide me, but there are also some yogic teachings that warn against getting too caught up in that kind of desire: "If something has to happen, it will happen." ~ "If something doesn't happen, surly the hand of destiny has something to do with that too."

This FIFTH book of 12x12" images seemed like it would be the last in the series of 12x12 Studies BOOKS. However, as I am revising this introduction in March, 2024, I am about to complete two more 12x12" inkjet printing projects: 1) the Eighth Book of 12x12" Studies, and the eighths special, thematic 12x12" PROJECT regarding a collection of 12x12" inkjet print versions I made based on my earliest (1994-2000) Studies project which consisted of miniature 3.5"square silver gelatin prints inspired by miniature piano compositions, including a project dedicated to the music of jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk.

(visit The Complete series of 12x12" Studies PROJECTS and BOOKS )

I want to stress yet again that all the images published in my blog versions of the 12x12" Books and Projects exist as 12x12" inkjet prints of impressive technical quality. The images published on my blog, however, can seem--in their initial appearance in the blog's default presentation mode--a bit unsharp, and tonally flat particularly on desktop and laptop computers, due to image compression issues. It is possible to see the blog images with excellent resolution and luminous tonalities, in an alternative viewing mode by clicking twice on any image in my blog projects. I have written about all the technical stuff in the following link: How to Best View My Online Blog Projects & Images

The Photographs

BOOK FIVE

12x12" Studies

#1 Bk Five 12x12 version of "Skeleton Garage" ~ from the Garage project

#2 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Still Life, watering can, latex gloves" The Pandemic Inspired projects

#3 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Curtain House" from The Pandemic Inkjet Prints project

#4 Bk Five 12x12 version (View of our deck and the N Meadow from inside our house looking)

#5 Bk Five 12x12 version, Late summer, 2023 Still Life, preparations for Wedding Party)

#6 Bk Five 12x12 version (Restaurant Chairs and table setting), Still Life, Walkabout project

#7 Bk Five 12x12 Study, (Sea Lion on back, Dog, Zoo pool)

#8 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Hudson River, Cloud & shadow on hills" ~ Hudson River Valley

#9 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Bird, driveway puddle, foggy morning" The Pandemic Inspired projects

#10 Bk Five 12x12 version "Mr. Blue on Blue" from The Pandemic Inkjet Prints project

#11 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Mr. Blue's shadow" from The Pandemic Inkjet Prints project

#12 Book Five 12x12 Study, "Gloria and luminous gray Tree"

#13 Bk Five 12x12 Study version, from "Silent Dialogue between two dreaming women"

#14 Bk Five 12x12 version of Triadic Poem (Falling Man, three birds, suspended ladder)

~ click on the image to enlarge ~

#15 Bk Five 12x12 version Rain falling on an umbrella (from the Persephone Series, Part II)

#16 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Separator Screen & Chandelier" Babysitting project

#17 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Setting Son, view through front window" Babysitting project

#18 Bk Five 12x12 version, Symmetrical photo "Shadows on laundry room wall" Babysitting project

#19 Bk Five 12x12 version, "Hotel plastic drinking cup" ~ the Alaska project

#20 Bk Five 12x12 Study version South Pond, early morning fog, Creation-Dissolution project

#21 Bk Five 12x12 version (Arching branch in snow on raised bed) Great Wonder project)

Zen Practice

#22 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project

#23 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project

Reflection of Hao's father bending over, preparing food

#24 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Balloon Ribbon"

#25 12x12 Version of an image from part Zen Practice, Silver World project "TV screen reflection"

#26 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Pillow & vines"

#27 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Electric Piano"

#28 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Orange box"

#29 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Leaning lamp"

#30 12x12 Version of an image from part viii, Zen Practice, Silver World project "Chair shadow"

#31 Bk Five 12x12 version, Symmetrical Photograph, "Vaulted Ceiling" (absent ceiling lights)

From the 2015 project As Above, So Below (no longer available online)

#32 Bk Five 12x12 version, Symmetrical "Blue Angel of Tears" The Pandemic Inkjet Prints project

#33 Bk Five 12x12 Symmetrical image from the project I Was So Happy To See My Friend's Face

#34 Bk Five 12x12 version of "Symmetrical Meadow Photograph with 4 flocks of birds flying in a V shape"

(click on image to enlarge)

This image, and the three before it (#30,.31 & 32) have a special feeling or presence
which I associate with angels. Visit this link Collected Angel Projects & photographs

Of course birds have a direct relationship to angels. See my project
Conference of the Birds

#35 Bk Five 12x12 version of "Symmetrical Sunset Lake with white limbs and blue water"

#36 Bk Five 12x12 version, Symmetrical Photograph, "Burning Bush"

#37 Bk Five 12x12 version of Symmetrical image: "Dark Angel"

#38 Bk Five 12x12 version of Symmetrical image: Mountain road and garden"

#39 12x12 Version "After a storm, view through picture window of two lamps"

#40 12x12 Version "Still life: plastic book holder, plant shadows, heart . . ."

#41 12x12 Version "Pumpkin viewed through front screen door window & reflections"

This project was published and announced on

my bog's Welcome Page

December 22, 2023

Revised, March 2024

Related Blog Project Links

How to Best View My Online Blog Images with your desktop computer.

The Complete list of Studies Projects

The Complete series of 12x12" Studies BOOKS and PROJECTS

The Complete Collections of Theme-Related Blog Projects

Symmetrical Photographs a collection of Images, Projects and Texts

Please visit the Welcome Page to my blog The Departing Landscape. It includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating from the most recent to those dating back to the 1960's. You will also find on the Welcome Page my resume, contact information . . . and much more.

12/12/23

12x12 Project "Still Life" Homage to Morandi

12x12"

Studies Project

"Still Life"

(Homage to Giorgio Morandi)

December 2023

Introduction

This 12x12" Studies Project (the sixth in the series of 12x12" Projects) draws images from a large blog project "Still Life" : Homage to Giorgio Morandi which consists of fifteen "chapters" beginning with photographs made in our house, then extending into the studio context, then on to landscapes, flowers, abstractions (Brushstrokes) and finally pictures made away from home, the Walkabout photographs, which are in many ways similar to my many other Studies projects, although the Still Life images are imbued with a formal language which resonates with a heartfelt remembrance of Morandi's vision, the way he structured relationships of shapes in space, qualities of light, the land, etc. ~ I worked on the Still Life blog project for a full year, 2013-14, and loved every minute of it which included studying many books and reading two biographies about Morandi and his work. Two additional projects followed the Still Life project that were inspired by Morandi--I invite you to visit The Light of Memory, and then a project about a letter Morandi wrote to the great jazz musician and composer Thelonious Monk! click here.

All of the images from the earlier Still Life project were originally square images, thus I have not had to change them much for this 12x12" Project. Of course in this 12x12" project I have added the surrounding tonal mattes which I feel provides a new dimension of meaning or visual life to the earlier original works. At the time I made the blog Still Life project I was not making inkjet prints. All the images you will see below now exist as 12x12" inkjet prints (though the files are large, permitting me to make larger prints if the need ever arises).

Please be sure to see my other 12x12" Studies Books and Projects. If you want to see my explanation of why I have included the tonal borders or mattes surrounding the 12x12" Studies images please visit my project The Pandemic Inkjet Prints.)

Note: for those of you who are viewing this project with a desk-top computer:

you can enlarge the images below by clicking on them once, and once again;

you can also zoom-in- and zoom-out, and you can change the brightness of

the image on your screen. To learn more about how to get the highest

possible viewing quality for my bog published images click here.

12x12 "Still Life" Studies

The Photographs

#1 : 12x12" Still Life project: (Metal sink, oval dish, metal canning jar rim, in water)

#2 : 12x12" Still Life project: (Red cup in the microwave oven)

#3: 12x12" Still Life project: (Cardboard cat house on a metal shelf)

#4: 12x12" Still Life project: (Cake decorating stand with two pieces of blue tape in the background)

#5: 12x12" Still Life project: ("Studio Still life" : stack of metal objects and red handles behind)

Morandi carefully constructed his still life compositions, so I tried it myself.

The red handles belong to something like a large garlic press.

#6: 12x12" Still Life project: ("Studio Still life" - Amarillo plant)

#7: 12x12" Still Life project: (Plastic flowers in a black square, a white dish, horizon lines.)

Morandi made many "Flower Paintings" and he often painted the same flowers over

and over again. This was possible because he kept most every thing he painted

so that he could go back to the objects and see how they changed over

time. He also painted plastic or artificial and dried flowers, and he

enjoyed observing how dust which accumulated on them changed their appearance.

#8: 12x12" Still Life project: (Plant in a metal shelf)

#9: 12x12" Still Life project: (Dried Plant in small ceramic vase, & shadow)

#10: 12x12" Still Life project: (Black Metal Canning Pot)

This pot is alive, with luminous blue eyes; its body is filled with the stars that pervade

the entire universe. The image, and the one's above it, are very animated for me

and their aliveness presents in varying humorous ways.

#11: 12x12" Still Life project: (Squash on a piece of glass in front of our picture window)

It was a cold misty morning when I made this picture for my Morandi inspired Still Life

project. I seldom create compositions and them photograph them, but I wanted to

experience how it feels to work like Morandi. In the background we can see

part of the North Meadow and its pond on a cloudy, misty fall morning.

I like the green edge of the thick glass which I had moved out of

alignment with the table's top edge. Their lines cross at the
very center point of the image, just below the point where

the squash sits on the glass and touches its own reflection.

#12: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Christmas Candle and house plant)

#13: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Wood vase with dried flowers in warm light and a "blue moon.")

This Morandi inspired image, which contains a blue moon and a dried flower

begins a set of four images with very warm, golden light.

#14: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project : (Flower & Garlic Still Life)

This Morandi inspired flower still life includes a garlic and the warm light

from a setting sun over the meadow which was coming through our

picture window and reflecting on the door of our stainless steel

refrigerator. The foreground reflections are being seen in our

granite kitchen counter. I like the way the warm tone of the

dark matte becomes an integral part of the still life's visual context.

#15: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project : (Wooden blue bird, golden lamp post, reflections in our picture window)

#16: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Silver serving tray; reflection of tea kettle & illuminated lamp)

#17: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Stainless pots and pans on stove top, Memphis

After studying Morandi's painting for several years it seemed

everything around me turned into a still life homage to

Morandi. I took this photograph at my friend

Larry's house in Memphis during a visit.

I love the metallic grays, the light, the movement of the dark shapes in the lower

half of the image, the reflections of light in the space above the

stainless bowl, and just below the top gray matte space.

#18: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (book, papers on corner of a ping pong table)

One of the things I love most about the border tones is the way I can separate the dark

tones just slightly between the inside image tones and the border tones which often

creates a fascinating sense of the image floating is space.

#19: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Two round hay bales wrapped in white plastic in a landscape)

I took this picture after a light snow on an early winter morning in the rolling hills

of Canandaigua. It's obvious (I know) but just look at the way the soft warm

light touches the one bale! The way the small clouds in the background

echo the shapes of the bales and the snow shapes on the ground! The

way everything is connected and rests peacefully in the frame.

The way the bales are cuddling up to each other. I love

Morandi's landscape paintings. They were the

inspiration for that part of the blog project.

#20: 12x12 "Still Life" Project: (Landscape, Canandaigua Lake, and a house with a white square shape)

#21: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Landscape constructed with triangular shapes)

#22: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" project: (Landscape with long tapering form of sun-streaked clouds)

#23: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" Walkabout project: (Salt shakers, soy sauce bottle, blue light)

This image and the one below belong to a sub-series of the early blog Still Life project

which I call the "Walkabout" projects. Each project includes still-life like

photographs inspired by Morandi, though found in everyday life

outside of my home or studio context.

#24: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" Walkabout project: (Water Bottle with Lemon Slice)

#25: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" Studio project (Corner of Studio)

The 12x12 print reveals a space, a line, a light that the blog reproduction

does not do justice to. The blog project devotes a chapter to the theme

"Studio". My subject matter was my wife Gloria's ceramic studio

in the basement of our house.

26: 12x12: Studies "Still Life" Studio project (Enclosed space used for throwing on the wheel)

#27: 12x12" Still Life project: (Dried flowers in tall ceramic vase)

#28: 12x12" Still Life project: (Bananas and tomatoes)

This project was first published and announced

on my blog's Welcome Page December 12, 2023

(revised Jan 17, 2024)

Related Blog Project Links

"Still Life" : Homage to Giorgio Morandi 2013-14

Walkabout Part I, Misc.

Walkabout Part II, Journey to Memphis

Walkabout Part III, The House Remodeled

Walkabout Part IV, 2023 Return Visit to Memphis