Of my growth.
Live within my heart.
Each a detail of the whole. ~Ally.
Love begins to seek us.
~Paulo Coelho.
Making this arrangement.
The background of this ephemeral artwork was an ice piece that had been made with a simple arrangement of tiny white stones and some slightly larger white quartz stones. Under the ice, the stones created the white-on-white nebulous atmosphere I wanted.
Three perfectly formed gardenias were placed on the surface of the ice and five garlic seed pods were positioned under and around the flowers.
The original image.
The image below: The strongest love, was the original photograph and first shown on my Tumblr website. You can see it HERE.
The top image: The moment we begin to seek love, was the original image, after being stylized very slightly with the Deep Dream Generator.
I experimented with the Deep Dream Generator for about five months. My initial idea was to see what my photographs would look like in the style of other artists. Maybe it would help me in my quest to start drawing and painting again?
In many ways it did. But in the end, I realized that my own artwork is not so much entangled with the 'weird and phantasmagorical' ~ But it's more about the perception of 'magic' that lies within the beauty and harmony of simplicity.
And so finally, after generating thousands upon thousands of images using my own images as the Base image and the images of other artists as the Style image, what seemed to work best for me, was to use one of my own images as both the Base and Style and just ever so slightly increase the stylization effect. You'll have to look closely at the two images to actually notice all that much difference ~ But it's there. And for me, that's all that's necessary in order to suggest a slightly painterly effect.
Demonstrate its fragility.
~Paulo Coelho.
In every love lies the seed of our growth. ~Paulo Coelho.
The quotes I've selected to accompany my images are by Paulo Coelho in his book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept.
I read the book several years ago and can't remember ever weeping so much whilst reading a book. I tend to love happy-ever-after endings in books and films and By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept certainly provided that. But to reach her own truth our heroine had to leave the man she had grown to love, when he started to love her more than the spiritual path they were both destined to follow.
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept strives to show that 'true love is an act of total surrender.' At a deeper level, Coelho also gives the message that as there are no rules when it comes to love, there are no rules when it comes to worshiping God: 'To love is to be in communion with the other, and to discover in that other the spark of God.' Nabou Book Review.
Coelho talks about a long-forgotten aspect of God: His feminine side, the so-called 'Goddess' ~ Present in the love the two main characters feel for each other. The monk turned Goddess-worshiper at first thinks he’s faced with the dilemma of staying with the woman he loves and abandoning the life that fulfils him, or venturing on his planned mission to change the world. In the end, he discovers that a choice need not be made: To love a woman is to love life itself. Nabou Book Review.
About my Art.
After working with many traditional art modalities: drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, sculpture and photography ~ My art making is more attuned now to nature, as I work with relatively small assemblages and arrangements built up from stones and crystals, flowers, weeds and plants combined with other natural materials that I find in the local bushland or surrounding urban streets. The Heart of Immortality
Hundreds of photographs are taken at different stages, that can't possibly capture the beauty I see with my eyes or the feelings felt while adding and removing, arranging and rearranging components such as dried sticks covered with lichen, crystals and rocks, shells and seeds. The Heart of Immortality
We breathe life into our greatest joys
As well as our darkest moments. ~Gregg Braden.
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Thanks ever so much @photofeed. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
beautiful layout
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Working with ice has been fascinating Teresa. In pieces like this one, it gave added depth to the background. I then arranged the flowers and seed pods with this in mind. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
Your post is always filled with positivity and beauty. A potent and lovely combination <3.
This is crazy amazingly beautiful @allyinspirit 😍😍😍 and that is garlic pods😨 I thought it was pearls! I love the background too.. you are so creative and have your own "touch" on everything.. the story and the photographs😊 luv it!
I'm so happy that you connect to these images and words @cicisaja. Often when I'm working with assemblages, I don't always start off with a clear idea in mind. In this case, I had already prepared the ice and was looking for white or off-white elements. The gardenias were an easy choice but I still hadn't decided what would go with them. And then at our organic farmers' market, I was drawn to the unusual forms of these garlic pods. Perfect, I thought. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
Yeess... it is perfect! I enjoy the words and pictures😊 the colour just amazing, perfect light too. 😍😍
Really fabulous work here, thank you for sharing with us. 🙏
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It truly is my pleasure to share this piece @wonderwop. I'm pleased you like it. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
I like the way the Deep Dream Generator brings out the flowers here - great snap!
Thanks so much @nickyhavey. At the time, of making this work, my present Sony camera was still a dream away and so the clarity of the original photograph was not all that fantastic.
Which is when the DDG can be really useful ~ Making an image more stylized, a little more sharpness can be achieved. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
Yea it's amazing what pictures can be created with some software magic 🙂
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I like your take on your pics
They area gorgeous
Hey, what do you do with these... like even the pink one before this?
Are they to take pictures, or is there more to the story?
Just curious :)
This is really beautiful. I love how you add words and poetry and explanations to your artwork - to me it gives a more complete package. Melting ice, decaying flowers - so ephemeral, that's for sure. xxx
WOW this is a work of art so beautiful
I am shocked by the beauty of your art photos! It's beautiful! Gardenias are beautiful. I've never seen them in real life.
Gardenias aren't indigenous to Australian @veta-less, but they are fairly common in Sydney suburban gardens. Probably because they can handle our long hot summers, as much as for their beauty and their very distinctive and exotic fragrance. So pleased to share their beauty with you. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
I like the fragrance of gardenia in perfumery. Chanel's house has a perfume called Gardenia. This is a delicate aroma of white flowers ...)
Beautiful arrangement, such a delicate composition of objects and colour!
Wow I love your art work. The art and the photography are so beautiful and original. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much @sjarvie5. The gardenias have a unique beauty in the way that their petals spiral out. I always take features like this into account when arranging my assemblages. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
Lovely colour and composition.
Thanks so much Donna. You would love the DDG for stylizing an image, but it steals your time like nothing else I've known. ♥︎♥︎⚖️♥︎♥︎
Absolutely beautiful!
Well done @allinspirit! I can not believe I missed seeing this until now. :-( you must spend countless hours diving into your creativity, creative mind, and creative process. I can almost smell those wounderfully fragrant Gardenias. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I also read that book a long time ago, but for my bad luck I don't remember much of it. I think I should read it again because this publication has inspired me.
Thank you for sharing this <3