As usual, it’s been awhile…

Typical Jenn. I always forget how long it’s been since I last wrote. I’m surprised by the amount of time that has passed. I shouldn’t be, though. Things happen, life happens, etc…

I’ve been working on boxes for the past couple of weeks. Little decorative boxes that I paint and sculpt embellishments for. I’ll post pics at some point.

For the past 30 minutes, though, I’ve been going through files on my computer. Specifically old artwork and photographs. I’ve been sorting through the past several years of my life wondering where I would be now, artistically, had I been able to keep my shit together.

Life happens.

I have prints of my ocean photographs on Fine Art America that I occasionally sell. I found the folder containing them and I wanted to share one of my favorite ones. It’s not the most colorful or interesting, but it makes me feel the most. It’s not anyone’s favorite, but mine. I call it “Pull” because that’s what’s happening. I was standing in the water at Topsail Island in North Carolina and the waves pulled back, my feet sinking into the sand. It made me dizzy, yet it grounded me. I love that feeling. I look forward to going back.

I’ll write again soon.

Dead foot…

I took a series of photos a few months ago (probably longer than a few, I suck at time) of feet. When I was in junior high I went through this foot-drawing phase. I just drew feet on everything and I have no idea why. My English teacher (who wasnt a bit fond of me) smiled and said “Maybe when you grow up, you’ll sell shoes”. Yes. At 14 years old, I aspired to be Al Bundy (although I should say if Her Hotness Katey Segal was my wife, I would have zero complaints).

Last night and a bit today I’ve been playing with these photos. I have a sort of love/hate for photo editing software because it helps me get my photos close to what I see in my head, but also allows me to procrastinate on learning how to fully operate my wonderful camera. Lazy. I’m just lazy. On one particular photo, I zoomed in and out repeatedly; getting up close and personal with dry skin. The adjustments I made to the photo caused discoloration and pronounced shadows and slight imperfections so much that the foot looks filthy, disgusting, and dead. I love it.  I love the horror of it, I guess.

Going back to the first paragraph of my childhood aspirations I actually wanted to be everything in the entire world. There were certain careers that stood out more than others, but I liked the idea of being able to help people with anything from a plumbing problem to an interior design crisis. One specific career that I was really interested in was becoming a mortician.  I wanted to be a Funeral Director. To me, Funeral Directors got to play several different parts; like actors, except continuous work was a guarantee (maybe this is relevant to my identity issues). This life-long preoccupation with death comes through in a lot of my artwork and this foot photo was no exception! After playing around, it started looking like a dead foot. The skin, along with looking filthy and dry, appeared mottled. I’ve done this with body photos before and I always like the outcome, but I’ve never zoomed in like I did with the foot. I like that even more.

I am fascinated with breaking people/bodies into sections. Picking one area and highlighting or removing it from where its supposed to be. Disjointing, I suppose. So taking this foot and zooming in so close goes along with that fascination. It’s truly repulsive (and I’m smiling as I write that).