J Dreag
In addition to the Self Portrait Project and the Mystery Project, I’m also doing the Photo Response Project – a free project offered by the Art House Co-op.
It needed to be postmarked by April 30th and I will be one day late. At least I finished it!
I should say, though, that I thought it had to be postmarked on the 31st and I thought tomorrow was the 31st. As I discover every year, there are not 31 days in April… *The more you know!*
“Mrs. Gump, is there a Mr. Gump?”
“He’s on vacation.”
Probably not at Topsail Island, though. Which is where I am and have been since the 14th. I would like to say “That is why I have not updated my blog” but that would be a lie. I could say that I was busy getting things together for vacation, but that would only be a half-truth. I have not updated my blog because of my typical reasons. However, I did manage to post every day for a whole week that one week a couple weeks ago!! (did you follow that? I didn’t)
So, yes, Topsail Island, NC. Specifically, Surf City, NC. It has been beautiful and even though today is a gray one, that’s quite alright as I tend to favor them. I wanted to share with you a picture I took at sunrise on the 18th. Here:
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).
It Does Art 