Nature Photography

Some photos taken recently on my walks through Arden.

Art on the Town Opening

I will be at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden, DE for the April 1st, Art on the Town opening. If you're a local friend, you are invited to stop by. I am planning to show a sampling of works in different mediums. Here's what I wrote for the brochure, so now I must deliver.

"Linda Celestian’s work although abstract is unmistakably inspired by nature. She explores many mediums and has chosen to show works in colored inks, oil paint, encaustic and fiber next to each other the way you might find them in her studio. Come out to meet her and learn how working in more than one medium aids in her to ability to express her feelings about the beauty of nature."

The work I posted paired together for the Duets show application inspired the idea for this show. I might even get some of my photos printed to have on hand. The idea is to present some work together that I'll probably never show together in a gallery setting but will highlight how I work. A photograph taken on vacation might inspire a painting which in turn inspires a sculpture, which inspires me to photograph something I find in nature that reminds me of the painting and so on. In the end it's hard to tell what came first and doesn't even matter. It's easy to see that it all came from me or so I think.

Here's a video interview done by my friend David Nordheimer at the installation of my February show, I'm talking about my inspiration and my technique in oil paint. It's preceded by an infomercial about Wilmington's Art on the Town:

Looking Through the Dew

Here's some photos I took one morning through my car windshield.

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from unexpected places. I think my senses are heightened because I spend a lot of time working in the visual realm. My acting teacher called it looking with soft eyes, like a baby. This is something we actually practiced in acting class. I think it's the way I've always seen things. I've been known for seeing things others miss and in turn not seeing things that others think are blatant, like street signs.

Salt stains on asphalt.

Nature Photograpy

Yesterday I brought my camera along on my walk through the woods. I rock hopped down the middle of Naaman's creek stopping here and there to take pictures of the water.

I didn't bring a tripod so I steadied the camera against my face or knee as best as I could.

I love how you can see bits of blue sky reflected in the water.

Since art imitates nature, this is what I worked on when I got home.

This is painted fabric that I then spray painted with rocks as resists.

The top half of this shot is a painting on plexiglass, I'm holding it up so the light from the window is coming through. This is something I'd love to work on scaling up for the gallery.

Another piece of fabric I worked on. And now I have some really cool spray painted rocks.

Inspiration

I've been known to say that nature never ceases to amaze me. These photos were taken on Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The waters surrounding the island are gorgeous turquoises that change depending on the depth of the water. I really couldn't dream of a better place to go while working on my current body of work.

The last 2 photos are of a silk sculpture I worked on before the trip, it's crazy how it looks like the colors and forms I photographed. I know there will be more work coming out of this trip. We stayed right on the beach and the sound of the waves rolling onto the shore lulled me to sleep every night.

Bubbles and Abstract Photos

Here's something you don't see every day. This is my niece Kim in a bubble, blown and held in place by her brother, Ryan. The kids had alot of fun with bubbles in the pool.
















I had a lot of fun taking these abstract shots. Inspiration for new paintings as soon as I can get back in the studio.

Winter Photography

I know spring is almost here, so I thought I'd better share these now. I photograph my skylights when it snows. There are 4 big skylights in my kitchen. They leak of course, but I really don't want to lose them, I love the light and being able to see the sky.

Here's a few more snow shots, some of them I actually ventured outside to take.