kitchen sink # 31 / diptych # 190 / diptych # 191 (trees) ~ thinking about light

pots and pans / reflections ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
red and blue ~ Marquis theater / Middlebury College • Middlebury, VT. • click to embiggen
trees ~ Manhattan, NYC / near Union Falls, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

While I continue with the monumental task of choosing 5-7 tree pictures - from over 80 such pictures - for submission to and consideration for the juried In Celbratiopn of Trees exhibition, I still continue to make pictures of those things, wherever I may encounter them, which prick my eye and sensibilities. Quite obviously, the life in my kitchen and kitchen sink continue to present (to my eye and sensibilities) referents which hit me where I live, picture making wise.

One of the interesting things about the kitchen in general and the kitchen sink in particular is how, over the course of the year, the light entering through the kitchen window changes from season to season. The change is most notable in the direction of the light as the sun sinks lower or rises higher in the southern sky as the seasons progress throughout the year. The color quality of the light changes as well but the changes are rather subtle in character.

It has occurred to me, if the desire ever became manifest, that I could create a still life - which could be duplicated over and over in the exact same sink location or on a kitchen counter - and picture it (over and over, from the exact same POV) throughout the year (once a month?). To be really descriptive, re: the changes in the light, the pictures most likely should be made at the exact same time of day and in all kinds of weather. To make the project really comprehensive and diverse, it would make sense to chose 4-5 different window locations about the house and replicate (with different still life arrangements and referents) the exercise in each location.

A significant part of what would make this project interesting, at least to me, is that I have become very aware how the changes, over the seasons, in the light entering the house through different windows effects and affects my perceptions about the seasons of the year. I find it very interesting that I don't need to go outside or even look outside a window to sense and feel the change of seasons.

Maybe it's time to start a picture making experiment with a single window and a single still life (which can remain intact for a few months to half a year) in order to see what happens, picture wise.

Comments

[John]

"In Celbratiopn of Trees exhibition"?? Perhaps this is somewhere in eastern Europe?

Your proposed picture making experiment sounds interesting. The light will surly change but will it be enough to sustain interest? I guess that is was experiments are for. Just don't tie up the kitchen sink for a full year... I am sure the wife would not be too happy.