Leah Macdonald

I came across Leah Macdonald in the October issue of Black and White. I was immediately struck by the colours and textures that are present in her work and as i read the article i was happy to find out that these effects had not been created in Photoshop but by the artists own hand in the darkroom. Macdonald creates new worlds for her models in her photographs by layering her prints with beeswax, paint and drawings.

I find that the colours that are present in her work are very womanly and beautiful. I am a big fan of texture and i would love to see one of these prints in real life as i believe they would be even more beautiful when you could see this texture in front of you.

I love artists that work in a way where taking the photograph is only the start of the work. After the photograph is captured the artists continue to work with and add to the image until they have achieved what they where originally looking for when they released the shutter.

Maybe that is just me but that is what i think of when i look at these images and that is how I create my own photographs. When taking a photograph i believe that there is a unique feeling present that urges you to capture this particular moment in time. The initial image that is created does not necessarily represent this unique feeling straight away- i see it as been hidden inside the image and you as the artist needs to use the right process and techniques to be able to pull it out from its hiding spot withing the photograph. The hardest part is knowing when to stop working on the image and remembering what it is that you where originally looking for within the work. When you can get all of this right i believe that those are the best kind of photographs. This series of work by Macdonalds feels to me like she has achieved this.

In the article it also states that Macdonald is legally blind in her right eye. There is something to think about. What a champ.

Article is written by Susan Burnstine
Look at Macdonalds web site here

Heronimus Bosch

Today I visited the Heronimus Bosch Art Center in Hertogenbosh in Holland. I hadn't heard of the artist before but when i saw some of his characters i recognized the work. He was a well know painter in the 1500's. His work is so unique and imaginative that i can hardly believe that it was created so many years ago in a small town in Holland. All of the work refers to religious stories or meaning- his most famous being about the garden of earthly delights,i believe. Many depicting heaven and hell but in the most twisted way i have ever experienced.

My favourite painting was of the earth on the (second?) day of creation ( the last image shown above) called - the creation of the world. It shows the world both round and flat at the same time and with out any animals or humans, just the land. God can be seen in the top left corner. I think I am drawn to it as it is much simpler than his other works and was painted using black and white only. As I am very much inspired by the landscape I enjoyed seeing this painting of the world pre-humans, and the landscape is clearly based on the European landscape.

I liked some of his other works also as they where more than just painting for the sake of something beautiful, as some of them had meanings and lessons to teach the viewers- not to be a fool etc.

Overall it was some of the most memorable work that I have come across in the past few weeks.

How it relates to my work? I am not sure.

But i recently came across this quote

"your greatest assets are your weaknesses"

Its something to think about.


( i really am not sure of the spelling of his name..)