I looked at expression as an abstract noun back at the beginning of my study in April of 2022, and created a facial expression out of wire for my images. But today, I’m exploring “a manifestation of an emotion, feeling, etc., without words” and communication of emotion through art. In Photography and the Art ofContinue reading “Abstraction, Expression, and Sonification”
Tag Archives: abstract art
Abstract as a Verb
This last week my images were inspired by some things I read in Photography and the Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson. He says, “The expressive quality of a photograph depends on the photographer’s ability to abstract, that is, to separate the parts from the whole. Abstracting is recognizing both the basic from of somethingContinue reading “Abstract as a Verb”
Contradictory Abstractions: The Dynamic of Action / Reaction
This morning I read, in Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen by Robert McKee, “Every consequential moment in life pivots around a dynamic of action/reaction. In the physical realm, reactions are equal, opposite, and predictable in obedience to Newton’s third law of motion; in the human sphere, the unforeseenContinue reading “Contradictory Abstractions: The Dynamic of Action / Reaction”
Contradictory Abstractions: The Synthesis of Beauty and Ugliness
It’s the last day of the first month of the new year, and I woke up early, tore apart my mirrorworld, and started fresh. Though conceptually I feel like my ideas are coming together, the images aren’t yet what I’ve been hoping for. How about you? How did your month go? This week I’m exploringContinue reading “Contradictory Abstractions: The Synthesis of Beauty and Ugliness”
Dialectic Thinking and the Study of Contradictory Abstractions
Last week, while thinking about the first of my new calls to action “To find the truth in deceit and the deceit in truth; either deceive the truth, or unveil the deceit” (I now think reveal works better than unveil), the idea of deceiving truth, along with the blues songs I’ve been studying, got meContinue reading “Dialectic Thinking and the Study of Contradictory Abstractions”
Expanding the Study of Contradictory Abstractions
Not Just Nouns Anymore While reading The Linchpin Writer by John Matthew Fox, I came across this interesting sentence: “You should use your descriptions to do one of two things: to either defamiliarize the familiar, or to familiarize the unfamiliar. “ The form of that sentence, with its contradictions, reminded me of “find the despairContinue reading “Expanding the Study of Contradictory Abstractions”
Calvino’s 3rd Memo: Exactitude – Crystal & Flame
I’m continuing to find inspiration in Six Memos for the Next Millennium by Italo Calvino. This week I’m looking at Exactitude and Vagueness as contradictory abstractions. Let’s start with some definitions: exactitude: precision, accuracy, meticulousness vagueness: unspecific, imprecise; obscure, hazy, shadowy Calvino uses the symbols of crystal and flame, so I decided to start there.Continue reading “Calvino’s 3rd Memo: Exactitude – Crystal & Flame”
Quickly Capturing Lingering Light
It’s amazing how energizing one cool, cloudy day was. Today, was back to hot and sweaty, but it didn’t feel as oppressive. I finally set up my new mobile mirrorworld to my satisfaction, and played with an interesting purple and green light palette. I find it amusing that these random globs of dried hot glueContinue reading “Quickly Capturing Lingering Light”
The Values of Literature
Last week I stumbled upon Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium which are a series of planned lectures about literary values he was working on when he died. He died before he finished writing the sixth. His six values of literature are: Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, Multiplicity, and Consistency. In each of hisContinue reading “The Values of Literature”
The Beauty of Dissonance
Beauty Today is the first time in this exciting study of abstract nouns that I’m revisiting a word to study it more deeply. When I first approached beauty on the second day of the A to Z Challenge in April, I found a thorough definition on dictionary.com. My Merriam Webster’s defines it only slightly differentlyContinue reading “The Beauty of Dissonance”
Experience Writing 