Health Care Fine Art

Upgrade Fatigue: The tools keep changing every 18 months

Today FedEx delivered yet another version of Photoshop

Artists using digital tools have to be prepared to go through frequent upgrades of every tool they work with. Today I got the 11th major revision of Photoshop. It is called Photoshop CS4. Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Adoble Lightroom 2 are the essential software programs that allow me to create my art. 

About every 18 months I have to upgrade or replace my:

1. Computers
2. Computer Programs
3. Cameras
4. Printers

The hardware and software upgrades were something that I used to look forward to; sort of like a kid at Christmas. My enthusiasms for upgrades has faded over the years. There is always a lot of new controls that have to be learned (and unlearned). Often there are software bugs that mess things up. 

Until I have mastered all the new features, my work is slowed down. I prefer to work when I know the tools so well that I don't think about what I am doing; then it is intuitive. 

Life would be much easier if I had remained a painter. The basic tools (brushes, paint and canvas) would not have changed over my entire career.

One option that I chose to ignore is skipping the upgrades. The software and hardware would continue to work for many years if I just left them alone. However, at this point I think the power of the new tools justifies the hassle and cost in time and money.

I wonder if the improvements (such as doubling of computing power every 18 months) will ever stop...? To read about Moore's Law click here.

Why are Summer Greens Boring?

Bluffs-Over-the-Creek_6127

Research suggests that Healthcare art should show lots of "verdant vegetation"; in other words there should be a lot of green.

But the greenest time of year (mid-summer) is not when I want to be taking pictures. I find the continuous wall of dark green to be boring. There is just not enough variation. Fall has a rich mix of yellows, golds and reds; but Fall can have negative connotations - the impending end of the growing season; death. Not appropriate for healthcare.

Spring foliage is better than Fall. The leaves are fresh and there is a lot of variation in color and texture. But that magical time, when all the leaves emerge is over in a few weeks.

Reflecting on the variations in green in nature made me wonder: why is the green foliage in summer so monotonous?

I approached an expert, Dr. George Yatskievych, a botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Can you explain why summer greens are so boring? Is it related to the relative proportion of the different kinds of chlorophyl's or other chemicals in the leaves? Why does it vary with the season? 

I don't know why the summer greens seem boring.  I prefer to think of them more as subtle.  After all, eastern red cedars and shortleaf pines are still dark green and sycamores still tend to be a lighter green than oaks.  I think that you have to look harder for the variation, but it is there.

Plants produce only two kinds of chlorophylls, known as chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b.  Each of these has a unique, slightly different wavelength of light reflectance, but they do not contribute much to color variation in the green leaf.  In the spring, as the leaf develops, there is a lot of new chlorophyll produced in the rapidly dividing cells, but after the leaf has matured the amount produced is much less, tapering off.

Most often, the strong green color that results from the production of chlorophylls masks a variety of secondary compounds of various color, such as the reds and purples of anthocyanins and the yellows and oranges of carotenoids.  These occur in much greater variety than chlorophylls and are (along with some other chemical groups)  the compounds responsible for fall color.  To some extend, these compounds can modify the green of the leaf, darkening or lightening it somewhat in spite of the masking chlorophylls.

Leaf color is determined by more than just chemical compounds. In some species, the chloroplasts in the leaves physically align themselves so as to absorb the maximum amount of light.  In other leaves, the chloroplasts do not do so, or at any rate do so less efficiently.  This pattern of chloroplast orientation can affect light reflectance and thus the appearance of the leaf.  In other species, leaves are covered with waxy, powdery, or hairy indument, which can make them appear lighter or darker.

Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch Butterfly feeding on nectar from New England Aster

I photographed this Monarch Butterfly today. The Monarchs are migrating south now that the growing season is ending.  The Fall wildflower that I see them on the most is New England Aster.

Migration has always seemed magical to me. How can a hummingbirds, which weigh only 5-grams (as much as a Nickel) have the endurance to cross the Gulf of Mexico (500 miles)?  Monarch butterflies routinely migrate farther than that, and they weigh less and are as delicate as a rose petal.

Do you see the second insect in the picture above?

Only after I started to work the picture up did I notice the Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis). It is hanging just under the purple flowers; it's eyes are at the bottom. Great camauflouge! This is another example of an exotic (introduced) species.

Blazing Prairie - we set fire to our property

Prairie Fire

This afternoon we set fire to our North Prairie. Managed burns like this are a key to maintaining our property: The Prairie Garden Trust.

Burns during the growing season, when the grass is still green (like today) tend to have more smoke and the flames don't go as high.

If you burn on a dry day in Winter the flames in the tall grasses can reach 20 feet into the sky. Very intense, loud, hot. smokey.

Once the burn is over and the fields re-grow, the greens seem even more intense in the prairie.

 

A few days in Seattle

Twin Falls State Park

Lorna and I are spending a few days in Seattle this week. The main reason for the trip is to get some ideas about how to manage the Prairie Garden Trust for the long haul. Much of the work we are doing with the landscape won't be fully apparent for 50 or 100 years. We want to learn from others how they are trying to reach long-term goals.

There is a private garden on Bainbridge Island that has some similar goals. It is called Bloedel Reserve.

In addition to some time there I'm also getting in some photography. For example, this morning at dawn we headed to the trail at Twin Falls State Park. We spent 3 wonderful hours hiking along the Snoqualmie river. I've attached one of the pictures I took along the trail to this post.

Compass Plant Series

Compass Plant Series, click image to see larger version

One important lesson I learned in art school was the value of working in a series. By limiting choice and focusing in on a narrow subject you can dig much deeper.

The Compass Plants caught my eye while I was walking the prairie this morning. Why not do a series of their leaves! The variation of shapes and colors surprised me. I grouped just 9 of the images together to show you what I mean (see above). Fat, skinny, symmetrical, asymmetrical, few lobes and many lobes. But they are all from the same species of prairie wildflower: Silphium laciniatum.

Compass Plant leaves are very unusual; they are very flat and rigid. They feel like they are made of plastic. I positioned the leaves so the morning sun came through the leaves, transilluminating them.

Butterfly Walk

Butterfly Walk Participants. Click on image for larger picture

Yesterday was our 7th annual Butterfly Walk.
Our leader was the butterfly expert Donna Brunet. She is the one on the right in the picture above. The cool weather and lush vegetation meant a record number of butterflies seen.

To see some of the images from the walk: Click here.

If you are looking for images of Butterflies for your Hospital, the first place you should look is at Donna's website: www.donnabrunet.com

Prairie at Peak

Black-eyed Susan

The prairie here at the Prairie Garden Trust is just now hitting peak; peak flowers and maximum growth. Prairie thrives on hot humid conditions, which is what we are getting now.

Since we have had wettest year on record (going back more than 100 years!) the prairie is unusually lush. Photographing that will be keeping me busy the next couple months.

Above is a clump of Black-eyed Susans that I photographed this morning.

Morning Walk with the Dogs

Join me as I take a walk around the lake with my dogs. This 4-minute long video will give you a glimpse of the sights and sounds that I saw this morning with Pete, Sam and Boots.

You can see many of the flowers that are in bloom and hear the birds singing.

Is all Wildlife Art Mediocre?

"Chief" by Robert Bateman,acrylic on canvas

"There's an unfortunate chasm between wildlife art and what's perceived as fine art," says sculptor Bart Walter.

Indeed, I think most art connoisseurs consider realistic wild animal pictures to be "not worthy"; more craft than art.

There is a museum dedicated to art like this: The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole Wyoming. According to a story in the LA Times, the museum wants improve the publics attitude. The story is called: "Wildlife art museum seeks more humans"

Apparently not enough people know about this new 51,000 square feet museum that houses a collection of 4,000 works of art. The director of the museum (James C. McNutt) is quoted in the article:

"There's tension between first- and second-class art and who says what art is," McNutt says. "Representational art is getting back into the mainstream in ways it hasn't been for a while. But there are still quite a few museums that won't hang this kind of work, that don't care about it."

To read the full article: click here

Any thoughts on why wildlife art is held in such contempt?
Do people consider it to be too close to Kitsch?

Even if Wildlife Art is considered inappropriate in most of today's museums, what about in hospitals and medical clinics?