The Transitional Image

Robert Rauschenberg

 

This technique is an old rubber stampers dream come true! I still love my rubber stamps...nothing more charming than stamped ink. However, combing a gel medium transfer with an old dictionary page comes pretty close. The pages are so fragile, I baste them in matte acrylic medium before the transfer otherwise the release would destroy them.

It's hard for me to take myself seriously doing this stuff. I try to keep Robert Rauschenberg in mind. Maybe I should just work really huge. That's so man. Or yang. I can be yang. ________________________________________________________________________________________ This image "Game head" Elena Ray Copyright 2009. 

Body Of Work

A lot of my work is just being with my work. This is one of the best parts...like hanging out with a friend. _______________________________________________________________________________________

This Image "The Heart Remembers" Calligraphy and Seal stamps on a page from an old yellowed throw away novel I found in the thrift store.

The Well Of Qi

 

I've not blogged because there's no finished work to show... I've been in my studio, seems like time is going by, and when it's time to go to bed at night, I'm not sure what I've done all day, I just know I feel really good. I'm working on fulfilling a style of collage I've been dreaming about for years... and I think I'm finally beginning to catch the flow of that wave of the dream manifesting. _________________________________________________________________________________________ 

This Image "The Well Of Qi" Collage, Ink on paper. I just wanted to blog because I have not done any art all day; been doing yoga all day with my friends. There's something really special going on here. I'm part of something important. On the surface it seems like ordinary life, but we are evolving.

The Mysterious Language

Experimenting with new things... been lost in that. Sometimes you don't find anything right away. Purpose does not always work for me. I wander, I think about my friends:::sometimes the love I feel making a little collage for a friend or composing an email opens up the language for me. _________________________________________________________________________________________ This Image "Subtle Butterfly" Elena Ray copyright 2009. Original: pigment ink print on acrylic and Inkaid prepped watercolor paper.

Focusing The Camera Lens

I am honing an understanding of what works with the big Kozo prints; shallow depth of field. A sharply focused image doesn't seem to have the same poetry. Though I was happy to find this sharp image of Geoffrey. This image is from one of the last photo shoots I did right before I invested in auto focus lenses. So many of the photos in this session are just a bit soft in all the wrong ways. But there's no rules for me in focus. When it comes to focus I am in the pathless land. What I am doing now is intensifying my mind's awareness to the array of focusing techniques I have at any given moment when a camera is in my hand. Focus is a medium for message. ________________________________________________________________________________________ 

This Image "Yoga Forward Fold" Elena Ray Copyright 2009. Not sure what this pose is actually called. I tried to do it cold last night after getting up from my desk-almost went into the full expression of it-just a bit tight in the hips-didn't want to shred any tissue.

Actually this photo might work as a Kozo print. It is very sharp in the eyes, but the body falls out of focus-probably shot with a 50mm at 2.8. with natural window light. 

Epson 4800 Printer

Letting myself work all day on picture making instead of being distracted by yoga, except all the pictures I'm working on are big yoga prints. My Epson 4800 is going to run out of ink which is a bit alarming since it costs almost a grand to fill it up. Gotta get more work so I can keep working. That pretty much sums up my life and you know, I'm okay with that since I love what I do heart and soul  

Now, to make my work even more exciting for me I want to throw some travel in there...brewing some ideas on how to achieve that without interrupting my yoga practice. _________________________________________________________________________________________

Yoga Mudra * Kozo Paper

I like this mudra because of the curled and locked forefinger placed behind the thumb, which gives the hand a lot of solidity and strength. And it feels like I have a little secret hidden away, which I adore. I want secrets. I like the feeling of having a secret, and you can always tell me yours and I won't tell a soul. 

This print is on a mulberry paper, or Kozo, which I got at Hiromi paper. What's working is it's printed large, on a sheet of 17 x 22" paper, so when it's scanned the paper fibers are minimized. Usually I go the other way around, print small so the paper textures are emphasized when enlarged. But in this case I went for simplicity. I think it turned out beautiful. I'm really enjoying how simple this image is in all ways. __________________________________________________________________________________________ This Image "Yoga Mudra" Elena Ray Copyright 2009.

Evolving Consciousness~

Inventing a symbolic man to wonder about... I'm so sleepy now. I wonder if I could dream of him tonight, to see all his nerves expressed, and be illuminated by the genius of his enlightened mind. Genius... enlightenment, illumination...How much more could we evolve? 

((see gel medium ancient Japanese calligraphy laid over altered photo here: Butterfly _______________________________________________________________________________________ This Image 'untitled" Elena Ray Copyright 2009. Gel medium transfer on acrylic coated Kinwashi.