Diane Smook
Current Gallery: portraits_from_the_garden ( piece)
The subjects that I have examined in this portfolio are an intimate perspective on the natural world explored within my own garden. These tiny segments of nature express beauty of form and movement; harmony of shape and juxtaposition. They are portraits of buds not yet flowered, mushrooms underfoot, flowers past their prime, insects that are beautiful and strange, each performing on its rural stage. My frame of reference is portraiture. I studied with Philippe Halsman, and the principals he taught guide me in this work. What has remained with me from those sessions are his ironclad rules of technique filtered through his subtle wit. I have also long admired the work of August Sander, who long documented the range of middle class people in his native Westerwald. He created a comprehensive study of the enormous variety of individuals living and working in that region of Germany, highlighting individual occupations, and including references to these factors. My goal is to document the diversity of daily life within the context of my garden, remaining as unobtrusive as possible, and at the same time share the sense of life and death, wonder and wit that I find there. The five images presented here are carefully prepared digital versions of my darkroom images.
The subjects that I have examined in this portfolio are an intimate perspective on the natural world explored within my own garden. These tiny segments of nature express beauty of form and movement; harmony of shape and juxtaposition. They are portraits of buds not yet flowered, mushrooms underfoot, flowers past their prime, insects that are beautiful and strange, each performing on its rural stage. My frame of reference is portraiture. I studied with Philippe Halsman, and the principals he taught guide me in this work. What has remained with me from those sessions are his ironclad rules of technique filtered through his subtle wit. I have also long admired the work of August Sander, who long documented the range of middle class people in his native Westerwald. He created a comprehensive study of the enormous variety of individuals living and working in that region of Germany, highlighting individual occupations, and including references to these factors. My goal is to document the diversity of daily life within the context of my garden, remaining as unobtrusive as possible, and at the same time share the sense of life and death, wonder and wit that I find there. The five images presented here are carefully prepared digital versions of my darkroom images.
Gallery-quality prints · Independent artists · Décor to adore
from $ 19
from $ 19
from $ 19
from $ 19
from $ 19