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Posts Tagged ‘GIMP’

Before I leaned over the stairwell to photograph the window, I asked the gentleman at the front desk to listen carefully. If he heard a thud, he should come running. Luckily there was no thud and I was able to photograph an interesting decorative detail from the window, Purity, by John La Farge.

PurityCoaster2019

In the early 1900s, during a lecture to young architecture students, John La Farge made the point that “The use of color in architectural decoration is not mere arrangement of pleasing tints. It is a matter of construction by color.” His philosophy is evidenced throughout Trinity Church. The rich colors and bold patterns he produced provide great inspiration for new custom merchandise from the simplicity of a square coaster to so much more including a green bordered 36 x 36 chiffon scarf, canvas pencil pouch and fountain pen. You’ll be able to find these items on the shelves of the shop at Trinity Church starting in January. Below is a slideshow of how a new pattern evolved from its original source. Hope you enjoy!

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This particular creative expression began as part housecleaning and part trying to entertain myself while housebound during a blizzard (a blizzard which continues, by the way). Flipping through a stack of books I haven’t read in ages, I came across a book about Japanese Noh robes, Patterns and Poetry, produced by the Rhode Island School of Design. A visually stunning book. I was motivated to pick up some colored pens and paper and see what might emerge as I lingered over each colorful page.

Nature is a predominant theme of the costume designs, and so as the world turned white around me I decided to free sketch and see what might happen. Drawing a heron is bit beyond me at this stage but I knew I could handle branches, leaves, berries and butterflies. I scratched a few lines on paper and then moved on to GIMP.

What evolved was the height of simplicity, my little nature sequence of leaves, then berries and then a butterfly in a field. Not quite Picasso but rather fun, I have to say, on a gray day in a troubled world, to produce a colorful flight of fancy. Enjoy.

 

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new cuff bracelet available at the shop at Trinity Church

The it I’m referring to is my creative process.  I was (and still am) one of those children who’d get caught staring off into the distance most often through a window. When asked what I was looking at or for, I could never really say. It wasn’t so much that I was seeking as waiting. At some point, not always, but sometimes, something would crystallize and I would see what I had not before. And its those little finds that I try to highlight in my photography or expand upon in my writing. The same sensibility holds true in the design work I now do.

Stairwell

For years I’ve had the pleasure of walking past this window at Trinity Church, staring through clear panes, admiring how the light shines through the decorative glass and temporarily paints the floor inside. When surrounded by so many other rich architectural details as one is at Trinity Church, I began to take this lovely but comparably simple window for granted.DSCN7868

But one day I took respite by the window. I leaned against the staircase and simply stared outside.  Then, I don’t really know why except perhaps because the light dramatically changed in some way, I began to look at the window itself, as a whole composed of an assortment of geometric parts and that’s when I saw it. Or it found me. A pattern to play with or in this case to recreate using GIMP.

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The “new” pattern that evolved can so far be found on a cuff bracelet, pencil pouch and pen, all available exclusively at the shop at Trinity Church. https://www.facebook.com/TrinityBostonShop/

 

 

 

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LayeredCoasterCeiling

It is a new year and one of the things I intend to do is continue to tap into my inner child and play with shapes and colors. These images, produced with GIMP, begin with a tiny detail from the beautifully painted ceiling inside Trinity Church Boston.

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Okay, I won’t lie … this was fun to create. 🙂

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At the beginning of May, I did a post, spring images through the double rippled glass.  Now that May nears its end, and the weather is almost consistently warm, one set of windows has been removed.  And guess what? The remaining window is a bit pitted and rippled in places too!

The bright gold forsythia flowers visible in the previous post are gone, but as I recently tried to convince a young friend, even with no flowers, green plants and hanging vines are quite beautiful.

Through the single pane, the morning light seems to shine differently, and the spring winds seem to send the vegetation moving in a different dance. My imagination is still stirred at what’s captured just by pausing for a moment.  The following image reminds me of Munch’s The Scream … though in a happier way.

And these images (only the last one altered in GIMP) remind me of those forest portals where reside dragons and other magical folk … though that thought must be influenced by recent viewings of Game of Thrones.

And, if I lift my camera above the spring green, and look up into the sky?  This is what I see, through the rippled glass.

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Branches viewed while on a short walk this afternoon.  Yes, I played around with the color and such a bit.  I think the green of spring is finally calling to me. 😉

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… wrapped around trees and trailing over broken stone walls, I’m sure there must be rabbits and mice and maybe a bird or two, but all I can see are the blossoms.

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