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Posts Tagged ‘illustration’

Moments Captured: The Art of Donald Langosy

Posted in Inspiration, tagged art, Contributing Writer, creativity, Donald Langosy, family, illustration, Inspiration, painting, Photography on December 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Over the past few years, one of the great pleasures in my creative journey has been making the acquaintance of the Langosy family. Collaborating with illustrator Zoe Langosy has helped me view my photography in new ways and develop an evolving appreciation for collage. Her sister Hadley is a creative web designer but it is her photography that moves me with the ethereal beauty of her images. Mother Elizabeth Langosy is an editor and writer whose words always make me think more deeply about the craft of writing. As for my most recent Langosy inspiration? That would be patriarch, Donald. Each time I have the honor of visiting the Langosy home, I enter and fall into the worlds he has created on canvas. I only slightly exaggerate.

The canvases, of which there are many, loom large. Each frame contains a story with a single moment captured. Just barely.

In just about every painting I’ve seen there is an act in progress, a transformation taking place. There is motion. Whimsy abounds …

… as does a celebration of nature …

… and of travels …

… and most definitely of love. As he will tell you immediately in person and notes in his writing, his wife is his muse and often his model.

I have always admired artists that meld light and color to tell a powerful story. While I do love Mr. Langosy’s use of color, what especially inspires me about his work is the poetry in his paintbrush. Even before I read his artist statement and learned of his literary beginnings, I could see the love of myth,magic and lore on his canvases.

On the Isle of Prospero by Donald Langosy

Given that he’s been painting since the 1970’s, it takes time to view Mr. Langosy’s work. I hope quite soon that he has a major public exhibition but until then view his paintings, sculpture, and more online: The Art of Donald Langosy An Obsure Moment Justified

Enjoy! 😉

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The Blue Burning Heart

Posted in Guest Contributor, Inspiration, tagged beauty, collage, illustration, Inspiration, lyrics, paper crafts, Photography, photos, pictures, UForge Gallery, visual art, Zoe Langosy on November 12, 2011| 2 Comments »

I love showing collage artist Zoe Langosy my photography. She is the only person who has ever viewed my work and said, “Wow, that’s beautiful. I can’t wait to cut it up!” And I, quite frankly, can’t wait to see what she does with the deconstructed images. As I’ve said before, she is an inspiration to me as an artist who follows her passion with paper and at the same time is so guiding to other artists, young and old. I’m honored that her latest work includes a bit of my photography, the sunlit branches.

Last time these branches helped garb a geisha of autumn and winter. This time around the scene is decidely different in the piece she’s created for show at the UForge Gallery’s Visual Lyrics Exhibit. For this exhibit, artists were challenged to pay homage to the lyrics of their favorite song. Find out for yourself what song inspired Zoe. The show will be on view starting tonight through November 27th. More information available here: Visual Lyrics Exhibit at UForge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA.

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The Geisha Completed!

Posted in Inspiration, tagged art, collaboration, collage, geisha, illustration, Photography, seasons, Zoe Langosy on May 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

It was a pleasure participating in Somerville Open Studios 2011. I met a lot of wonderful people. A more detailed post about outcomes I may share later. For those of you not able to attend the event, the two Geisha, representing the overlap of the four seasons, were beautifully presented by artist Zoe Langosy. A few signed, limited-edition prints are still available for purchase. For more information, contact the artist directly through her website http://www.zoe.langosy.net/folio.php or send me a note that I will share with her.

Read about the origin of these pieces here: https://wordsandimagesbycynthia.com/2011/04/14/embodying-nature/

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Embodying Nature Through Collage

Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged collaboration, collage, culture, figurative art, geisha, illustration, kimono, nature, Photography, Zoe Langosy on April 14, 2011| 5 Comments »

In an article titled “Reading for Fashion,” Stan Tymorek writes of clothing inspiring poetry and of poetry inspiring clothing design. Near the end of the article he makes note of “… the elaborate Japanese geisha costumes that still manage to mirror nature.”

Well, the kimono robes that Zoe is creating as part of our collaboration do more than mirror nature.

Each geisha kimono is partially composed of nature photography — the images printed on acid free paper and then applied as dictated by Zoe’s overall design. Once completed, her two geisha will represent the span and overlap of all four seasons.

Here’s snow I photographed one winter in Newton, MA forming the belt of one kimono.

Here’s a shell photographed in summer off the coast of Maine fleshing out the petals of this kimono’s rose.

With each new image she shares with me, I grow increasingly inspired by Zoe’s unique expression of the geisha and the elaborate design of their attire. I consider myself a patient person but I am humbled by her ability to meticulously make her creative vision real … piece by tiny piece of paper.

View the completed artwork in just two weeks at Somerville Open Studios. Zoe will be joining me at my table, located in the Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143. Who knows? We may be able to share highlights of our next collaboration. 😉

Below is the link for general visitor information. Hope to see you there.

http://www.somervilleopenstudios.org/visit/

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Family Ties

Posted in Guest Contributor, Inspiration, tagged art, drawing, family, illustration, New York, streetscapes, urban landscape on March 10, 2011| 1 Comment »

The first time I traveled to NY and met my young cousin Tim, I learned two things. First, that he’d taken a photograph that I had sent to my aunt of me riding a water buffalo (hey, it was for work!) to his school as part of show and tell. Second, I learned that he had an insatiable infatuation for the subways and roadways of his hometown. Moreover, he had a remarkable talent for capturing what he saw on paper. And as the years have progressed, so has his talent and imagination.

Though he is too young to know the reference and from the wrong city, his early antics of skipping school to ride the rails all day brought to mind the legendary figure of Charlie, forever trapped in Boston’s subway system.

Until I learned how to read a subway map, Tim was my guide in the big city. And even as he was pointing me in the right direction, he’d usually be called upon to help other lost souls as well.

Many years later, as far as I know, he no longer speaks of becoming an architect or urban planner. His focus now is public policy and government. No matter what career path he chooses after college, I am glad to see he is still carrying around his pens and notebooks.

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The Beauty of Collaboration

Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged collaboration, collage, craftsmanship, illustration, Photography, Somerville Open Studios, visual art on March 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

I must admit when I took these picture of trees aflame in the fall, and of snow mounds after a winter storm, I did not envision their images forming the vibrant patterns of a geisha’s flowing silk robes. But luckily I know Zoe Langosy, a figurative artist with a unique view of the world.

Zoe grew up in Somerville in an area made notorious in the 1980’s by Whitey Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang. It was in fact that gang’s activities and the negative impacts on Zoe and her sister that convinced her parents to move the family to Lexington. There, in school as well as in her family’s bohemian household, Zoe’s artistic talents were fostered. Eventually she traveled the world, living in London and Los Angeles before returning to the Boston area.

Her beautiful melancholic images have been exhibited in galleries in Boston, Los Angeles and London. She and I became friends while working together in a local shop. Somerville Open Studios has presented a great opportunity for collaboration that has already sparked conversation about future projects. Time will tell. Right now the focus is Open Studios where Zoe’s contemporary geisha — three of them — will be clothed, and in some cases tattooed, with bits of sunlit leaves, shimmering snow, and rain-kissed flower petals.

View more of Zoe’s work here.

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New Article: In the Butterfly House

Posted in Contributing Writer, Inspiration, Nature Notes, Publication Updates, tagged art, butterflies, Creativity Portal, drawing, illustration, imagination, Photography, whimsy on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Butterfly Photo by Lorraine

Do butterflies live in houses? They do in the mind of a young friend of mine. And that’s the focus of an article I wrote posted today on Creativity Portal.com, about the unexpected places one finds inspiration.

In the Butterfly House

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