Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Upside Down Inside Out

Another Town More Photos To Take 5x5 Print by Thompson Designs $8US

I love to be outside and if I can’t physically be there I still like to see out. Life can throw up curve balls though and we get stuck inside, ‘confined to barracks’. At these times I like to close my eyes and bring the outside in through my imagination. When I was little and often ill – I have a congenital lung condition - I’d lay in bed and imagine that the world was upside down and I was walking on the ceiling, stepping past the light, over the door tops and off down the hall ceiling and outside to step on the clouds.


Back in the BC years Mozi, a Chinese philosopher first mentioned the principles behind the pinhole camera setting in motion the journey towards the cameras available today. Along the way the camera obscura was developed. When light enters a dark room through a small hole, it projects the reverse image of the scene outside the room creating a camera obscura – an upside down world. There are still some of these contraptions in use today, usually at tourist spots, producing a static vista. But with the advent of high tech video equipment, the slowly changing scene can be sped up, thus bringing new meaning to ‘bringing the outside in’. Isn’t this Venice clip fantastical.

But I’d need lots of black plastic and tape to set something like this up at my place. I’ve taken some beautiful photos over the years particularly with my old SLR and I’m always meaning to get myself organised and have some enlarged and framed.

Behind the Light II 11x14 photographic print $32US from Shaded Memories

Zen Bridge 10x10 TTV photograph from House of Six Cats $25US

Pretty Plumbago 5x5 TTV photography from Hey Harriet $5US (not large but a lovely little photo at a lovely little price!)

And don’t you just want to dive into some paintings, a little person in a make believe world where anything is possible. This is the first painting I owned. I like to go walking in here sometimes. My Dad purchased it from a secondhand store 35 years ago and subsequently gave it to me. It’s big – 48 inches wide – and with the frame, very heavy - and cost only a few dollars. It badly needs restoring and Dad did a bit of ‘doctoring’ of it himself, patching up a couple of tears, and adding a few brownish leaves! Signed with initials then ‘Crespin’ I haven’t been able to find anything definitive about the artist.

I have fallen in love with the work of Marc Burstall, an Australian artist selling on Etsy. Below are two works from his Past and Present series, original oils, each 80cmx60cm oil on canvas and each only $180US!


I like it that I have an outside area, on a balcony, where I can sit and still be at home.


Image 1 from Apartment Therapy, and 2 and 3 from Houzz

And, of course, I can just close my eyes and let the film roll.

19 comments:

ArtSparker said...

The thrift store painting is beautiful, it's nice that it is now appreciated.

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

I chuckled at closing your eyes and just letting the film roll. As I sit at a computer most of the day, I always close my eyes and dream of another place and 9 times out of 10, it's on a warm sandy beach...definitely outside!

Leah said...

beautiful, I love those outdoor living areas!

elsie said...

what a beautiful post I was actually a little sad when it ended... more please...

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos! :-)

Rusted Wings said...

I too was transported with these photos and your writings and didn't want to leave!
thank you...blessings
abigail

Tumble Fish Studio said...

What a magical place you took us to today! (well, yesterday for some) I am enchanted with the video and the idea you created with walking on the ceiling when you were little - I bet you still do. Do you remember the song Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Richie? Maybe not. My husband worked on the music video for that song and he has often told the story of how they built a room that rotated so Lionel could walk up or down the wall to the ceiling, on the ceiling, and back to the floor. It didn't work well at first! It would offer great perspective variety if we could spin our houses around a bit though!

I thoroughly enjoyed the parasols and umbrellas too. I think I might look for a pink lined one myself.

If I don't get back for a few days, I'll be on my way home tomorrow and take a day or two to get in the swing of things. Until then, have a great upcoming weekend! Thank you for all you share with us! Your efforts bring much delight to the rest of us.

marsha

Sam said...

Gosh! That was a real trip Chrisy! I love the photos - each one pretty and gorgeous in its own right! ...and as for that house with the gigantic tree growing in the balcony - well, I'll have one of those please!

Ro Bruhn said...

A wonderful post Chrisy, so much to see and read about, you're a mine of information

Hey Harriet said...

Your posts make me swoon Chrisy! Truly they do! Your words and all the images accompanying them are always so magical! So many of these artworks I love. Especially the originals by Marc Burstall, who I hadn't heard of before. So thanks for the intro. Oh and thanks heaps for featuring my little TtV print. Woohoo!

Hey speaking of pinhole cameras, I found one recently on a site that was made from a SPAM tin. The creator called it a SPAMera...hehe. I'm going to attempt to make one. Well, it's on the top of my ever growing list of projects...

Renee said...

The pictures are fantastic.

I love the mystical with the real.

xoxox

Andrea said...

Hey C. you have an award to puck up:)

Andrea said...

LOL I din't just say puck up did I???
well..you know what I mean lol:)

Chris Wood said...

an oak tree hugging the house like that... are you kidding- ...yes please!

Mary-Laure said...

I am in love with this post. The pictures of the zen bridge and the tree (behind the light) are so dreamy and intense, I find them hypnotizing. Wonderful.

Artsnark said...

such fun! Great post!

Some scholars are convinced that Caravaggio used the camera obscura. There are even court records stating that he needed to repay his former landlady for a hole he punched in his ceiling (or wall, I forget...)

lune_blanc said...

Thank you for leaving kind comment on my blog!
And what great blog you have, you're in my favorites now :)

Judy said...

love no 2 - sensational

Chrisy said...

Hi to you all blog friends. I'm away from home until the end of the week and will have to wait until then to catch up with you . Hope all is going well for you, Love Chrisy