An Artist’s Bookshelf Review. Viva Picasso.

Bookshelf.

I’ve had a long love of books, and some of my most prized books are art books. This is a review of books from my collection that can be found on shelves in my studio. I will provide links when possible.

Picasso's studio.

Viva Picasso is another used-bookstore-find that I was familiar with, having borrowed the book from the Holland College library many years ago, and I was happy to be able to purchase a copy of my own. It was published in1980 as a centennial celebration of the life of Picasso, and the photographs and text are by David Douglas Duncan. The text is fairly simple and mostly describes the photographs with a bit of information about the photographer’s relationship with Picasso. The black and white photos are what the book is all about and they are beautiful. They show Picasso at home and working in his studio, and they are surprisingly personal, more like private snapshots rather than staged or formal portraits.

Picasso.

When I look at these photographs of Picasso in his studio what I’m most impressed with is the huge amount of work he kept around him. At first the images of his studio seem to show a completely unordered and chaotic environment. Yet when I look closer I see a lifetime of work and memories feeding the creative process, and everything has its place; nothing is really forgotten or uncared for. We see a man driven to work and painting wonderful things. I love this book and if you are a fan of Picasso you might love it too.

Picasso's studio.

Viva Picasso.

An Artist’s Review. Fuller’s Organic Honey Dew, and Fuller’s ESB.

I enjoyed Fuller’s London Porter so much I decided to try a couple different Fuller’s beers I found at my local beer store. I was unsure when I bought it whether I would enjoy the Fuller’s Organic Honey Dew. I tend to like stronger darker beers, and I have to admit I really don’t like honey all that much.

When I poured it, it was a beautiful amber colour with a medium head. It smelled nice with a faint honey aroma. When I tasted it, I found it to be a weak beer without much character, and the Honey was actually a bit bland for my taste.

Fuller’s ESB or Extra Strong Bitter was more to my taste, and I really loved this beer. It is a beautiful dark brown colour with a strong foamy head. The taste is rich and smooth with a nice aftertaste. As a matter of fact this beer has kind of spoiled me, and everything I’ve tasted since has seemed so weak and uninteresting. The only problem is it doesn’t come by the dozen, and it is a bit expensive.

Rural photos with a Fujifilm Finepix AX300.

Weathered.

I spent a bit of time trying out my new camera. It is a Fujifilm Finepix AX300, and the photos were taken using the natural light setting.

Shed.

Shed and shadow.

Barrel.

Wall.

Broken.

Rot.

Stacked.

Wall.

Door.

Wall.

Window.

Weathered.

Bird before cropping.

Bird after cropping.

We recently got a Finepix Ax300 series camera from Shoppers Drugmart and I have so far found it to be a great little point and shoot camera. I wanted a camera that fits into my pocket that I can carry around, it had to be easy to use, and I wanted it to take a good picture. It has a 5x zoom lens that I was unsure about at first. I was looking for a 10x zoom, but I find that when I’m cropping the photo I can enlarge an object very nicely.

Bird before cropping.

I was trying to get closer to this little bird, and try as I might it stayed just far enough away that I was sure the camera wouldn’t get a good photo.

Bird after cropping.

When I experimented with cropping on my computer I found I was able to get a good image of the bird. This photo is actually cropped too much, but I want to show what an extreme crop looks like. I haven’t printed any photos with such an extreme crop so I don’t know how they would look printed, but it is suitable for screen viewing.