Monet’s Waterlily Pond, Green Harmony

We went to the Detroit Institute of Arts today to see Monet’s Waterlily Pond, Green Harmony. Here’s a shot I took.

The Waterlily paintings (of which Monet did hundreds) stand out as some of his more popular works. This particular painting is on display until January 4th, 2015, so there isn’t much time to see it if you happen to be near Detroit. Impressionism was revolutionary when it first appeared in the mid-19th century. Instead of studying the established rigid domains of mythology and history, the impressionists were more interested in real life images and the interpretation of light.

In his later years, Monet suffered from cataracts that affected his perception of color. After surgery it’s understood that Monet could see particular ultraviolet wavelengths that normal eyes cannot see. This also influenced how he perceived color.

Claude Monet died of lung cancer in 1926. He was 86 years old.

 

 

 

Best Graphic Novels of 2014 (according to the Village Voice)

The Village Voice posted an article on their website along with sample illustrated panels listing the top graphic novels of 2014. Here they are:

 The Man Who Laughs by writer David Hine and artist Mark Stafford. This is an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1689 novel.

 A Night of Gatecrashing / Book One by writer Zachary Mortensen and artist Sutu is about corporate terrorism.

Sing No Evil by writer JP Ahonen and artist KP Alare is about a dysfunctional metal band.

Skies of Fire by Pablo Peppino and Bryan Valenza is a steampunk saga revolving round Captain Helen Pierce.

 75 Years of Marvel – just as the title indicates.

Harlem Hellfighters by writer Mel Brooks (World War Z) and artist Caanan White is about African American soldiers in World War I.

 John Carpenter’s Asylum by John Carpenter and artist Leonardo Manco is about devils in Los Angeles.

Climate Changed by Philippe Squarzoni is about a coming weather apocalypse.

Second Avenue Caper by writer Joyce Brabner and artist Mark Zingareli is about gay activists in the 1980s running anti-viral drugs to fight the AIDS epidemic.

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi is about Shackleton’s ill-fated South Pole journey.

The Love Bunglers by Ray Dominguez is a well crafted story of loss and entry into middle age. My Opinion: this may be the best of the pile.

Pirates in the Heatland: The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson Vol. 1 by Clay Wilson is an underground style, dirty comic.

Motherless Oven by Rob Davis revolves around school kids in a dystopian future.

The diversity of theses titles indicate to me that graphic novels aren’t emerging as an art form- they’ve arrived.

To see some of the graphics and to learn more, go here: http://www.villagevoice.com/microsites/2014-graphic-novels/

Warp 9 Comics

I stopped in Warp 9 today to get the November issues of The October Faction and Wytches. I asked Trey Hunt, the new owner, if I could blog about Warp 9 and he said okay.

Warp 9 has been in business since 1999 and Trey took it over earlier this year (he’s in the photo below).

 

If you’re into graphic novels and comics, then Warp 9 is the place to go. The inventory is extensive and Trey is a great source of knowledge and is happy to answer any questions. I asked Trey what got him into comics and he said his Aunt had a lot to do with it. She collected comics, which, among other things, sparked Trey’s interest in comics at an early age.

 

Comic books stores such as Warp 9 are much like local, independent books stores used to be and should be treasured. Unlike  Barnes & Noble or e-tailers such as Amazon, shops like Warp 9 make the comic experience personal The world of comics and graphic novels has its own unique culture and shops like Warp 9 help keep it alive.

Warp 9 is located in downtown Clawson, Michigan on 14 Mile Road just west of Main Street. Check it out- you won’t be disappointed.

For more, go here:  http://www.warpninecomics.com

RIP Nikon 3100

My little Nikon 3100 finally broke for good. Here’s the last shot I took with it:

 

I took this camera with me everywhere, dug sand out of the lens extender with a pen knife on a beach in Mexico, took shots in Detroit neighborhoods where you were a sitting duck if you stood still for over a minute, kids birthday parties and countless other scenarios. The lens only stayed sharp when fully wide angle and now the on-off switch is shot. I’ve had this camera for about eight years and it took a lot of abuse, being my primary street photography camera. I’m really going to miss it, and I’m not sure what to replace it with. Thinking about a Leica C or a Canon S120.

Here are some links to some of the 3100 shots:

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/around-detroit/

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/around-detroit-2/

http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/freeway-abstractions/

 

Graphic Novel First Steps Part II

As stated in the last post, I’m experimenting with photographic backgrounds with hand drawn characters to produce a graphic novel. For practice and fun I’m putting a recurring strip up on this blog entitled JUSTICE – DETROIT STYLE. I’ll show the tools I use, the process to produce the panels and I will also post the script so you can see how that works.

Here’s the first panel I’m playing with:

I took the photo earlier this week and used Pixelmator for everything. If you have a Mac, Pixelmator is the way to go. Here’s a post about it here: http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/blog/ If you don’t have a Mac, you can use GIMP which is open source and free. GIMP is a great tool for creating graphics and manipulating images. If you have Photoshop then you’re all set.

The main character is Rick Justice who appears like a normal guy but takes extreme justice into his own hands. The first story is worked out which will result in about eleven or twelve panels. After that I’m going to make it up as I go along. I’m working on the characters (bad guys, Rick’s girlfriend, victims, etc.) now for the first story and for future installments.

Graphic Novel First Steps

I started some preliminary work on a graphic novel tonight. I plan on making it little different than the normal graphic novel fare where the backgrounds will be photographs with the characters layered on top. I’m not sure how well this is going to work, but I’ll document the steps here. I’ve been wandering around Detroit taking background shots and started character sketches tonight. Here’s the first one:

The drawing is a candidate male character. Above are a couple of street shots in Detroit. Next to the drawing is a Royal Langnickel pencils set that I came to appreciate in about two minutes. If you want to do any reasonably serious pencil sketches, this is the set to get. I got it for $28.75 on Amazon.

My next post will be the first attempt at scanning a character drawing and layering it into a photograph, probably using Pixelmator.

 

General Fuzz

I listen to electronic music when I write, without distracting lyrics. Trying to write while someone is belting out a song just doesn’t work. I either listen to Pandora for new artists and material or check out recommendations on iTunes. Today I ran across General Fuzz. I already had already downloaded two of his songs from iTunes and liked them, but really didn’t pay attention to the artist. Today I did, and went to the General Fuzz website.

The music is simply great- intelligent, well thought out, catchy and clean. Plus, get this, all of the downloads are free. 

Who is General Fuzz? James Kirsch from Newton, MA, and a true artist. He’s supported through donations.

If you like to listen to quality music when you work, check out General Fuzz. This dude is for real.

Here’s the link to his site: http://generalfuzz.net/index.php

The Beatles

Fifty years ago tonight I sat at my buddy’s house down the block in front of a small black and white TV, waiting for the Ed Sullivan show to come on. We suffered through cliched, boring, ancient acts such as Martin and Rossi (who?), jugglers, obscure operatic Broadway stars and other cheesy performances. We waited, and waited, and waited.

Finally, Ed Sullivan announced, “Now yesterday and today, our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation, and these veterans agreed with me that this city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles. Now tonight, you’re gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let’s bring them on.”
It was like falling through a trap door. It changed our world- forever. Everyone I knew begged their parents for guitar the next day (including me), and those that got them started taking lessons and forming rock and roll bands. There was no one like the Beatles before that appearance, and no one since. I feel fortunate having witnessed a profound, life changing cultural earthquake.

Starlet

Came across a really, really good movie while scanning through Netfix earlier this week- Starlet. It’s worth watching for the sensitivity and subtlety of the acting, cinematography and story.

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Starlet is about a 21 year old adult film actress, Jane, who goes to yard sales to find items to decorate her room. Jane buys a thermos to use as a vase from 83 year old Sadie for five dollars. Once she’s home Jane finds rolls of hundred dollar bills stuffed in the thermos. She goes back to give the woman back the thermos (and money) but is cut short by “NO REFUNDS”. Sadie slams the door on her. It turns out that Sadie’s deceased husband was a professional gambler.

Jane becomes obsessed with starting a relationship with Sadie and the story moves along from there. All in all to me this is a story about the onion skin layers of relationships. The film depicts mundane daily life in the San Fernando Valley and provides a brief glimpse into the mechanical, indifferent, soulless porn industry.

Starlet is Jane’s pet chihuahua and the namesake of the film. Through all of the rocky relationships in the film, Starlet is always present and is a catalyst to move the story forward.

Starlet was written Sean S. Baker and Chris Bergoch, and was directed by Baker.

Dree Hemingway plays Jane and carries the movie singlehandedly. Hemingway is Mariel Hemingway’s daughter and the great granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. This is Hemingway’s screen debut and she is literally stunning in her performance.
Starlet was first shown at SXSW in March 2012 and won the Special Jury Prize, Young Americans Selection from AFI Fest and Dree Hemingway was the winner of Variety’s Actor to Watch in 2012.
If you run across Starlet take the time to watch it. There’s a short, very explicit adult scene so be warned if that puts you off.

Here’s a link to the movie page: http://www.musicboxfilms.com/starlet-movies-44.php

Grade: A

 

War Horse

We saw the play War Horse at the Fisher Theatre a few days ago and it was remarkable. The set design is sparse but effective. Suspended above the stage is what looks like a giant torn piece of paper that acts as a projection screen. For the majority of the scenes simple black and white pencil sketches are displayed, ranging from  Devon in the English countryside to war torn France. Most of the props are handheld, which may seem crude and childish at first, but turned out to be  very effective. The elegant simplicity helps place the focus on the actors and the puppets.

The stars of the show are the mechanical horses, etched manned by three skilled puppeteers. The story revolves around Joey the horse and his companion Albert, who enlists in the British Army after Joey is drafted into service at the outbreak of World War I. War Horse is based on the children’s book by Michael Morpurgo and was adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford.
The first half of the play moves quickly. Some of the scenes seem a bit drawn out but it showcases the the beautiful mechanical horses and the skill of the puppeteers. The second half at first seems a bit incoherent if you’re not familiar with the story, but accelerates to an emotional climax when Joey and Albert are reunited at the end.

War Horse is impressive and a worthwhile theatrical experience. The simplicity of the set and striking, and the mechanical horses and the puppeteers are nothing short of magnificent.