Season of Birds and Roses

Greetings,

The beauty that surrounds us in May is beyond my ability to describe in words. However, I believe the exuberant and tireless birds I hear outside right now are succeeding wildly in telling about it.
I try to bottle a drop of each seasons glory in pictures. Like a loved one's face in a locket, a picture gathered in the midst of beauty can take us right back to it, even years later (Kodak figured that out a long time ago!).

May a fragrant rose greet you on your way today,
Amy

WORKSHOP NEWS:  I have two workshops coming up on Salt Spring at the end of June, the 28th and the 30th. These are two topics folks have been asking about after seeing my work.
Brief descriptions are below, and on my website.  Each course will be small group workshops, and there are only a few spaces left. If you're interested, contact me soon by finding the contact form on my website.
If there is enough of a waiting list, I may offer a second set in July.

All the best.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28

IMAGE TRANSFER WITH HAND PAINTED ENHANCEMENTS  10AM-5PM $125

With even the lightest  touch of your own hand, a photograph becomes a one of a kind work of art. Using your images, we’ll make several small, elegant photo transfer prints on fine art paper, then practice enhancing them with watercolors, pencils and chalk pastels.  

SUNDAY, JUNE 30

USING HOT AND COLD WAX WITH PHOTOGRAPHS    10AM-5PM  $125

Summer is a perfect time to play with beeswax. With the help of the warm sun, and a few other wonderful tools and techniques, we’ll  apply hot or cold wax to photographs to create beautiful finishes that also seal and protect the images. Also, we’ll practice ways to use the wax creatively, taking the photographs to completely new level,  making each one unique

Gathering Light

Spring greetings friends...

Today was a sparkling, warm, sunny day on Salt Spring...we are gathering light indeed. It's hard to believe that it was only a few weeks ago that I shovelled a path to my car through snow and ice so that I could load it with artwork that I would then carry down for an exhibit in California. And, deliver the art I did (I felt like Alice in Wonderland driving a Wells Fargo wagon through the wild western frontier).

I feel very honoured to be showing alongside fellow photographers Robert Taylor, Aryan Chapell and Roger Franklin in a group exhibit titled Gathering Light, at the beautiful Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. The display is up until May 26th. Hours are Wed -Sat 10:30 - 4:30, Sun 12-4:30.

I won't take away from the surprise by talking too much about it, or putting the whole show online. However, here's a link to a thoughtful article about the photographers and the show that appeared in the Ukiah Daily Journal: Friendship and Photographs on Display in Ukiah By Carole Brodsky.

Robert Taylor also offered this insightful summary of our gathered work:  The current state of photography is not one thing or the other, but many things, and "Gathering Light" reflects the rich panoply of its offerings.  We hope a wide range of viewers to the exhibit will enjoy this diverse richness and the maturity of photographic vision reflected in it.   

I lived in Mendocino County for over 30 years. Now, wherever I am, Mendocino County lives in me.The pictures I’ve chosen for Gathering Light are an homage to my former home and to Nature, our collective home. The images are each color pigment prints, over painted with acrylics, mounted to wood panels with hand made frames.

The Grace Hudson Museum in itself is a treasure. I highly recommend a visit, even if you aren't able to make it during the dates of the show. To learn more about the museum, visit: www.gracehudsonmuseum.org

I'd like to express my gratitude to the generous and talented team at the Grace Hudson Museum: Curator Karen Holmes, exhibit designers and installers Karen Holmes, Denver Tuttle, Sherri Smith-Ferri, Eric Neilson, Dylan Novak, Kristen Marrow, Jose Ruiz, and museum director David Burton.

From left:
Aryan ChapellRobert TaylorAmy MeliousRoger Franklin

Clockwise, from left:
After the Harvest, California,
Little Lake, TracksArtwork by Amy Melious.

Grace Hudson Museum

Stepping into a New Year

In the universe, 
there are things that are known, 
and things that are unknown, 
and in between, 
there are doors.  
- Wm. Blake

Best wishes, Amy