The Garden Realm

color digital photographs

After returning to our home in De Kalb in 2011 with a little Arizona dust still on me I embraced the beauty of the Midwest.  What began as an exercise in photographic composition, evolved into an interpretation from another point of view keeping in mind what a woman at a bookstore in old downtown Cottonwood, Arizona once told me, “Your house is protected by angels”, a beautiful metaphor for me not to worry about our empty house in De Kalb while my wife and I patiently contemplated living in Arizona permanently.

Artistically speaking, digital photography is a process that needs to be adjusted through a computer program so a hard copy is the final result of the endeavor.  The exercise to produce stronger compositions in my work enabled me, on the computer, to crop, adjust the typical over saturation of digital color, and experiment with filters.  One filter in particular produced a painterly effect with an aura that provided a desired finishing touch, which was somewhat illustrated in my mind.

The final hard copies of photographic digital images from my gardens are fanciful interpretations of a different point of view as seen by our guardians, visual metaphors that hint spiritual interpretations, remembrances of generations of family heirlooms, and gifts from thoughtful friends.

I am a 1974 Northern Illinois University graduate with a baccalaureate in painting and drawing, and have been an independent fine art consignment gallery owner and custom picture framer since the year 2000.  I managed a drawing group meeting weekly for nearly four years.

Images from The Garden Realm have been on display at the Norris Cultural Center in St. Charles, Illinois, one with an honorable award,  The Ellwood House DeKalb County exhibition and Wine on the Terrace event, and at The Art Box in downtown De Kalb.