Friday, March 24, 2006

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pensive jade buddha -- miniature (2006)
my neighbor and i went to the sf asian museum on "free day" and they let you photograph inside the museum, except that you can not use a flash. which made this photo all the more difficult as it is a small piece of milky/light brown jade in a small glass-enclosed case. luckily i was able to get this one photo. i found the buddha to be exquisite and pensive and captivating. i am using this image pensive jade buddha -- miniature (along with the spathloglotis photo below) in my adapting of a tibetan mandala. just so you know, we have a great photo of me in manhattan where i am sitting in the same position as the buddha. however, i look neither pensive nor exquisite, i look like a lizard. we'll see how the piece develops...
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ladyslipper -- flower detail (2006)

ok, back to the orchid exposition at the conservatory... i took just one photo of one ladyslipper orchid and this is it. apart from being a great orchid flower per se, what draws me to the flower is the imperfection in the upper right-hand part of the crown. even the flaw is amazing.
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these four photos were taken at the sf conservatory of flowers -- they had an orchid exposition which was good/great. however, the rest of the conservatory was unbelievable. two of these pictures are from the exposition, the other two from the gorgeous conservatory itself.

so, from top to bottom, here are the photos and their general specs:

1. "to paint" (2006): a lily on the pond in one of the rooms of the conservatory. i am painting this -- better to say i am trying to paint this picture, which means i am adapting it in the transfer. i have not touched up this photo at all (or any of these for that matter) and could not get over and still can't quite get over how the purple seems to float off the photo and how unreal the water looks.

2. "when i look up" (2006): literally, the ceiling of the conservatory. an amazing ceiling, an amazing building.

3. "spathloglotis with a ladybug" (2006): one of the most beautiful orchid flowers i have ever seen. i sat in the exhibit part of the conservatory taking photo after photo after photo of this orchid as it blew me away with its symmetry and coloring. this image is being adapted into a piece i am working on, trying to translate a tibetan mandala using more contemporary images. we'll see if it works or not.

4. "color explosion" (2006): i love epidendrums. i really liked the bunching and color mix of these few flower spikes from a few epidendrum.