Mojave Light Musing

  Hello friends, I have been digesting the weeklong cyanotype collaboration with my friend and art collaborator, Ellen Dooley. So many takeaways from that venture. I am still letting the energy settle.  To briefly recap, Ellen and I challenged ourselves to make a print every day for a full week. We limited the size to 5x7ish, had to use UV sensitive chemistry, natural fiber papers, freshly made each day. Whatever else we chose to throw in there was up to us. It was uncanny how we ended up making something akin to what the other did - you can see that in our diptych presentations which are all in the slide show below.  Here is one... my skeleton leaves (l.) mimic the bare tree branches in Ellen's image (r.). We both also added elements on top of our prints.   We did not confer with each other prior to making our prints... A few personal interpretations of my experience:  1. I learned the importance of DAILY time and space to create - even if all you do during tha...

Hello dear readers, I've appreciated the feedback and conversations surrounding my art collaboration and friendship with Ellen. Good food for the soul. Thank you! Today is day 3 of 7 in the 7 Days Series Ellen and I challenged ourselves with. We limited ourselves to a 5x7 work area, only using cyanotype chemistry (and maybe some additional 'secret chemistry' thrown in...), and printing on natural fiber papers conducive to receiving light sensitive solutions (as well as holding up to a lot of soaking and washing in water).  We do not confer with what the theme of the day is so it's a joyful surprise to each of us once we share the one print we are happiest with for that day. Take a look at the diptychs of our daily work on our  Two Women Talk  Instagram page to see how the pieces pair as well as follow what transpires on the series. We would love to engage in feedback and discussion as well - that's the rewarding part  - connection and discovery .  My reflectio...

Like many others during the height of the lockdown, I spent a lot of time on Zoom in webinars, workshops, and private gatherings to stay connected, sane, and either hone up on skills or learn something new. There were a lot of intriguing and serendipitous connections being made.  In this particular case, I cannot remember exactly when or how but I do remember where - Instagram - another alternative photographic printmaker and I connected over...one of her images? Mine? Another artist whose feed we both followed? Either way, one comment lead to another and then a mutual follow, a few back and forth messages, and then an idea blossomed... Through a few Instagram message exchanges, I learned this woman lived where I frequent - in a small community outside of Bellingham, WA - where I fly to in order to make a short drive to one of the islands to see family. Her art style is one I resonate with and admire greatly. We discovered quite a few parallels in our lives, like:  we both hav...

(Shot with a Sony point and shoot.....don't care much for lugging the big toy out on a wildlands gander..Copyright Diana Shay Diehl.) Natural inspiration... Anyone want to guess what this might be?  Today's image, compliments of Mother Nature...from exactly one year ago today.