Creating Artwork – Page 2 – Karen Hochman Brown

Hidden Jewels

October 18, 2016September 14, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

I live in the lovely bedroom community of Altadena, California. We are nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just north of Pasadena (think Rose Bowl/Parade). The area used to be fruit orchards, mainly citrus. But many other fruits were grown and hybridized here at the turn of the last century. In 1908, the land I live on was subdivided into the Historic Highlands Tract and sold as housing plots. The area now hosts many Craftsman houses, one of which I am fortunate to live in.

When we moved in, the yard was a mess. There were still several large citrus trees, many varieties left over from the orchard’s glory days. In addition, we inherited a most magnificent pomegranate tree. We didn’t know how special it was at first because it was so overgrown. When we cleaned up the brush and gave our trees a good pruning, we discovered the most amazing gnarled trunk imaginable.

Concentrating on the outward appearance of things can shield us from hidden beauty inside. This once ugly treasure of a tree is now in full fruit. We share the harvest with our friends, as well as assorted squirrels and insects.

Pop Goes the Fuchsia

October 18, 2016August 31, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

How exciting when the fuchsias began to bloom. Wild vivid colors. Crazy fairy skirts with spindly legs. And they POP! Yep. The waxy outer layers of the fuchsia bud holds a pillow of air to protect the delicate ruffles inside. When gently squeezed, the buds will pop. You can hear it.

Animation showing the base image and layers of Fuchsia Enfolding.

Timing is key. If I let the buds sit too long, the outer skin will have thinned and there will be no pop, only a sad split. Even worse, sometimes the shell will tear. But a successful pop is to be savored. There is a tiny startle at the burst, a satisfying tactile sensation along with the perfect popping sound.

If I reflect on why I enjoy this so much I am taken back to my five-year-old self, totally involved in the simple joy of completely enjoying the sensations of playing with a flower. I am reminded to take the time to reconnect with that innocence. I get near this boundless joy when I explore and exploit the inner workings of nature in my kaleidoscopic artworks.

Pop. Pop. POP!

Fuchsia Enfolding Merch — Add some color your life! Click on an image to see what’s in my store.

Yummy Vegetables

October 18, 2016August 24, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

It’s been a little over half a year since I have started eating only plant based foods. Yes, that means I’m vegan. Most of my meals now start with fresh vegetables. So these pea pods were probably about to be be combined with some mushrooms for a tasty stir fry.

Look carefully and you will see my favorite santoku knife in the upper right corner. These snap peas were too beautiful to just eat, I wanted to make them into art too. So before they made it into the pan, they made it into my camera. Of course, from there, I spun them kaleidoscopically!

Sliced Pea Pod_animation from Karen Hochman Brown on Vimeo.

Finding the Surf at Honolua Bay

February 27, 2023August 17, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

On our last day in Maui, we had a amazing lunch at Mama’s Fish House and then drove up the along the coast, across the island, and continued up the coast to our lodgings. But since this was our last day, I wanted to drive as far as the rental car company allowed. The roads on the back side of Haleakala are known to be treacherous.

Surf at Honolua Bay from Karen Hochman Brown

I recall snorkeling there on our honeymoon, though we would stay out of the water this time. The day was almost ending. During the drive, we were entertained by the punctual late-afternoon rainbow, though the scenery was condos and golf courses and I didn’t stop to photograph this time.

The road opened out on a lovely vista of the bay at the edge of a cliff. Our company was a BBQ truck heading home and a drone-video operator taking his final up close surfer shots of the day. On the opposite rim of the bay, I could see cars of the surfers lining a dirt road. I really wanted to get closer but worried about damaging the car. This wasn’t the actual road, I would be OK, yes?

Watching surf at Honolua Bay — Watching surf and sunset at Honolua Bay

With a little bravery, I allowed myself onto the dirt road lined with the surfer’s cars. We still had to walk a ways to get to a spot with a view of the surfers. I’m not as nimble as I was when we honeymooned here, so it was with a lot more bravery that I climbed down the rocks and perched in a place to get even better shots of the water sport and the ongoing sunset.

Honolulu tryptic of base images — Tryptic of base images from Honolua Bay

The three images used here are from that afternoon. The ocean, the sky and the center wave are three separate photographs; each distorted using a graphics synthesizer program. I then take the various elements into Photoshop for compositing (putting the pieces together) and adjustments.

Surf at Honolua Bay

Collaboration

July 27, 2016July 27, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

“The heart of this celestial game board has the power to set the wheel in wildly flamboyant motion. Implosive and explosive in one movement, the resultant green waves cool the player’s fevered brow. The sentinels call out, “Place your bets!” There is no winning, there is no losing, there is only the Game.”

My best friend, Robin Panzarella, wrote these words about Orchids In Play. It was one of twelve poems she penned that were inspired by the first twelve pieces of my continuing series of photograph-based kaleidoscopic artworks. I published these poems alongside my artwork as a calendar. I had expected we would be a team for longer, but it wasn’t to be. These twelve poems, unpublished a the time of her passing, continue to fuel my exploration into this form.

The artwork always came first and was completed before Robin wrote the poetry. In this particular piece, however, Robin’s poem inspired me to update my work and embellish the background with an array of dots, like a giant game board.

Orchids In Play base image — *Orchids In Play* base image

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Beach Walks

July 13, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

I grew up in Santa Barbara. There are many popular beaches with vast stretches of white sand. But I prefer to stay away from the crowd and find the stretches that are a more moody and desolate. The scene here is a small walk north from the lifeguard station at Arroyo Burro State Beach. I figure the surrounding cliffs have collapse and left these sheets of layered rock down at sea level. Time has worn the edges. Oil seepage from deposits in the Santa Barbara channel give the scene a luminescence, even on an overcast day.

RockNSurf-levels_base — Base image for Rock-N-Surf

The resulting artwork is the first piece I created that wasn’t based on flowers. I had been working on this project for two years and had produced about 30 layered kaleidoscopes. It was my birthday and I was feeling like working on something different. The base image seemed to fit my mood for the day and I ended up with this dark yet glowing altered seascape.

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A More Literal Translation

February 27, 2023July 6, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

The photograph shown here was taken in the spectacular gardens of the Spalding House, which is part of the Honolulu Museum of Art. Unlike the lush surrounding gardens, this scene is a moss covered branch with some rather ordinary ferns. They are part of some plantings at the base of a building, not really exotic at all, at least not in comparison with the rest of the grounds. The composition of the photo is not spectacular either. But I liked the crisp focus of the fern and thought it was worth playing around with it in my workspace.

The Forecast Is Fern

In much of my work, the subject matter is not always readily apparent. Not so in this piece. Rather than blending and bending the base image beyond recognition, I chose to keep the structure of the fern’s leaves as the highlight the piece. I wanted a feeling of dense tropical jungle created by the fingered leaves of the plant. The central motifs are more typical of the majority of my kaleidoscopes. The base is detectable, but more obscured by various manipulations. But as you move outward, the structure of the fern is readily apparent and at the border, the piece is very literal. As a balance, I warped the center into a heavily distorted glass bubble, a crystal ball if you will. Look in to the sphere to see if there is fern in your forecast.

Matilija Inspiration

July 27, 2016June 29, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

The matilija poppy is a sun-loving native of Southern California. It’s large crepe paper blossom with a showy yellow puffball of stamens in its center give it the nickname of “fried egg plant.” The photograph that inspired “Matilija Prairie Installation” presents the delicate flower and furry seed pod against a brilliant blue sky.

I never go into my work with specific intentions. Each component is created on the fly, based on what I feel is needed for the current artwork. I find a photograph I love and then work within my process to find the pieces to assemble. This means taking the photograph into a software environment (U&I Software’s ArtMatic Designer) that I use to make the various reflections. I don’t know what the results will be when I begin to explore the parameters of the reflections. I find faces and insects; there might be seductive openings. I keep changing setting, looking more images that please me.

In this piece, I found an intriguing structure created by reflecting the seed pod. I thought it looked like the turn-key in an old windup toy or maybe nautical cleats. The white square structure felt like a stretched canvas, slightly bowed in at the edges, now held down by these cleats. Also holding down the canvas is the bottom layer that breaches the bounds of the white layer on top. The petal layers have a celebratory air, particularly when festooned with dots. They almost seem to jump of the surface. In the heart of the piece, the blue sky is used to balance with color and dimension.

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Shake Your Tail Feathers

July 27, 2016June 22, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

Pumped-Up Peacock_base2 — Peacock at the LA Arboretum

My term as Artist-In-Residence at the Los Angeles County Arboretum was during prime peafowl mating season. When I hung the show, the males had yet to grow in their signature tail feathers. They still had their striking blue neck and head feathers to easily distinguish themselves from the less flamboyant females–but the trains were yet to come.

By the time I began creating art onsite at the Arboretum, the transformation occurred; mating season had begun. And so had the unrelenting mating call, reminiscent of a small child in distress. Of course, the highlight of the ritual is the display of the colorful tail feathers, spread out like so many iridescent eyes. I began to notice hearing a rattling sound when a female was around. It seems the peacock is able to vibrate his train in such a way that the long hair-like feathers attached to the main quill flutter while the eyes stay pretty much in place. This must be very attractive and mesmerizing for the peahen. It was for me!

Quite fittingly for the surroundings, the subject of my first piece at the Arboretum was “Pumped-up Peacock,” a celebration of very showy fertility.

Here’s an interesting article about peacock “train rattling.”

http://www.arboretum.org/library-spotlight-peacocks-at-the-arboretum/

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The difference is in the background

February 27, 2023June 8, 2016 by Karen Hochman Brown

Early version of Passion Tendril Vessel.

I am always amazed at how what seems like a small change to a working image can transport it out of my “working” file and into my accepting it as a finished artwork. The piece Passion Tendril Vessel came together nice and easy. I had used a new technique to create the contoured edges of the main disk and loved the results. I had to battle a bit with the intensity of the tangle of vines that I used as my base image, but I was happy with the balance of the smooth spaces against the busyness of the vine.

Then I had to place my platter on a background and that’s where the fighting began. I always felt this was a dish of some sort and wanted to show it off like one might do for a fine porcelain plate. I fashioned clips from the vines and tied them into a simple background. It didn’t work the way I had wanted it to. I think I even lost the dish aspect; sometimes I’m too clever for my own good.

Back to the drawing board. After more false starts, I finally created the square themed background and was satisfied. The dark interior of the square helped set off the central motif. The vessel feels nested and safe in its new treasure box.

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Connect with Karen Hochman Brown