Kaleidoscopes, Abstracts, and Understanding It All

Why so many kaleidoscopes?

When I was a young child, I was totally fascinated by the magic of kaleidoscopes.  Knowing how much I use kaleidoscope filter effects in my art, I would have to say that I probably never outgrew my fascination.  When I first got online back in the late 1990s I found different websites that let you play around making your own kaleidoscope designs, but it was only on the screen.  You could not keep your designs.  Once I found that there was a possibility to create my own kaleidoscopes either with photos or from scratch designs on my editor program, I just kept going, and going, and going...

From kaleidoscopes I started branching out into other filter effects, sometimes finding things I really liked and other times not being able to connect to the designs at all.  As I have grown into more and more designs, I have also branched out to find as many more filters as I can to work with.

But I don't understand your artwork!

I've been asked by some who follow me online why I do what I do because they just don't understand my art.  In all honesty, I've never been one who cares if I understand someone's art or not.  If I like what I see, that is all that concerns me.  My only real response to those who do not understand my art is that I just like it.  I especially like using flowers, especially in the kaleidoscopes.  I love seeing how the various styles of petals move around the screen making totally new designs.  Just like when I was a child, I still find the way kaleidoscopes work magical.

If you look closely at my work, you can often see exactly what I was using as the base before I edited it.  Others you might not be able to tell anything about it.  One that has a pretty light blue color also has raindrops in the design because it originally was a photo of a light blue car after it had rained.  That was in my earlier years and it amazed me that I could see the raindrops.  Other photos may have words in them from road signs, or cd covers, or even books.

In high school art classes we were taught to try to figure out what the artist was trying to say in their abstract work.  I never could do that.  Actually I often thought it was a waste of time to try to figure out a meaning in a piece of art from some artist who was not alive anymore to speak out what they really thought.  It was the same in English Literature classes when we were to dissect a story to try to figure out what hidden meanings were tucked away in the otherwise simple story.  What was the purpose for that?  I remember a trip to a museum where people were looking at the huge paintings on the wall and doing this same thing.  What did the artist want to say when he painted it?  In my mind the real question was, why did we think he was trying to say anything at all?  And in Lit classes why did we think the author wanted to say anything more than what was already said?

So, I am now saying that for me, you don't have to try to understand my art.  Either it draws you in and you like it, or your eyes pass over it and on to the next piece.  There are no hidden messages or meanings other than this.  I like it.  I like the way the colors play off of each other.  I like how one picture can turn into many other pictures.  I like how blurry bad photographs can end up being gorgeous abstract art.  Hopefully that will make it easier for you to enjoy my artwork.  But if you are of the kind who has to find some hidden meaning, you will be disappointed, I am sure.  And you will continue to not be able to understand my work.

No Hidden Messages

Although I have not put any hidden messages in my artwork, I would be very happy if through my art, people would somehow see the glory of God shining through because each one of us is His creation.  He made us in His image, and there is none more creative than our Heavenly Creator.  I also would like my art to be an encouragement to others who are disabled and find it difficult to do what other people do.  When you see a landscape of mine, you will know that the efforts involved in my getting that photo took more planning and the assistance of others to not only get me to the location, but maybe even to help with setting things up for me.  My abstract work comes out of my disabilities because of the limitations I have for getting out to do the landscapes and nature photography that I love.  Abstract work keeps me busy in the off weeks and months when getting out is more difficult for me due to the weather.

Being disabled, I live on a very limited income at this present time.  Should the sales of my artwork grow into something I can live on, there should be a lot more opportunity for me to get out to do the landscape and nature photography I want to do. For now I am still learning more and more each day and hope to be able to sell more as time goes on.  In the meantime, if you are interested in purchasing anything I have done, please let me know.  You can leave me a message here and I will contact you.  Or you can go directly to my website, or you can go see my work at Xanadu Gallery.  Once there, you can purchase my work through the gallery.

Capirani Photography is Blooming!

You may be noticing some changes going on with this blog.  Well that's because I'm expanding the site and turning it into more than just a hobby where I play around with the camera.  I've always wanted to try to see if I have what it takes to become a professional photographer/artist.  My art uses cameras and computer programs.  Some of it may be traditional but a lot that you see here will be off the beaten path. 

You will find here not only the usual type of landscape and nature photos that I love so much, but also various forms of graphic art created with the photos that just did not make the cut.  Instead of just deleting them, I decided to play around with the editing programs I have to see what I can create.  By doing so, I think you will find here some very interesting artwork.  The uses for this artwork--well, that is left up to the viewer and hopefully, eventually, the client who buys what I create.  Some of it may work well for backgrounds for family websites and blogs.  Others might be perfect for scrapbook pages.  You decide.  

While you look over the new sections of this website, please excuse the inconvenience of the remodeling.  New things are arriving and old things are leaving the site.  Hopefully once I have this set up the way I want it, the hobbyist will have become the professional.

More New Graphics With PSPhotoProX3

This past weekend I worked on my PSPhotoProX3 to see what could be done with reject photos.  You know the kind, too blurred to know what is in them, or just too blurred to be good.  Then when I found out how cool those photos turned out with the editing, I decided to try some that were decent enough photos but that weren't usable for anything but memories.

Photos that are so blurry that you can't tell what is in them make very interesting graphics and you can use different effects on those than you can on photos that have clear objects in them.  All in all, learning how to work with this editor is fun and producing some pretty cool results.